Some of my three readers may have noticed that I haven’t blogged in a while. This is partly because I’ve been very busy the last six weeks - I’ve either been in Europe or had house guests (or have been preparing for same) - but it’s more because I’m in a really weird place right now. I’ll try to write more later, but it feels as if I’m at an inflection point of some kind or another but just don’t know what it is or what it’s about. Discussing our weekend upstate with some friends of ours, Mrs. Primate commented that she felt like she was still there, as if something was supposed to happen but didn’t.
More to the point, since my return from the Old Country, I’ve come to the conclusion that the entire nation is at an inflection point. I’ve come to believe that in five years, shortly after the next presidential election, this place will either be on the mend or patently unlivable for families like mine. I don’t really think there’s much any of us can do anymore to influence the outcome. We’re simply going to have to sit back and watch how the forces set in motion since 9/11 play out.
But thinking about this has made me rather nuts lately. Coming to the conclusion that there’s really nothing I can do about it has helped, but it’s rather like the first step in addiction recovery: admitting you have a problem. It’s a step, but only the first of many.
I think, perhaps, I need to keep half an eye on what’s happening (no one wants to cut it so close that they’re on the last boat out of Germany in ‘39), but I also need to stop writing about politics. Well, I’ll never be able to do that completely, but perhaps I can stop offering my personal comments on things. I’m scared as hell of my own government, of their near limitless power and unfathomable willingness to destroy lives in their pursuit of power, so maybe it’s time to scale back.
Besides, what’s the point of living in the decline of a great empire if you can’t enjoy it’s decadence?
Anyway, to assuage my sure-to-be guilty conscious, I’ll at least keep passing on the memes with the following new feature: your daily outrage.
