Message to Millennials: Burn Down the Mission

Okay, I’m going to put this out here, and I'm sure some unsuspecting readers will be frothing at the mouth by the time it's over, if they're not already. I've been thinking about this for quite a while now; I've been trying to figure out how to address so many issues in one blog post, but the thing is, nearly all of them share a common threat, and it's best to focus right in on that one.

I was born in '65, and technically, kinda-sorta-maybe, I missed by about one year the so-called "Baby Boomer" generation. Now, I have three siblings who are, and believe me, there are so many folks older than me that are NOT the target of this blog.

But a whole bunch of you ARE. This is gonna "meander," as my old dear friend Diana Emmons was wont to say. 

When did the Boomer thing really start to get talked about? I don't remember, to be honest, but I became aware of it in the 1980s, when suddenly the nickname was being bandied about, to describe what the hippies were like, and what many of them had turned into. 

One of the first time I'd heard it being used was when political satirist Mark Russell did a song about them, around 1984...I'm going to try and remember the lyrics, because I cannot find video of it:

"Those boom babies were young and clean, in college they set fire to the dean, now they're Yuppies, see the Yuppies...they had long hair and they wore no shoes, now they're driving big BMWs..."

The idea Russell was putting forward, was how the kids of the postwar pop-out had gone from being free-love hippies to urban professionals obsessed with wealth and materialism. Music in particular reflected during that decade on how the kids "grew up," if that was ever the case.

One of the biggest hits on the country charts in the mid-80s, and one of the most requested songs I ever got was one by the Bellamy Brothers:

I'd used to like the boys, and then more and more, I felt they were doing what I called "Yuppie Country," but this song reflected the way people changed.

In the late 80s, there was an arrogance and elitism I well recall being directed at me, and by colleagues of mine in the media. Young people, as they have in all generations past, were being castigated as lazy, stupid, glued to pop culture, and not doing what they're supposed to. Whatever that was, or is.

Then in the 90s, we had Generation X, or Gen X; slackers, just another term for loser. Gen Y...what the fuck was that? 

Every few years, another one, and every generation removed looked down upon those beneath them. It's never changed, but in recent years I began to view just how nasty, mean-spirited and hateful the older generations have become.

Because, once more, they are threatened. George Carlin's most brilliant few minutes are these:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S6N3CrKPCUA

For whatever reason, I can't upload the video, so you'll need the link. The materialism, the greed, the money, the power. Having it all given, and fearing having to give it up.

That is, if you ever had anything to give up; not like you can take your toys to the grave with you. Jello Biafra once noted that younger generations are the ones that are going to put us in nursing homes one day.

I really became aware of how some Boomers never grew up when I worked a job where I found myself on the older end of a company. I felt kind of stuck in the middle.

On one side were a crew of young kids, still in college or just about of it, They were looking for a job, a shot in the business, something. Some of them had skill, a desire to learn, and to do something. I never felt they got the guidance they needed.

On the other side, were colleagues my age and older. Some, not all, were incredibly defensive, and resentful. They didn't like the way the company was being run, they didn't like the management, they especially didn't like the younger ones.

When people weren't complaining about why the company didn't do things the "way we used to," or "the way it should be," they were trashing the kids. They were called a lot of names: lawn mowers, pot smokers, and so forth.

Oh, and those who felt they were not being respected by the company...they weren't being valued, turned to for their experience, not supported, etc.

Respect is earned. It is not given. That's a mantra they used, and when they didn't get what they thought they should be accorded, who got butthurt?

They did.

When I heard people bitch about one of the young people who did smoke the stuff, I always wanted to turn around and ask, "How much did you smoke back in the day? How much coke did you snort up? How much PCP did you do? How much crack? How much heroin?"

I'm not one to talk, but to me it smacked of hypocrisy. You had it good, Boomers, and you can't take it with you when you go.

But you can pine for the good 'ol days, can't you? Fear of Change...the C-word!

In recent years, I have become aware of how deep the ancient's claws are dug into the ground, as they're being dragged down into it, kicking and screaming. One of the reasons conservatism remains viable is because it appeals to the past. The long-dead past; and the nostalgia for a time that never really existed.

The days when everything was good, nice, and you were never threatened by anything. When life was so simple, and traditional; when Mom stayed home in the kitchen and made sandwiches, and birthed babies. Dad went to work and brought home the money. Everybody had what they wanted, when they wanted it.

That fantasy is still being played out, in the minds of people who go inward, but not for introspection, not for reflection, for thought of what can be shared with future generations.

No...it's about how great things used to be, how if we pretend hard enough, it's still happening.

I'll give you an example: there is an individual whom I know, and I see around. Don't know his name; but every day he talks incessantly to anyone who will listen, about how he had one job all his working life, then he retired, then worked a few years in a certain school system.

And he can't stop complaining about how badly the system was run. He could not effect change, and so eventually he left. He still harps on it.

He continues to talk about the good old days, comfortable and secure in knowing that his retirement is not threatened (YET).

His ignorance of the struggles young people have show he has forgotten what he had to do to pay his dues. The world has changed, but he refuses to see it.

He is one of many, who he can goad into bitching about the Millennials. Those who call themselves businessmen then spend all the time they can one-upping each other.

"Kids are so lazy! They work for me two weeks, and they want a day off!"

"I got a friend who won't hire anyone under 40, but he can't say that or he'll get sued..."

Oh, you poor employers. Perhaps you need to look in the mirror.

Yes, times have changed. Attitudes change; social media, technology, we have become disconnected, but the techniques have merely been brought up to date.

Radio was supposed to be the disconnector decades ago. The TV; then the Internet, Smartphones, all of it. The principle is the same in each case. It's just a different device.

Yes, we all use it too much. I use it too much. We can all do better.

But my point...after the massacre in Parkland, Florida, we again are reminded of how the old fogies continue to cling to our past. We make excuses for everything; we refuse to change. 

Religion, firearms, abortion, sports, politics...these and other topics, we fight over them, friendships are dissolved and families disrupted, because we can't have a conversation anymore. 

It works both ways, not just the one each side whines about in their cut and paste comments. Original thought is no longer permitted, in fact, everyone has them, then as they get older, many lose them and find it easy to just immerse themselves in platitudes.

I think, because I am not one of the wealthy, the privileged, or the special, that I stand apart from my fellows. I try so hard not to see everything through a prism that is to my specifications. I try damned hard every day to see each person for who they are.

I'm so often fucking disappointed. 

Back to that shooting: those kids that are standing up, refusing to be cowed, unwilling to heel to "authority," because they've seen enough and suffered enough. They now fight back against the Drunk Uncles, the Conspiracy Theorists, the Holocaust Deniers, the Status Quo Keepers, and the rest.

And what do they say? They pound their keyboards, call up talk shows, and generally act like this:

Their childish rants are exemplified by the sound of their screams. The disemboweled rats, their screaming tantrums...you hear them on talk radio, on Youtube, and you read it on Facebook, Twitter and elsewhere.

Screaming about the Millennials, shrieking that something that's their will be taken from them...oh, the humanity.

The Millennials and their other numbers want change. And those kids ain't gonna quit till they get it. They're not whiny. They're not coddled. They don't want participation trophies (which are meant to stroke the parent's ego, as are so many things kids are forced to do). 

They want shit fixed. 

Interesting article here:

https://getpocket.com/a/read/2097100251

I got a message for those kids: 

BURN DOWN THE MISSION. 

Take it down, take the whole fucking rotten structure down. I will shed no tears. I will not cry for the loss of anything, because what I have is fleeting anyway.

I don't have a big house; I don't want one. I don't have a timeshare in Cozumel; I don't have millions of dollars stashed away. I don't sit around all day telling everyone how I spend my money, and what I spend it on. And I don't bitch about what those kids that you can't stand the sight of are doing.

Because they are fucking doing something.

We can learn so much from the younger generations. Their appreciation for certain parts of life we took for granted is something I notice. I don't fully understand all of it. I don't buy into trends; some people do that, sure, but you can tell a poseur from someone who lives it.

I don't get Hipster culture; I remember the Hippies, 'cause I had two brothers who were. They are two different things; but it doesn't matter.

None of this shit matters. Our nation is on a collision course between a culture that wishes to keep it "the way it was," not realizing it's dead and gone, and a culture that is new, ever-changing, and ever-evolving.

Embrace the Change, people. It's not gonna kill you. You'll still be alive. 

You will adapt.

You might...might...even improve yourself.

Imagine that.

I write stories about a world I want to see, not the one you're told you are supposed to see. The change we want to see in this world is in our hands.

"Yeah, so what do you do?" You ask.

I write those stories. You won't like them, probably, because there's things in there that make you cringe. They remind you of a time you don't want to know about. They show you the way things are now, and you can't handle it. 

Generations of grown-up man children need to get their shit correct.

What else do I do? In my profession, I do my damnedest to be fair. I try very hard to get my job right, to get the facts and information right, and present it to you in a non-biased way. It's not easy. Emotion gets in the way. But you do your best and think hard about what your conscience is going to say to you, if you put it out there, and it's not right.

We're human. But your mistakes are always remembered, not the good things you did 99% of the time.

There's gonna be one hell of a revolution in the next year or two; it might just be a bloodless one, I hope so. But it might not. Either way, change is inevitable. 

Get on board; you can still have your convictions, and be you, just remember you are not the center of the universe. I'm sure not.

So kids, Burn Down the Mission. You have the imagination to rebuild; a lot of us are willing to help.

A lot of Americans need to grow up. Now.

Peace, Out.

A New Book, the Future, and Time to Reflect...

Well, it is the first time in a long while that I've had to blog and write meandering lines about everything that's going on in the world right now. I have quite a store of thoughts, ideas, decisions and other bullshit that I have to blast out of me, and I'm not going to do it unless I do it now.

I'm sitting in the Office, a place I spend very little time in anymore. As you have gathered from watching my Facebook and other posts, I'm on the road a lot and busy. Full-time employment, and the needs of chasing money are not something I enjoy. At least not the way I'm doing it right now.

I try not to think too much about it, because our obsession with that kind of thing leads a lot of us to split hairs. We'll say we don't believe in/need lots of money, but then we plot out how much we actually think we need, and scheme to get it. Like that's going to do you any good.

A lot of people haven't seen me lately, and that is because of what I do. Time is not on my side, and will not be for the foreseeable future. I need the job I have in order get insurance, and to pay for the medicine that gets pumped into me at various times in a hospital. I tend to wonder if it's really worth it. Add to it my specialist is retiring next year, and I wonder who I'll get referred to.

That is really not a worry right now. I feel like I am in a big fucking hurry right now. I have about 25 years left on this earth, perhaps more if I am lucky. Well, longevity in my family is pretty good, so perhaps I'll be granted a little extra time. 

The deal is: I have too much to do, and to accomplish, not because of my ego, but because I want to do it. It also is a very good defense against a world that I see turning on itself yet again, and looking to kill itself.

I do not honestly think the world is coming to an end, nor do I think there will be any sort of end of days scenario that so many people seem to want to have.  We are such a fatalistic bunch, aren't we?

Some of the things I say and think (especially the latter) would probably offend you, because it would seem so weird. I am just of the mind that with what time I have left, I have to make it count.

So what's this mean? I have yet to disengage from everything I need to in this world, but I'm working towards it. My goals are damned well clear, I have to figure out how to take all the proper steps.

This is where we are right now: I am this close to having "A Moment in the Sun," my second book, ready to come out on Sunbury Press. I am feeling very positive about this one. It is better than "Parasite Girls," in terms of how it's written, and it does have a pretty decent flow to it. The characters are interesting, intriguing, and I want to think all have a fair amount of humanity in them. In that, they are not perfect, even though a couple of them think they are.

A lot of you have asked what is it about? That would be telling, but let's say I examined an aspect of society that (while it's set in Japan) is unique to one place, it can be anywhere, and it is everywhere. That issue leads into others, and without knowing it, I got these characters to face themselves.

Those in the danger areas had to do that anyway, but those outside looking in are forced to examine themselves. Some have to let the boundaries of class and rank, as it were, go. They had to change, or at least accept differences in others that were always there, but they just pretended not to see.

That is a problem we have now. In the big picture, we are people who cling to what we have, our past, and all the issues that hold us back. I got sick years ago of people going on about all the stuff that held them back (they thought) and how they were going to do things, but always found an excuse not to.

Excuse, not reason.

I'm not saying I get everything done on time, and I do not always keep my word the way I should, but I make the effort. Too many people are making excuses, and they're not innocent ones.

We are also lashing out against one another, and as always over two subjects, religion and politics.

I'm pretty much done with one, and could fucking care less about the other. We have to decide for ourselves what we want, and fighting about it, and losing friendships does not make it right, nor does it do any good.

I've lost at least one person who I thought was a friend. He flamed me on Facebook for not following his POV about a certain presidential candidate, and insulted me. He went completely out of his mind over it. 

His view is for himself, and against all others. I was really surprised, because this fellow is really an intelligent guy. I have no idea what happened to him; I think he melted his brain on Facebook.

I really want to give that up, and just do a website of my own. Unfortunately, it is a thing to bear, because it is the one site that is reasonable in its ease of use. Google + I use and I like, but damn it is slow. It takes an awful lot to get the thing to work; I don't really care for its setup, but I think it has potential to be fixed and improved.

Social media is still a weird animal to me. Thank whatever remains that has any form of goodness to it, that I do not have a fucking smartphone. I'm being encouraged at work to get one, but I don't want one. I am not one of those people. 

I dug all the Star Trek stuff, esp. the technology of TNG, and we're using it now, the tablets and stuff. I have no use for it, though. I spend too damn much time in front of this laptop and computer screens as it is.

My writing is leading into a direction where in at least one story perhaps we can disconnect a little, and see what happens with that. Long time down the road, though.

Anyway..."A Moment..." is the big step up. It is a cross between young adult and mainstream fiction; anyone can read this and get it. You will I think find yourself in this story. 

Now, where to get it? Sunbury has a website, and they primarily deal in independent bookstores. Unlikely you'l find this in Barnes & Noble, but I'm gonna try for it. So if not via the web (or one of the usual sites), go make friends with the manger of your local shop and tell 'em about me, haha.

My goal is simple: make this one work. Hopefully it works well enough that Sunbury likes what I offer. I am fortunate to have found a fantastic editor there; Janice and I recently met, and I am taken.

She understands my writing. How about that?

She got where I was going with the story; Janice also got some of the other project ideas, and got me to submit the potential next one as well.

This I hope is a platform, to lay the groundwork for the even better stuff I have planned. I have been on this kick for nearly eight years, and I'm not stopping.

I am writing what I want to see, not what the media, your politicians, your churches, your whatevers tell you you're supposed to see. Get that? Not saying I'm right, and I don't demand you buy in. It's not that different.

I'm trying to blow the fucking establishment out of my brain once and for all, and I hope one day to get there and yet still have enough of said brain working that I know where I am by the end of it. 

To paraphrase a wise man, "I know where I'm going, I feel it deeply."

Peace, Out.

Arrogance, and the Obnoxious Fad that Passes for...

...wait for it...

...wait for it...

...you know where I'm going, right...

Religion.

Yep. I'm headed down a track that is sure to offend some of you, and start a whole new debate. I again have found myself in that position of having to defend my spirituality from someone who is not ready to admit that there's any "god" but their own.

I had a long, and interesting talk yesterday with not one, but two people. I will not use their names, because that's not necessary. But I received two points of view, and have reached my own conclusion about myself.

The first is a fellow who remembered me from several years ago. I'd come to write a piece about his workplace. A decent man, and I feel a good one, really I do. Hadn't seen him in a while, and he's back in town.

He wears his mask well.

The conversation turned to religion. I'll make no bones about what I think of Organized Religion. I defend to death your right to be what you will be, and are. But I draw the line when you use that "faith" to attack others.

I am sure he didn't mean it as such, but I was under attack.

When a person listens, but does not hear, and continually turns and twists words back through his own prism of belief, a tenuous one at best, and continues to attack you, what is that?

It is not the "faith" that a follower of Jesus should do, IMHO. Jesus (whom I now believe was not a real person, but a fabrication) did not walk about the world tub-thumping...but as Gandhi said in paraphrasing, "I like your Christ. I do not like your Christians. They are so unlike your Christ."

I recall my Congregational upbringing, until I was 12. I remember sermons and a church led by two of the finest, kindest men I knew then, and find hard to match. Reverend Hazen, and the man who later replaced him, Reverend Fuqua. Two men who treated every single person with kindness, respect and decency. 

They did NOT attack with religion, they did NOT try to convert you, they did NOT make you feel inferior and try to make you one of them.

What the fuck happened?

Televangelism, electronic media, and a radical savagery of the faith, and it crosses all boundaries.

The discussion with this fellow reminded me of when I was 15. I was under attack by a teacher, and her fellow born-again haters. A hateful, thinly-veiled cynicism and disgust for all that were not like them.

You may be a Christian, but you are not Christian enough. Ever.

I recall feeling bullied, and attacked, and questioned. I wasn't already good enough as a human being for my own family, let alone this!

I am going to tell you what I am. I am Buddhist. I meditate to Kirtan, and I am a Pagan. Our people were here before Christ's creation as a character, and our people's ways were co-opted, borrowed and stolen.

And they have the nerve to try and wipe us off the map.

They have the nerve to massacre 18 million people in Central America, and wipe out the entire native population of Cuba, in the name of "God" of course.

I do not discount the massacre of a million Armenian Christians in the First World War. I do not discount the massacres during the wars in Bosnia. Nor the 13 million Hitler did to death...not just the Jews, but Cossacks, Krimchaks, Russians of all stripes, and those caught up in the occupied territories. Two million or more murdered during the regime of Pol Pot.

Not to say how many Stalin eliminated. Or Mao Tse-Tung wiped out.

And we see what the "Islamic State" is now doing in the Middle East.

What the fuck happened?

What happened to the Good Samaritan I learned of? What happened to the people who showed respect and kindness to others, regardless of what they looked like or where they came from?

When did faith get caught up in patriotism? 

This much I have learned: we cannot change other's minds. We cannot turn others who cling to views that they are fearful of losing. This fellow clearly had his prism, and all thing must pass through it.

I don't think, again, he meant harm. But he would not listen. To him, I am a terrible person, a lost soul, a creature destined for Hell (which does not exist).

And his own self-flagellation is bizarre. A sinner who will never be forgiven, no matter what. A life of existential suffering, and yet...oh yes, he'll be in the Good Land or whatever it's called.

But to suffer that whole way?

Suffering exists. But we do not have to die for it. We can make things better.

I am who I am. I am not perfect, as I'm human. I have tried, believe me I have tried not to hate. I don't believe in it. Hate is too strong, and hate kills.

I don't know of anyone who hates me. I don't know of anyone who despises me. I'm sure some don't like me, but that's fine. 

I do not profess to know great truths. "Jesus he knows me, and He knows I'm right...been talking to Jesus all my life." Genesis, the band...heehee.

No. 

I call bullshit.

I am Me.

I can trust myself to make the right choices.

I can trust myself to be as mindful as I can.

I take responsibility for this, and all things.

I do not agree with a lot of things, and I don't like a lot of things. I stand against a lot of things, especially the mad cults of Organized Religion. If you go there, it is your business and your decision. I do not say you're bad because of it. I hope it is right for you.

THIS is right for me.

There is One Race. The Human Race. We're it, folks.

Let's stop the hating. Let's stop killing. Let's stop feeling so fucking threatened by every little thing.

I'm gonna do my best. Here's hoping you can too.

We don't need to obsess or talk about IT all the time. To do that leads to the tunnel that you will never escape from.

This is a good world, but we each have to make it good. Stop looking for shit to stir. We can make this thing work, folks.

In my writing, I write what I want to see, not what others tell you you are supposed to see. Does that make sense? I hope so.

NOW...that all said, let me tell you about the second person.

Without going to deeply into it, this individual talked to me in an interview about her life, her career, her family, and what she loves doing. We are artists in our own way, and our own right.

This person, younger than me, showed incredible poise, maturity and sense of place. It has nothing to do with religion, and posing, and hiding behind something.

She was There.

Doing what she loved, and knowing the fulfillment to herself, and to others. Not about money. Not about fame. Not about anything but doing what is right for HER.

In her, I see how the madness can end.

I was reminded of why I write, and why I do the things I do. It is right for me.

Be right for you, and don't let others browbeat you, attack you, piss on you. You cannot change them, and you do not need to change for anyone.

Be YOU.

YOU is what is right for you. Change when you need to, and accept the inevitability that it does happen.

I change when I will, not when others dictate it to me.

I go where I will, not when others tell me to.

"An' it harm none, do what ye will."

My sense of place has been restored. I don't know if any of this makes sense, and I'm sure some of you will be stunned by this. 

I hate no one. I have malice toward none. I don't blindly love everyone, but I really hope that as we go on, we can be what we will be, but try and respect the differences.

And the similarities. 

We are all one...we're all we've got, folks.

Peace, Out.