Ordinary ideals of Americana range as far and wide as the North American continent. The valued conviction of one American vastly differs from that of another. Joe from Santa Fe may have little connection with Joe in South Bend or Joe in South Boston.
One may celebrate adventures in mysticisms. Another may find inspiration sitting in a college football grandstand. While a third struggles to free himself of the orthodox hobgoblins that suffocate his soul.
Until Donald Trump came along, the story of the national struggle, as outlined by the discredited mainstream media, had been told with delicate regularity. The news was professed from the locus of the two party political system…any diverging views were carefully sifted out. What was reported was only what the story editors allowed to pass through their single micron particulate filters.
We were told a never ending Marxian tale of the evil rich exploiting the noble poor. Even worse, we were told that Hillary Clinton was as upright as Saint Andrew. Plus we were told over and over again that Bill – the former President – would be looking out for our best interest.
The election of Donald Trump has been too disruptive to the status quo for the major networks to stay on their carefully scripted plots. Quite frankly, they don’t know how to handle it.
Nonetheless, we find the ongoing claptrap to be miserably altered from the America we see and experience when we step out our front door each morning. We also find the abundance of thought polluting newspeak and commonsense destroying political correctness to be insulting and intolerable.
What You Make of It
We’re confident that, despite being told what to think, people are capable of figuring things out on their own. They don’t need a government website to tell them to bite an aspirin and call 911 if their heart starts kangarooing in their chest. In fact, from our observations, people can accomplish remarkable things when they need to.
One fellow may build a better mousetrap after failing for years. Another may finally get the guts to open his own barbershop. A former high school slacker may grow up to run a firm of several thousand workers. You can never underestimate someone with a burning desire to succeed.
When it comes down to it, the American experience is for each individual to make of it what they will. Along the way, and despite their best efforts, no one escapes from getting kicked in the face every now and then. But even in the worst of times, there’s always something to be grateful for when pause is given for reflection.
Perhaps that’s what makes Thanksgiving Day unique in American culture. It doesn’t matter if you bow down before the God of the bible or the god of NFL football. More than any other holiday, people celebrate Thanksgiving with a shared conviction.
The point is, the most ungrateful person can take one day a year to give thanks, even if they believe they deserve more. For others, however, giving thanks is a daily life or death proposition…
Sinners and Saints
Charle Street, in Costa Mesa, California, is a home for desperate, indigent men…where lifesaving ego deflation is administered, hope is born, and miracles come to pass every day. If you happen to find yourself there you are in dire need of what Carl Jung first called, “a spiritual experience.”
Stenciled on the meeting room wall is one of life’s essential axioms…
“Grateful people are happy people and those that aren’t, aren’t.”
The meaning of this is quite simple to understand. Yet its outcome, for those willing to practice it, is quite profound. With just a little daily gratitude even the most down and out discover there are always a variety of reasons to be happy. Moreover, even in the worst of times there are always things to be grateful for, if just a moment is taken to consider them.
Thus, despite all the fraud and folderol out there, an attitude of gratitude continues to be an ideal worth striving for. When all else fails, wash the dishes, make the bed, and find some gratitude.
After all, it’s Thanksgiving Day. Pilgrims and Squanto, aside. Some gratitude for blessings received and hardships taken away are in order.
Enjoy the moment. Relish the time with your family. Savor the feast. Give a bum a hot cup of coffee.
Sincerely,
MN Gordon
for Economic Prism
