Am I the Only One?

Looking in the mirror of my car at a monster-truck wannabe.
I feel like much of my time these days is spent wondering when another attack ad/email/video is gonna come up behind me and threaten to crush
my sin-sick, worldly, obviously deceived soul...
Am I the only one sick of it all?
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Am I the only one who is sick and tired of every doom and gloom-predicting political ad? "If you elect that other guy or that other woman, then you will lose your job and your savings account and your small business and your future, and your children will be doomed to a substandard education. He/She has no idea what to do if elected, but I have years of experience. OR He/She has decades of experience and what has all that experience given us but more headaches? Do you want to trust your future to that guy/gal? Elect me and all your problems will disappear magically within a few short weeks."

Am I the only one who is weary of every news broadcast starting with a story about how many people in my city have been raped, murdered, and robbed at gunpoint? Doesn't anyone anywhere ever do anything good, anything positive that is worth reporting to the public? Has anyone saved a life, reported the discovery of a lost wallet or earring, taught illiterate adults to read, rescued women from domestic violence or slavery or eating disorders or racial discrimination or anything like that?

Am I the only one who is disgusted with the refusal of our political leaders and pundits to look into the television cameras and tell us that we, the American people, have done this to ourselves? That we have brought our own nation to its financial knees? That we are the ones who never learned contentment, never learned that if we couldn't pay our bills on time in full at the end of every month, then we have spent too much money? We did this. I did this.

The blame for the current state of our nation cannot be laid at the feet of terrorists or illegal immigrants or women who have had abortions or homosexuals - and let the rest of us off the hook. The blame for the current state of our nation cannot be laid at the feet of Chinese-Korean-Nicaraguan-Mexican-Nigerian workers who earn less than we do or corporate executives or welfare recipients - and let the rest of us off the hook. The blame for the current state of our nation cannot be compared to the state of other nations - and let us off the hook because they have it worse than we do.

We have seen the enemy; it is us!
We are the ones with credit card debt.
The mortgage we cannot afford to pay.
The storage units for the stuff that we bought that won't fit into our overstuffed houses.
The distended bellies and thighs and bottoms due to the fattening and overprocessed foods and sedentary lifestyles that are killing us slowly.
We are the ones who import and export fear and hatred and intolerance.
We are the ones who refuse to forgive, to turn the other cheek, to be reconciled with each other.
We did this. I did this.

It seems to me that the sooner we face up to our individual and collective responsibility for the current state of our nation, the current state of our broken families, the current state of our dysfunctional unions, the sooner we have any chance of resolving any of this crap.




Am I the only one who wants to run away from all this and relocate in the Italian countryside?
Or perhaps hide away in a large Spanish city?
Am I the only one who wants to pull back into my shell and hide?


Perhaps, instead of all this complaining, I should go shopping.