I am not not depressed or feeling all is lost, but I am disappointed by many things that I have been taught to hold dear.
I am disappointed by a church (meant in the institutional and local sense) that equates propping up an organization with following Jesus. It acquired too much authority, too much money, too much political clout, too much self-righteousness, and at times, too much hatred. I think we should stop outsourcing our spiritual expression, and assume that responsibility for ourselves. We are the church and we need to act like it and find out how to actually be the church.
I am disappointed by our government that has become the master instead of the servant. The wealthy and the powerful have been running our country and our elected representatives are not representing us. It has not been a government of, for, or by the people. It is not our system of government that has failed us, but the abuses of that system. We need to find ways to reclaim it that go way beyond anger and a kneejerk response.
It will be a process, but it begins with knowledge, knowing how it works and how it is supposed to work, and knowing what is happening. Unfortunately, there seems to be a lot of emotion, but frighteningly little knowledge among the populace. Taking our government back will require getting your news from more than one source and reading your Twitter feed. It will require our involvement. That’s the way it was designed. It not just the people we have voted for that have broken things, we have have broken our nation by our willful ignorance and disengagement.
I am disappointed by people “voting with their middle finger” and reacting out of anger. Every leading candidate for the highest office in the land has vilified one group of people as the source of all of our ills. It is never that simple and this kind of thinking is never accurate. Everything wrong with the nation is not the fault of immigrants, the “Washington cartel,” the wall street bankers, or the other party. Somewhere along the way people who differ must talk and must listen to each other. That is a precious value we have lost and must find a way to regain.
I am disappointed that customer service phone numbers are very difficult to find. Customers are referred to online forums and FAQ’s. Companies do not want to spend money on needed customer service. Most of them are busy recruiting new customers with short term deals that automatically turn into “ugly Bills.” They laugh all the way to the bank. Most companies are greedy and care little about loyal customers who encounter a problem with their product. We should vote with our wallet and drop them like a rock. But how many times are you going to go through the hassle of changing your service? Will it be any better?
I am disappointed by educational institutions that cause more debt than employment. It takes too long and way too much much money to get an education that does not lead to a job. Education has become an gigantic industry and it has failed us. This system can and must be streamlined.
I am disappointed by a financial system that keeps the little guy struggling and makes the rich guy richer. It is a service industry that became a house of cards that rewarded those who could build the biggest most complex structure, even though it was doomed to crash.
Institutions are born to serve, grow to be served, and eventually, must be re-invented. We are at one of those crazy junctures in history when a lot of things seem to be failing at once. That’s why frustration is so prevalent.
I am not sure that reform will take care of some of these problems. I am not sure that revolution is the answer either. It tends to be angry, bloody, and focused on the past. I think we need a big dose of reinvention.
Emoji by Genshin Souzou K.K. [Phantom Creation Inc] at http://genshin.org
