The world's on fire these days. Not only globally but locally as well. It's not far away lands that are getting scorched but inside your own house as well. If somehow you are able to survive all of this while being truly content then I'm jealous and happy for you.
If you think the strings that connect you to the rest of the world aren't being pulled then your head is in the sand. We have been taken over and controlled by forces more greater and powerful than the human spirit. Sounds a little conspiracy theory like right? Well just look around.
I can remember counseling parents of children who were acting out and sitting on the brink of mental illness vs behavioral problems. One of the greatest weapons people, both kids and adults, have in their quiver is splitting. Splitting occurs when one person, or group, or even an ideology, creates a wedge between people. Kids do it with parents all of the time, usually, because one of them allows it. Just remember back when you were a kid and were called down to the couch because you messed up, and both of your parents were sitting there. You had no where to run, no way to split and divide them, and really no way to win.
We, as a people, are more divided than we ever have been before, in my opinion. And opinions, well really sides these days, are becoming the downfall of society. And when opinions, and the people who hold them, are grouped together they become weaponized, and people with weapons hurt people. I used to joke about "safe spaces" years ago when it came to children. The idea was kids needed to exist in a place where they were always safe, in their schools, on the playing fields, in restaurants, the workplace, and at the dinner table. And I'm not talking physical safety. They were elevated to the rank of adults, they were seen as equal. Do you remember when parents used to say kids should be seen and not heard? Then do you remember when kids were starting to be allowed to call adults by their first name? When did that happen? If you're old like me then you remember adults were called by Mr. or Mrs. or Sir or Ma'am. "Well you can still respect them if you call them by their first name?". Um no. I can remember cringing when I was introduced to a 12-year old as Colin, and it would make my blood boil.
Technology and the media have taken over the world and our minds, and we contuinue to allow it. Hey, years ago even this blog and space didn't exist. This piece is kind of what I cringe, just another opinion offered out there to those that are willing to read it. I used to find the newspapers and the news a place to go for the facts, until that didn't matter anymore. That's not to say news outlets weren't slanted a bit here and there, but they did what they did, you read or watched them or not, and went about your "normal" lives. And then we went to opinion-based reporting with a 24-hour news cycle. And that's no just with the news, like newsworthy events, but everything and anything within reach every time we click, turn on, log in, or access what have become weapons that injure our minds, relationships, and lives.
Let me ask you this, when's the last time you heard about Ukraine? It used to be thrown at us 24-hours a day. Did Ukraine just go away? Are people still suffering and dying over there? Aren't we still sending them millions if not billions of dollars? What happened to all those blue over yellow flags and bumper stickers we saw everywhere? Where's the Black Lives Matter signs? Where's the LGBTQIA flags? What happened to Covid and Fauci? Covid still exists. Each week I gear up to enter a patient's room who is Covid positive. It's still out there and people still die from it, we just don't hear about it.
We have been sucked into the quagmire of content overkill these days. If it's not the "news" outlets, and I say that loosely as true journalism is dead, and has been for some time, it's anyone who can make a post or a video. And when you click on something that algorithym that is watching and tracking you sees the crack in the door and then bombards you with similar content. Just do a quick search or click on a post or an ad for workboots and see what happens. Want to check out GLP-1's these days, forget it, you'll never be able to see stuff from your "friends" or regarding things you have previously viewed. And those short videos of people dancing, people falling, people scantily clad? Viewer, or buyer, beware, there's a file somewhere tracing all of your activity, and how you think and act when in front of the phone, tablet, or computer screen.
It's all fun and games until it's not. These days we have more of a relationship with our chosen technology then each other. There are more boundaries between humans then what has been created using all of those technological advances that our younger generations love. And the more we use them the more we get away from reality and each other. We have lost the ability to think for ourselves and exist with each other, especially if our opinions are different.
These days we are bombarded with things that "they" say we need to know about. Bad Bunny. Trump. Minnesota. ICE. Voter registration. Epstein, just to name a few. I can tell you this, they will all go away, only to be replaced by the latest narrative that fits what "they" deem important. And these days the "they" has changed as AI and ChatGPT has taken over what separates us from animals and technology, our brains. We are thinking less for ourselves these days and allowing others to decide what matters to us and how we feel about said topics, and each other. The last thing "they" want is for us to just all get along. Forever the divide and tensions played into the narrative of good vs evil, and these days there's more evil around then good. And back one of the bigger stories of these times like enforcing immigration laws of the United States. During a former presidency, between 2009 - 2017, 3 million people were deported. Where was the absolute outrage then? "They" and "we" pick and choose what works for us or not. We are shallow. We forget. We are weak. Go Google your favorite guy or girl from way back and see what they said and did about the same hot topics we obsess over these days. Remember, your being played.
Yesterday in the late afternoon I left the students in the emergency department and made my way to the vending machine for a quick snack. I saw an elderly lady sitting alone under a hospital blanket in the warmest row of seats along the window. I decided to go over and sit down and say hello. "Hey girlfriend, how ya' doin'?" She summed it all up for me, "Baby, I'm tired". She summed up in two words how I felt as well. And for the next 15 minutes two human beings just sat there chatting it up as we watched the people who weren't actually ill enough to get a direct seat inside the ER. The floors were covered in dirt and salt, the space didn't smell like flowers, and the security guards had to calm down the frustrated and frequent flyers. It was like we were sitting there as two buds or a couple watching a movie or TV show.
We didn't talk about what "they" say should be floating around in our brains or on the tip of our tongues. While our journeys in life have been different, at that moment, for that moment, we were just two people enjoying the time and attention each one of us gave each other. And after we said our good-byes I put my ID badge up to the scanner that allowed me back into the war room of the ED. As I walked to a room that had increased in the number of staff and the sounds of alarms I couldn't help but allow my ears to take in the sounds from the other rooms. There were three to be exact, one was the sound of the current report for the search of Savannah Guthrie's mom, one was about Epstein, and the last about Trump and Bondi. Truth be told the people lying on the stretchers and sitting at the beds weren't even paying attention.
Life's a mess these days and yes the World is on Fire.