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Sunday, August 7, 2011

Serenity Now!

One of my favorite lines in a TV sitcom ever is when Frank Costanza screams, "Serenity now!" in an episode of Seinfield.  Ever felt like shouting that?  I've been reading the news a lot the last little while.  Every day I read what is going on in our country. For the first time I've been absorbed in keeping up with current events, understanding economics, finance, and political bathwater.  I've never before been so engaged, involved, and dissatisfied.

I heard about the tragedy in Afghanistan with the American troops that were shot down, and so I wanted to read about what happened.  It was actually not that easy to track down.  It wasn't a big headline or on breaking news, so I wondered if maybe it had been too long between the incident and when I tried to find it.  But when is too long?  If it happened Saturday, and Sunday morning I go to read about it and I have to dig around to find it, has the media already forgotten about it?  Have they already forgotten about the families affected?

Guess what's on the front page of CNN right now?  A huge story about a convention where hackers from across America get together to learn tricks of the trade.  8 year olds are learning how to hack computers and pick locks.  There are several stories about the national debt and the foul play in Washington.  A crazy sect leader who raped his nephew.  Robberies, shoot outs, and a story about people who lit cars on fire because of a murder.  And guess what also shares that same page?  An article about how Ashton Kutcher filmed his first episode of Two and a Half Men.  That's worthy of sharing the same page as Americans shot down in Afghanistan?

It makes me sick.  I'm sick of the media feeding us such depressing material.  I'm sick of the awful people creating depressing material to be shared by the media.   I'm sick of headlines. I'm sick of politicians.

What an awful place we live in.

I read an article on Friday entitled, "Are the Millennials Cut Out For this Job Market?" which at first glance leads you to believe that its another article publishing the stories of recent college grads destined for greatness that are parking cars and waiting tables.  It is, however, not about that at all.  The misleading title lures you into a slanderous and condescending article written by a Baby Boomer who believes that my generation is annoying, demanding, self-centered, and lazy.  There are members of my generation who fit that description, but there are also a great deal who fit that description who span other generations as well.

Apparently my generation is being deemed as a failure by many, and it's predicted that we don't have what it takes to carry this country in the future.  Well, we're being handed a very difficult burden to shoulder, and who's fault is that?

I was proud to be an American.  I think I'll be apathetically complacent to be a Canadian.

Serenity now.