It all seems a terrible dream even by my standards jaded by too many years as a newsman.
Another hurricane causes death and destruction.
Another major financial firm faces bankruptcy.
The state legislature cuts a budget deal 11 weeks after the deadline that isn't a budget at all, and actually will make the situation worse before long.
And we are confronted with the aftermath of an unspeakable tragedy in our own backyard that has investigators at war with each other as they try to determine if the engineer really was text messaging with some teenage boys as his train was heading toward disaster.
Maybe we sll should get down on our knees and pray like so many did over the weekend as they grieved for those who were killed or hoped for the recovery of those who were injured.
Nature itself seems angry at us and too many of us seemed to have lost all sense whether we're engaged in high finance or more mundane occupations.
My darkness at dawn this morning isn't just about the confluence of events this weekend. It's hardly the first time I've felt like the world's gone mad and things are going to get a lot worse before they get better.
Truth is a vision of looming catastrophe has haunted my thoughts most of my life. Maybe it started with being made to crouch under my desk in grade school to prepare for a nuclear way. Maybe it was the anti-Communist fanaticism or the racism exposed in the '50s or the assassination of those with the power to inspire in the '60s. Maybe it's the endless wars and pointless ideological conflicts that have brought our society to a standstill even as we continue our addiction to materialism as if more of everything could ever make us happy.
All I know is we have to change our ways before it's too late. We have to get back to basics in our personal lives and we have to start fixing what's broken in our collective lives.
I've been in awe most of my adult life at the resiliency of our society to sustain itself even as the disparities in our society grow wider, and the divisions between us harden.
None of us is free of responsibility for the state of things. We are all going to have to change our minds about the way we live, what's really important and how we are going to get along together.
There is no evidence that our government or our civic leaders are going to be the driving force of change. Wealth and power are the strongest narcotics. Change is going to have to come from the grassroots, from ordinary people waking up and starting to do something about the world around them.
This is as close as I can come to putting into words what I believe. It's why I've gotten involved with others who have worked for years to try to make their neighborhoods and our city better. It's why we somehow have to get others to pay attention.
The warning signs are everywhere. If we keep going on the path we're on, the tragedies will only grow larger, the breakdown of our society will only grow worse.
So put me in the doomsayer class and ignore me, ignore the trend lines that are all heading in the same direction toward a collision at some point in the future. Keep mortgaging the future and living like there's no tomorrow.
Just know this: In all our lives, rich or poor, smart or dumb, beautiful or not, all bills come due sooner or later. And when you have moments of doubt sometimes that awaken you in the middle of night, dwell on it for a while and maybe you'll change your mind and start making different choices.
That's the only miracle there is and as far as I can see, we need some miracles.
.
Another hurricane causes death and destruction.
Another major financial firm faces bankruptcy.
The state legislature cuts a budget deal 11 weeks after the deadline that isn't a budget at all, and actually will make the situation worse before long.
And we are confronted with the aftermath of an unspeakable tragedy in our own backyard that has investigators at war with each other as they try to determine if the engineer really was text messaging with some teenage boys as his train was heading toward disaster.
Maybe we sll should get down on our knees and pray like so many did over the weekend as they grieved for those who were killed or hoped for the recovery of those who were injured.
Nature itself seems angry at us and too many of us seemed to have lost all sense whether we're engaged in high finance or more mundane occupations.
My darkness at dawn this morning isn't just about the confluence of events this weekend. It's hardly the first time I've felt like the world's gone mad and things are going to get a lot worse before they get better.
Truth is a vision of looming catastrophe has haunted my thoughts most of my life. Maybe it started with being made to crouch under my desk in grade school to prepare for a nuclear way. Maybe it was the anti-Communist fanaticism or the racism exposed in the '50s or the assassination of those with the power to inspire in the '60s. Maybe it's the endless wars and pointless ideological conflicts that have brought our society to a standstill even as we continue our addiction to materialism as if more of everything could ever make us happy.
All I know is we have to change our ways before it's too late. We have to get back to basics in our personal lives and we have to start fixing what's broken in our collective lives.
I've been in awe most of my adult life at the resiliency of our society to sustain itself even as the disparities in our society grow wider, and the divisions between us harden.
None of us is free of responsibility for the state of things. We are all going to have to change our minds about the way we live, what's really important and how we are going to get along together.
There is no evidence that our government or our civic leaders are going to be the driving force of change. Wealth and power are the strongest narcotics. Change is going to have to come from the grassroots, from ordinary people waking up and starting to do something about the world around them.
This is as close as I can come to putting into words what I believe. It's why I've gotten involved with others who have worked for years to try to make their neighborhoods and our city better. It's why we somehow have to get others to pay attention.
The warning signs are everywhere. If we keep going on the path we're on, the tragedies will only grow larger, the breakdown of our society will only grow worse.
So put me in the doomsayer class and ignore me, ignore the trend lines that are all heading in the same direction toward a collision at some point in the future. Keep mortgaging the future and living like there's no tomorrow.
Just know this: In all our lives, rich or poor, smart or dumb, beautiful or not, all bills come due sooner or later. And when you have moments of doubt sometimes that awaken you in the middle of night, dwell on it for a while and maybe you'll change your mind and start making different choices.
That's the only miracle there is and as far as I can see, we need some miracles.
.
Ron Kaye is the former editor of the Los Angeles Daily News where he spent 23 years helping to make the newspaper the voice of the San Fernando Valley and fighting for a city government that serves the people and not special interests.
Twice in recent years, Los Angeles Magazine listed Kaye among the city’s most influential people, specifically in the area of politics. Kaye has been variously described in the media as the “accidental anarchist,” “the Patrick Henry of the San Fernando Valley” and a “passionate populist.” He is now committed to
carrying on his crusade for a greater Los Angeles as an ordinary citizen. Previously, Ron worked at the Los Angeles Herald Examiner,
Associated Press, Cleveland Plain Dealer and The Australian as well as papers
in Fairbanks, Alaska and Yakima, Wash. He also wrote for Newsweek magazine, The Guardian in London and the National Enquirer.
Ron,
I don't know if you've ever build a sophisticated project. You design it as a whole, but you don't necessarily look at it as a whole. You examine it in small pieces, bit by bit. You build it in small pieces, bit by bit. It takes a longer time to complete. But little by little, you solve the problem.
Dear Ron, and all, it would be easy to panic, but instead - take it easy. Remember that adage "One day at a time"? That is the way I am going. I highly recommend it. Do not panic!
Whatever is going to follow this weekend of bad news will appear, and we will then be in a position to know how to recover. God bless us sll. Amen. TH
I'm with you, Ron. I don't think the U.S. has ever been this "messed up." Nor is the problem limited to L.A. and California. Case in point: the Republican Party argues that Sarah Palin is qualified on foreign policy because she can SEE Russia from Alaska?! My dogs and I can see the Moon from our back yard. That doesn't make us astronauts or astronomers.
We don't need a miracle. We need smart people who otherwise would have no interest in government to "step up to the plate" and replace the clowns to whom we have abandoned control of our local, state and national government.
We also need to reform the election process so that a candidate's ability to raise money is irrelevant. Otherwise, special interests that can benefit tremendously from electing "their" candidates will always triumph over the public interest.
But the first step to solving the problem is to acknowledge it, which you have done, eloquently as usual.
Amen Ron.
Other than "nature seeming to be angry with us," I agree with all you said.
Nature is not, never has been, never will be angry with us. Nature does its "nature thing" whether we're here or not.
It is we mortals who anthropomorphize nature, giving natural occurrences human characteristics such as vicious and angry.
Something we should keep in mind, but never do, is that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.
Therefore, when we mess with nature rather than living with it, nature will bite us in the arse, which is really us doing it to ourselves.
Dam a river and eventually it will find another bed to flow through; build sea walls and the sand will pile up somewhere else; build cities on top of earthquake faults and they will come tumbling down; build dwellings too close to the shore and the water will ebb and flow up to us, around us or through us.
Ron,
I am more optimistic than you because I find the root of much of what you point out in stupidity and greed.
And ultimately we can have more effective government if we limit the role of government.
Giving government a huge role in the say so on everything from whether or not a store uses plastic bags to how big your home can be to what you're going to eat for lunch gives the politicians tremendous value to those who make their living around any of those issues. With massive regulation and restriction from government, business finds itself forced - in order to survive - to shower politicians with cash to circumvent the very regulations they've imposed. Then government has to create more government to follow up on the additional government it's created and it's a vicious circle.
Now you could go to public financing, but first how are we going to afford that, how much more bureaucracy do you have to create for that and is it even constitutional? And the politicians and special interests will still find a way to go around it.
It appears to me that the corruption of public officials has increased commensurate to the increase in their role of oversight and ability to hand out pieces of the pie to special interests, whether it's unions, non-profits or business. If we could cut back on that, we'd eliminate the incentive for fraud, waste, abuse and government that no longer represents the people.
However, as Gordon Liddy said, "Once the toothpaste is out of the tube, it's hard to get it back in."
Miracles are what's needed and that's for sure. However, we have seen a minor miracle by watching Obama get the nomination, so I'll take that one for a starter.
The only way to bring forth change is to expose the local, county and federal politicians, Republican and Democratic a like, on their money trail. Both Presidential Candidates Barack Obama and John McCain are claiming CHANGE????
Please view videos on ABC News: The Money Trail with Brian Ross & The Investigative Team.
ABC News – Nightline
http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/MoneyTrail/
The only way to bring forth change is to expose the Local, County, State and Federal politicians, Republican and Democratic a like, on their money trail. Both Presidential Candidates Barack Obama and John McCain are claiming CHANGE????
Please view videos on ABC News: The Money Trail with Brian Ross & The Investigative Team.
ABC News – Nightline
http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/MoneyTrail/
We have been living like ostriches with our heads buried in the sand. In a state of denial if we do not see it, it does not exists. So we go along in life watching TV, soap operas, sports, shopping, getting in debt, etc. Anything we can do to distract ourselves from the truth. We accept what those in the government tell us because it is more comfortable and easier for us. We follow them so we do not have to think for ourselves and trust that they will take care of us (the sheep mentality). The time has come to wake up from the lie we been living and it is not going to be pleasant, the signs have been there all along and we have ignored them.
We are just like the addict that has to hit bottom before he realizes that is up to him to change things. We cannot blame anyone else but ourselves for allowing things to come this far. We also have to realize that we all are in this together. That what each one of us does affects others not just us.
There is hope. I have been noticing that there are clusters in different levels of society that indicate an awakening for a better world. In music, movies, radio, internet, science, and many other areas there is a message that is changing our view of the world.
People know they have rights as human beings and some are challenging the status quo. The internet gives us the ability to communicate with each other across the world and we can obtain information that before was denied to us.
The challenge for each person is which pill they are willing to take. Will it be the blue or the red pill?
Miracles...Obama...
Sen. Obama is no different than the cretins who run City Hall in L.A.
He is a Flim-Flan Man who has no record of accomplishment except being elected (especially after getting his opposition disqualified), and running his mouth.
Anyone looking for miracles from mere mortals is either going to be continually disappointed, is in serious need of professional help, or both.