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AN INTERESTING DAY ON THE INTERNET

By on • ( 33 )

Interesting is hardly the way to put it. An understatement at the very least.

It’s a pretty mucky day on the Internet. Not that we haven’t had a lot of days like this. Too many days like this. Too many mass shootings. Too many catastrophes, natural and man-made. Too many political crises here and abroad.

These past few years have been interesting. Really, really interesting.

“May you live in interesting times” is an English expression purported to be a translation of a traditional Chinese curse. While seemingly a blessing, the expression is always used ironically, with the clear implication that ‘uninteresting times’, of peace and tranquillity, are more life-enhancing than interesting ones, which from historical perspective usually include disorder and conflict.

Despite being so common in English as to be known as the “Chinese curse”, the saying is apocryphal, and no actual Chinese source has ever been produced. The most likely connection to Chinese culture may be deduced from analysis of the late-19th century speeches of Joseph Chamberlain, probably erroneously transmitted and revised through his son Austen Chamberlain. – Wikipedia

Last I checked, 58 (or was it 59?) people were dead from yesterday’s shooting in Las Vegas. They don’t even know why the guy did it, but he sure did have a lot of guns, eh? The second amendment didn’t fail him.

Haven’t checked the current numbers. There may be more by now, but I’m pretty sure there won’t be fewer. Meanwhile, people really are dying in Puerto Rico, even if our so-called President thinks they are lazy and therefore deserve to die. Not to worry, though. He dedicated a special Golf Trophy to them … and I bet that has made them feel much better.

The world has been too interesting.

The older I get, the more I yearn for quiet, restful tedium. Apparently that is not to be my generation’s lot in life. We are the embattled Baby Boomers, fighting for better days. Thinking we won, discovering we didn’t, fighting some more. Finally, wondering if maybe we should just hang out with our dogs because we’ve been fighting all our lives and instead of getting better, everything seems worse.

Interesting. Yes, life is interesting. Is your life half as interesting as mine? Is yours even worse?

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33 replies

  1. lwbut
    10/04/2017 • 02:35

    Always look on the Bright Side of Life… phee-eew phee-eew phewphewphewphew 😀

    love

    Like

  2. lwbut
    10/04/2017 • 00:40

    My life is exactly what i have settled for. I had the ability to make it much much better than it could have been but not the ambition or driving force necessary to do so.

    I am infinitely better off than the vast majority of human beings on this planet and have far more than i deserve, considering what the ‘average’ human being gets/has to live like/with. I would put myself around 6.8-6.9 billion out of the 7.1 or so billion humans on this planet in terms of well-offness.

    I grumble, whine and bitch about politicians, the Rich, and the stupidity of mankind that i see mostly from media broadcasts whose job lately has been to massively dramatise anything and everything to gain viewers so they can sell more advertising to global corporations and small business alike in order to stay in competition against the social media garbled garbage that passes for information (news) today. I do this despite never having earned the right to by engaging in politics (other than compulsory voting in our election and a short lived voluntary role in a minor political group), wealth acquisition or educating those i consider ‘stupid’ (like i’m the best judge of that!?) with any degree of effort other than my blog.

    All things considered ( one of which is that i don’t, and never will, live in America ) my life is far better than i feel i deserve; i am very fortunate in so many ways and i really should show it more than i do.

    I should also stop comparing ‘the world’ i see on ‘the News’ to the world i LIVE in, which, while not entirely under my control, and is affected slightly by my politicians and big business and technology way out of my power to determine it’s future direction, is actually a very safe and normal and peaceful one in actuality.

    There are very very few people in this world i would swap lives with.

    That undoubtedly puts me in a very small minority. 😉

    The world may not be all that nice or fair a place at the moment but i believe a large proportion of that is down to the perspectives other people place upon our own view – at least it seems that way for me. I’m getting a VERY negatively biased view of ALL that is happening on my planet.

    love

    Like

    • Marilyn Armstrong
      10/04/2017 • 01:07

      I don’t think the world gets better than that for anyone. If you are happy and safe in your life, what more could you want? It’s why I don’t understand the super-rich who are still trying to squeeze the last few pennies from those who have much less. What more do they need? They already have everything.

      I love my life. I just wish we were a little less poor. It would make things easier if we didn’t have to struggle. I also know we are incredibly lucky to have each other and live in a place that is beautiful. Life could be a LOT worse — and is for many people.

      Like

  3. Tish Farrell
    10/03/2017 • 13:48

    Hang out with dogs – that seems like a very sound option. There were some really nice dogs in Greece. They guarded their humans’ boundaries with a good bark, but were never nasty about it.

    Like

  4. Fandango
    10/03/2017 • 13:46

    The times we live in are frustrating, angering, and sometimes appear almos hopeless. But the times are all too interesting. Maybe, as Bob Dylan once sang, “the times they are a changin.”

    Like

  5. Covert Novelist
    10/03/2017 • 13:31

    Previous generations were about making life better, ridding us of discrimination and trying to teach a better way. Unfortunately, today, people are so caught up in trying to provide for their families while the rich get richer that we’re losing the war. Individually some have grown changed moved on, but this generation I fear isn’t winning any real battles against the greed that perpetuates so much of what we see. I don’t know this guys story, much less care. I have my own thoughts on that but I certainly have great compassion for the victims of this heinous crime.

    Like

    • Marilyn Armstrong
      10/03/2017 • 14:01

      I don’t think most of us are trying to get rich. I’m pretty sure that most people are just trying to do well enough so they are more than one paycheck away from living on the street. The greed that gets me are the super ridiculously rich people who are doing everything in their power to get even richer. They already have so much money they couldn’t spend it all if they did NOTHING but spend money for the rest of their lives. So why are they so obsessed with getting MORE?

      Like

  6. Bridgesburning Chris
    10/03/2017 • 13:17

    It does seem that what we won was a facade…struggle is eternal I think

    Like

  7. UnSilenceTheSilent
    10/03/2017 • 13:10

    I have also noticed this on the interwebs that over the past weeks to now, the media and other outlets have been talking about everything about anything. Yea, recently it’s been mostly negatives but it would be neat to see positivity.

    Like

    • Marilyn Armstrong
      10/03/2017 • 13:56

      Well, given what’s been going on, how positive do your want to get? Between the hurricanes and devastation they have wrought — and let us not forget yesterday’s mass shooting in Vegas … Can YOU find something positive in that? Because I can’t.

      Sometimes, the world is not doing well. Pretending everything is fun on a bun makes us look like morons. I try not to spend ALL my time dwelling in the muck, but reality bites. I do not have to like it and neither do you.

      Sometimes, bad really IS bad.

      But not to worry. Our current administration has more than enough spin doctors to make everything look pretty. Golf trophies to an island of Americans where there’s no water or electricity. Yeah!

      Like

      • UnSilenceTheSilent
        10/03/2017 • 14:12

        Not really what I was saying exactly. I was saying aside from the negatives. It would be nice if the media would actually put something positive in there

        Like

        • Marilyn Armstrong
          10/03/2017 • 14:37

          They do. I certainly do. But it is hard to find something positive that can overcome the very big real ugly problems we are facing. When hundreds of thousands of people are dying for lack of food, electricity, water … well it is a bit distracting.

          There used to BE quiet news days when positive stories would fill up “the gap” … but when has there been a quiet news day during the past few years? It has been frantic, frightening, and often deeply disturbing and depressing. I don’t know where you live, but being here has not been a positive experience for anyone. It doesn’t mean everyone is personally miserable, but it makes it difficult to find a place to put those sweet stories we all love.

          Like

  8. swo8
    10/03/2017 • 12:50

    There’s this overwhelming numbing that seems to overcome one in these times of mass shootings and horrible occurrences. We will overcome this. If we only knew why.
    Leslie

    Like

    • Marilyn Armstrong
      10/03/2017 • 13:51

      Sometimes, I have to wonder if humans as a species are too thick to really learn anything permanently. We get it, then we lose it. We meet the enemy. Beat the enemy, then invite the enemy back into our homes. I think trying to make sense of it will drive us all bonkers.

      Liked by 3 people

      • swo8
        10/03/2017 • 14:07

        These are all situations beyond our control. Hopefully, we can learn some survival techniques from this. But all it takes is on maniac out there to disrupt a lot of other people’s lives.

        Liked by 1 person

        • lwbut
          10/04/2017 • 00:14

          Situations beyond our control – Magnified many times over by our dramatically increased mass and individual communications in modern times – like blogging for example! 😉 Used to be one time that the only bad news you got was from your village, or you might hear if your country actually went to war with someone, like, say, Spain, but it would take a month before anyone got round to telling you – and you had no idea what a Hurricane even was let alone be shocked that some place got flattened by one 2 000 miles away.

          One survival tip – focus on your neighbourhood and the people in it. Life can actually seem quite normal then.

          And by ‘normal’ i mean boring by comparison to what we see daily on the news. 😉

          love

          Liked by 1 person

          • Marilyn Armstrong
            10/04/2017 • 01:10

            Remarkably, at least since we could ride horse, humans have been surprisingly good at passing the news around. The “village-to-village” method worked very well here in the States. Not as fast as wifi, but with a day or two, everyone knew everything. I was actually surprised when I realized how quickly we managed to spread the news way back when. But. You needed a horse.

            Like

            • lwbut
              10/04/2017 • 02:38

              And then came the iron horse and the telegraph ‘road’ and the world as we knew it went to hell! 😉

              love

              Like

              • Marilyn Armstrong
                10/04/2017 • 04:51

                And keeps ON going to hell. Each time we thing “Well, this is as bad as it gets … I mean … it can’t get worse than this …” Yet, somehow, it DOES get worse. Because there’s a lot of “bottom” to our world.

                Like

          • swo8
            10/04/2017 • 11:03

            Boring is good Iwbut, boring is very good.
            Leslie

            Liked by 1 person

  9. Embeecee
    10/03/2017 • 12:47

    Is my life worse or better than yours? I couldn’t say. I’ve had some really bad times and I’ve had some stunningly wonderful times. It’s LIFE. I didn’t expect more or less really. I’m a ‘tail ender’ (a term coined for the tail end of the baby boomer explosion) and I’m happy enough right now to get by day to day. I don’t look further ahead. It’s just depressing (to me) if I do.

    Liked by 1 person

    • Marilyn Armstrong
      10/03/2017 • 12:49

      I am not talking about my personal life, which is pretty good, actually. I am talking about the greater world where things are NOT particularly good or even relatively normal.

      Like

  10. angloswiss
    10/03/2017 • 12:34

    I have also lived in many times, but none as dangerous and forbidding as those of today. Or are they. When we think it could not get worst, something else happens that is worst, much worst.

    Like

    • Marilyn Armstrong
      10/03/2017 • 12:43

      Around here, we never say:

      “What could possibly go wrong?”
      “Nothing more could go wrong.”

      Either of these, or anything like them is a jinx. Something WILL go wrong. Always. But these past few years have been bad. I remember other bad years, but at least from the point of view of news and the world, this is as bad as maybe the 1920s and 1930s. And we know where those years led.

      Liked by 1 person