THROTTLE by GORDY GRUNDY FEBRUARY ISSUE No. 13 |
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CHANGE.
HOPE. RUN. |
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As
long time readers know, this column advocates a period of clarity in
celebration of the New Year. This
cleansing, a vacation
from one’s own bad habits, serves as a tribute to hope, prosperity
and Good Luck. It is a period of reflection and redemption, a time to
reconnect to the nature of the universe around us. In true American style, we have embraced Change. Not with a nod, a handshake or a hearty hello, we have assaulted Change with a full bear hug and wet, sloppy kisses. We Americans wanted Change and we are about to be swimming in it. This is not the kind of Change where we get to put our toe in the water to test the temperature as we ease into the pool. This is the psychic equivalent of a callous father teaching his kid to swim the hard way.
Have
we really thought this ‘change’ business through? If we had
taken a deep breath and a step back, America might have been just as happy with
Jay Leno moving to the ten o’clock slot. The bumper sticker on the back
of my truck reads ‘Keep America. Change Hollywood.’ Our antsy shuffle
for change could have been a simple plea for a new Pop Culture. God knows we
need one. We’re bored across the board. Maybe we just wanted clever,
un-recycled entertainment with fresh, admirable celebrities. Until Brittany
gets recruited
by the CIA, I doubt anything interesting and new will ever happen. Change.
Changing your oil every 3,000 miles is sound advice and does not require
much effort. Regime and policy change does. It’s a lotta work. It demands
skillful thinking, a thoughtful reasoning and a virtue of principle. Cause and
effect must flower a ‘job well done’. There must be a benefit
to the cost. There
is no turning back now. The eyes of the world are upon us. The ball
is on the three-yard line in the final two seconds of the fourth
quarter.
I’m
not quite sure how we got here, but when you’re snuggly, it’s too
cold to think outside the covers. The devastating effects of ancient sins, such
as greed and hubris, have called us to action. We can no longer wait until next
week to get organized. Admiral Yamamoto, the architect of the Japanese attack
on Pearl Harbor, feared that he had ‘awakened a sleeping giant.’ Today,
we’ve had the warm blanket ripped off the bed. Our saucer-wide
eyes are the question marks to: How did it get so cold, so fast?!? The
world shuffles its deck. This last year started at a quick jog and
ended in a frantic sprint. There’s a twitch in my eye.
It flutters from exhaustion, anxiety and fear, like a desperate
fly glued
to a cobweb.
In his race to circumvent
the globe in eighty days, Phileas Fogg, the Jules Verne character,
buys the wood ship he has chartered and strips the decks and cargo
to make
fuel for
the fire-burning
steam engine. I can think of no better analogy. Our assets have
been squandered and now we must cut our comfortable chaff. A Minimalist
philosophy must
replace the extra foam of the latte in our lives. It is time to
go
back to work. A New Year holds the hope and promise of a better world, of prosperity, harmony
and love. Unfortunately, these values are now taxable. |
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