Hope

I’ve been feeling a little down lately, partly about my crummy job and partly around the issue of self-worth.

Candle of HopeSorry to anyone who reads here and is tired of my more-and-more frequent whining. I love to laugh and have fun, but I haven’t been doing as much of that as I want. So here’s what I’m going to try:

I’m going to have hope. I’m going to hope that none of my selfish coworkers pull any annoying stunts that will make my job harder. I’m going to hope that my latest (and most obnoxious) boss moves on soon, leaving Upper Management chastened about their hiring practices, and looking for someone with more insight and compassion. In fact, I’m going to expect these things, which would be just the opposite of what I have been expecting lately.

Furthermore, I’m going to hope and expect that I will somehow find more time for playing music, and that I figure out how to hook up with like-minded musicians to play with. I’ll be hoping and expecting that the creative ideas I have inside me will pop out when I need them, when I’m stuck for a line or a rhyme, when I’m jamming and I don’t know where to go.

I’ll also be hoping and expecting that I’ll find a new day job pretty soon, something moderately satisfying and arguably ethical. I think I’ve been bringing myself down by expecting the worst every day. I don’t expect to fly like Peter Pan by thinking good thoughts, but maybe if I focus more on what could go right, I’ll be able to smile more each day.
I may not have much faith, but I can always hope, and maybe if I start the day expecting better things, I’ll even get to laugh and have a little fun.

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On a more somber note, can we all stop talking about “surging” the troops in Iraq? This is just another cheesy White House euphemism meant to conceal what’s really happening. During the Viet Nam conflict, they called it “escalation.” Maybe if we called it what it is, we could talk about it more intelligently. It is sending more troops to battle. Period. The lesson of Viet Nam was not that you have to win or the world will fall apart. The lesson of Viet Nam is that determined and dedicated locals can beat you no matter how much power you think you have.

The experts, and the President is not one of them, agree that more troops would simply be more targets. There is a civil war going on there now. Nobody is neutral. The locals are not “seeking a political solution.” Anyone you meet on the street is in one camp or the other, and our soldiers are in the middle. Our government has been dishonorable, and now we are not trusted. Everyone wants us to leave, and they will shoot at us until we do. Sending more troops to battle will only prolong the agony. Maybe President Bush wants to do just that: string the stalemate out until he leaves office, and let the next president extricate us. The voters clearly don’t want to do it this way. They have seen that this war is a monumental mistake, and they want out, now.

Will we kill a million people and spend a trillion dollars so that Bush can feel good about himself?

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11 Replies to “Hope”

  1. yes, I think we will: kill the people and spend the money. I realize an impeachment might not stick, but I wonder if it could keep him too busy to wage further war? Or will Laura Bush just have to cut off his dick and let him bleed to death one night? That sounds good, too!

  2. Some of your worries may stem from your hoping that the things that are out of your control will get better. When I do this, I remind myself that I shouldn’t worry about what I can’t influence or control and focus on what I can do. Sometimes, it helps…
    As for the Iraq War, maybe we should have tried to absorb the people and ideas of that country instead of trying to make them be more like us. If you win hearts and minds, it saves on the bullets you have to use to defend your ideas. That place is a mess and I fear that there will be no easy way out for them or us

  3. Don’t worry. I am sure after 4 years of senseless bloody slaughter, lies and “catastrophic failures,” and “missions accomplished” 20,000 more people in there will make it all better.

    No problems…nope….

    all is well

  4. I’m just struck by how apparently no one did any research into the history of the Iraqi people before invading. I suspect that someone could have forseen the Sunni/Shiite turbulance, no?

  5. They did the research. We were going to be greeted as liberators. The invasion would pay for itself though oil revenue. Good thing we invaded, since they could have hit us in 45 minutes with those WMDS they had stockpiled.

    See how much stuff the Bush people had right?

    I’m sure we can count on them to do the right thing with the surge.

    We just cant pull out now.

  6. Ron – You can’t trust Laura, especially when she gets all liquored up.

    Aydreeyin – Hope is all I have these days. It’s better than throwing furniture.

    Steve – Welcome! I’m pretty old, and I’ve seen good presidents and bad, but I’ve never seen one so stoopid.

    kStyle – Continuing my reply to Steve (above), you just don’t expect those in power to screw up so spectacularly. You’d think that just the manuevering required to get your ass into the White House would weed out the bufoons and the bumblers. But no.

  7. Larry,

    Hat tip to Baines, I butted in through his blog. He is an extraordinarily stewpid man. Sorry to “surge” in with so much sarcasm, but this one really takes the “yellow cake”….this ridiculous noise about his little speech. I am sure it will spelled out phonetically for him.

  8. I hope you get everything you desire, sweetheart. And if for some reason you don’t, I hope you get something even better … perhaps a perfectly delightful, unexpected surprise.

  9. Hat tip to Baines, I butted in through his blog. He is an extraordinarily stewpid man.

    Hoo yu kalling stoopid Steev???

    Oh… nevermind. I thought you meant.. no. nevermind… 😉

    Hang in there, Larry. I’m really glad I like my job and, even though my company buys and sells more diesel fuel than almost anybody else on the planet, I know it’s an important service and think we handle it as decently and conscientiously as possible*.

    My point is that liking it has kept me at it, even thought, nearly each of the last 5 years, I’ve said I’m going back to school. I even took the LSAT a few years back, then when and got married again instead.

    {sighhh}

    Keep Hope Alive, amigo! And don’t put aside the music regardless of whether you’ve compadres with whom to jam.

    * For the most part though, I still think America unequivocally needs to dedicate itself to building a high-speed rail system in order to deal with the coming of Peak Oil.

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