I appreciate all your comments and perspectives; thank you.
Some days are like this for me. For depressives, maybe. Or just for people wired up like me. As far back as I can remember, I've always been like this. Very sensitive emotionally, easily moved to sadness and fear. They don't happen all the time, but some days are just for mourning. Always have been.
I like what you said next, FWIW; Christ is the answer. A tiny little prayer I hope Josh and others going through pain memorize: "Jesus, meek and humble of heart, make my heart like unto Thine."
I could have written your post and I agree about the 70’s. The only thing better then was that I still had that sense of hope in the future, the promise of better days. But that might have been because of my youth. I still feel grateful for all my blessings. But disoriented and disheartened by what goes on. God is our only refuge.
Yeah I can relate to that comment. I like Josh saw COVID as a scam as soon as the lockdowns and shortly thereafter masks were enforced. It boggled my mind that with 6 million years of human existence, almost all of it before modern medicine and sanitation how could we suddenly have this killer virus. None of it made sense.
But then it did make sense. This was clearly a means to get rid of Donald Trump, which it did for that go round, and perform a global experiment on western culture's willingness to immediately adapt to autocratic rule. We know how that went. And Big Pharma profits and maybe de-population.
Possibly we are seeing the beginning of the rejection of this autocratic, moronic, evil and hysterical rule. But it's not gone yet, by a long run. This is far bigger than the election of Donald Trump for a second time.
Hello Josh and, if it’s not too late, Happy New Year too. I’m 74 now so that makes me the “older generation” compared to you and your youthful generation. I identify with many of your observation but let me share with you what I have discovered during the 20 years that separate us.
Twenty years ago there were family and friends who aren’t here anymore. That took some getting use to and I’m still coping with it. To place a finer point on it, I know I’m getting old when I realize that increasingly most of the people that I ever cared about are now on the “other side.” They’re gone and I have my pleasant memories of them but it’s just not the same.
Then questions come to mind such as “Why am I still here and so many of my family/friends are not?” As the world sidelines us, politely termed retirement, I sense a disengagement from day-to-day reality. Us Boomers held centerstage for so many years that it’s startling to find we somehow have been relegated to the wings and people we don’t even know occupy the spotlight.
Yet I know this is the normal course of events. It always happens this way. Boomers had their chance, Woodstock and all that. I recall that sage question during the Vietnam War that went, “What if they gave a war and nobody came?” Even then I thought it pseudo-profound. If nobody came then there wouldn’t be a war. Next profound quote, please!
Do we ever figure it out even if we live to be 100? Heaven forbid. But I have learned one thing only recently. Life is still full of surprises for all of us. There is no age limit for that.
Thank you, Bob. It's good to hear from someone with a couple of decades on me now that I'm mature enough to listen to older people.
I suppose it's telling tales out of school a bit, but I'm going to do it anyway. I especially enjoy seeing your name pop up in the comments because when I worked for Funeral Consumers Alliance, and you worked for the industry trade group, and especially when I was very young and green in the job, I thought of you as "the adversary." In that typical, callow, self-assured-without-cause way that arrogant young people do. I'm sure it was evident.
Anyway, it's a pleasure to get to know you on good, friendly terms from a more mature perspective on my part. I'm glad we ran into each other again.
Shout out to the the great Paul Williams, who wrote the lyrics. Just sayin', Karen Carpenter only sang it.
This sort of disillusionment is ubiquitous throughout history I'm sure, but now it feels worse because now we are all so connected at the global scale, so that we might have ourselves a lousy morning because something depressing and awful happened to some people thousands of miles away, whereas long ago we wouldn't even know about it. One assumes that in those days, when things seemed terrible in our little corner of the world, there was always the possibility (regardless of how realistic it might have been), that we could just up and leave it behind and start over somewhere else. Now that option seems off the table, making everything feel way worse.
As a 65 year old I would only say that it’s great you are recognizing this, at any age. Many people never do. But I take hope in the growing number of people who won’t be fooled again. We had to succumb in order to see our grandkids, because so much of the younger generation questioned nothing. So I’m proud of you, and enjoy reading your work and the perspective you bring to this corner of the world.
A very dark time in our history and for the world as well. Never thought I would see our country, our world, plunge to the depths that it has.
The results of the election have lifted an unbearable weight from my heart, I just hope it can be sustained. We must never allow the darkness to return. The video of the Carpenters brought back a lot of memories, the first concert I ever attended, 1971, the fall of my freshman year. What an amazing voice she had and what a tragic life. Some of photos at the beginning of the video show the darkness and pain she was feeling but couldn’t escape.
Your thoughts are much like mine, Josh, except that I can see some very positive results within the whirling chaos, though at 71 I doubt I'll be here to see the genuine clearing of thought that I believe has begun in real time. Among them: the dissipating status of the horrid corporate media (a genuine evil that is going down as fast as they hold on to the absurdities of truth they've been dictating to the rest of us); the coincidence (?) that the houses of James Woods, Dr. Drew, and Adam Carolla--some of the most vocal critics of the Democrat deep state--were spared from catastrophic fires, almost as if the angel of death had passed them by, while, at the same time, the political careers of slime ball Gavin Newsom and other far-left Democrats are evaporating into smoke; and, best if all, the total fall from grace of Barack Obama, the faux oracle now rumored to be at odds with his wife (I never thought they were tight) and linked romantically to, of all people, Jennifer Aniston, the epitome of the all-American girl, who just happens to be white. Even if the last observation turns out to be wrong, the rumor itself shows that his diminishment is clear; his stature, collapsed. All in all, we just might be okay.
I laughed out loud at parts of this video, analyzing the "Armageddon bunker" photo Barack shared of him and Michelle on her birthday. She looks like a possessed Aunt Jemima. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4PSxu3iAupo
I never thought of the "coincidence" you pointed out--the houses of Woods, Pinsky, and Carolla being spared. Interesting. If we're very lucky, the disaster of the past month will be the nail in Newsom's political coffin. Good riddance, Governor Hair Gel!
And yet we have each other, as dissidents, also. So for those of us in deeply blue states and cities, after being out there among the people who are resisting change, we can come here and read that there are others like Josh and these commenter's who feel our pain. That's worth a lot to me right now.
You're not alone. Tulsi Gabbard, Megyn Kelly, James Howard Kunstler, Matt Taibbi, Glen Greenwald, JD Vance, Lara Logan, lots of others have had their road-to-Damascus moments.
I experienced a feeling of dread recently seeing a comment from someone that half of humans do not have souls. It’s a non-falsifiable hypothesis of course, but I see too much of people doing awful, soulless things.
Stay strong and be of good cheer. There are a lot of good, decent people out there.
Josh, you DO belong, with all of us "misfits" (not!), who rely on your weekly dose of sanity. Many of us have lost friends and family members, because we decided we could no longer support my former lifelong party and its associated cults. I'm not going to tell you " just think positive" and you'll get rid of the blues, but do keep in mind how many people you are helping, how many people who were on the brink of losing their minds have NOT, because they found someone (you) who was able to help them escape the insanity bubble in which so many of those close to us reside. We're counting on you, Josh! (no pressure...!) 😊❤️
hey Josh, you took the words out of my mouth. The convid scamdemic in particular destroyed any faith i had in human beings. Their willing compliance to tyranny, donning muzzles and injecting and becoming tyrannical themselves. I suffered from the delusion that people had 'grown up' , had 'learned' from WWII, Vietnam, 9/11...delusional me...they had not. My family rejecting due to my being 'nutty'.... No critical thinking, no empathy and a willingness to submit to criminals. The result is ...i don't belong in the world anymore. Many time i say...Father, if you're listening, please take me home.
I think I know how you feel. I'm old now, and not very sorry that I probably won't be around a lot longer. The world I grew up in is gone and forgotten.
You are very young, Josh. But I am very old and have watched humanity careen through the ages, going all the way back to its beginning.
Remove to the time of the Roman Empire or even the Roman Republic. Such hysteria and betrayal has happened many times in human history, and will happen again. It is just that you have lived through it personally and it has dispirited you.
Don't let it take you down too much. Remember that just as humanity occasionally sinks to abysmal depths, so too does it recover and soar to new heights. Keep the faith, brother, and go forward in time with a sense of optimism and hope.
I appreciate all your comments and perspectives; thank you.
Some days are like this for me. For depressives, maybe. Or just for people wired up like me. As far back as I can remember, I've always been like this. Very sensitive emotionally, easily moved to sadness and fear. They don't happen all the time, but some days are just for mourning. Always have been.
Tomorrow is another day.
I like what you said next, FWIW; Christ is the answer. A tiny little prayer I hope Josh and others going through pain memorize: "Jesus, meek and humble of heart, make my heart like unto Thine."
I could have written your post and I agree about the 70’s. The only thing better then was that I still had that sense of hope in the future, the promise of better days. But that might have been because of my youth. I still feel grateful for all my blessings. But disoriented and disheartened by what goes on. God is our only refuge.
I'm sorry. Her luminous voice does help I think.
I'm sorry for your sorrow, too, Josh. Maybe it's a low point in a grieving process you must go through.
Yeah I can relate to that comment. I like Josh saw COVID as a scam as soon as the lockdowns and shortly thereafter masks were enforced. It boggled my mind that with 6 million years of human existence, almost all of it before modern medicine and sanitation how could we suddenly have this killer virus. None of it made sense.
But then it did make sense. This was clearly a means to get rid of Donald Trump, which it did for that go round, and perform a global experiment on western culture's willingness to immediately adapt to autocratic rule. We know how that went. And Big Pharma profits and maybe de-population.
Possibly we are seeing the beginning of the rejection of this autocratic, moronic, evil and hysterical rule. But it's not gone yet, by a long run. This is far bigger than the election of Donald Trump for a second time.
Hello Josh and, if it’s not too late, Happy New Year too. I’m 74 now so that makes me the “older generation” compared to you and your youthful generation. I identify with many of your observation but let me share with you what I have discovered during the 20 years that separate us.
Twenty years ago there were family and friends who aren’t here anymore. That took some getting use to and I’m still coping with it. To place a finer point on it, I know I’m getting old when I realize that increasingly most of the people that I ever cared about are now on the “other side.” They’re gone and I have my pleasant memories of them but it’s just not the same.
Then questions come to mind such as “Why am I still here and so many of my family/friends are not?” As the world sidelines us, politely termed retirement, I sense a disengagement from day-to-day reality. Us Boomers held centerstage for so many years that it’s startling to find we somehow have been relegated to the wings and people we don’t even know occupy the spotlight.
Yet I know this is the normal course of events. It always happens this way. Boomers had their chance, Woodstock and all that. I recall that sage question during the Vietnam War that went, “What if they gave a war and nobody came?” Even then I thought it pseudo-profound. If nobody came then there wouldn’t be a war. Next profound quote, please!
Do we ever figure it out even if we live to be 100? Heaven forbid. But I have learned one thing only recently. Life is still full of surprises for all of us. There is no age limit for that.
Bob
I’m totally with you Bob - you describe it all quite well. Especially missing the (too) many lost souls no longer with us.
Thank you, Bob. It's good to hear from someone with a couple of decades on me now that I'm mature enough to listen to older people.
I suppose it's telling tales out of school a bit, but I'm going to do it anyway. I especially enjoy seeing your name pop up in the comments because when I worked for Funeral Consumers Alliance, and you worked for the industry trade group, and especially when I was very young and green in the job, I thought of you as "the adversary." In that typical, callow, self-assured-without-cause way that arrogant young people do. I'm sure it was evident.
Anyway, it's a pleasure to get to know you on good, friendly terms from a more mature perspective on my part. I'm glad we ran into each other again.
Josh, we both tried but I think we saw something in each other that suggested we weren't really bad guys. Bob
Shout out to the the great Paul Williams, who wrote the lyrics. Just sayin', Karen Carpenter only sang it.
This sort of disillusionment is ubiquitous throughout history I'm sure, but now it feels worse because now we are all so connected at the global scale, so that we might have ourselves a lousy morning because something depressing and awful happened to some people thousands of miles away, whereas long ago we wouldn't even know about it. One assumes that in those days, when things seemed terrible in our little corner of the world, there was always the possibility (regardless of how realistic it might have been), that we could just up and leave it behind and start over somewhere else. Now that option seems off the table, making everything feel way worse.
As a 65 year old I would only say that it’s great you are recognizing this, at any age. Many people never do. But I take hope in the growing number of people who won’t be fooled again. We had to succumb in order to see our grandkids, because so much of the younger generation questioned nothing. So I’m proud of you, and enjoy reading your work and the perspective you bring to this corner of the world.
Speak loving words unto yourself.
Speak words of gratitude.
Words create.
Give voice to your innermost wishes.
Watch them grow.
My mom, Josh, is like yours.
I know. I cut her out of my life.
I do not go back.
Trauma not revisited.
Speak loving words unto yourself.
Words create.
With love,
Alma.
A very dark time in our history and for the world as well. Never thought I would see our country, our world, plunge to the depths that it has.
The results of the election have lifted an unbearable weight from my heart, I just hope it can be sustained. We must never allow the darkness to return. The video of the Carpenters brought back a lot of memories, the first concert I ever attended, 1971, the fall of my freshman year. What an amazing voice she had and what a tragic life. Some of photos at the beginning of the video show the darkness and pain she was feeling but couldn’t escape.
RIP Karen…
Your thoughts are much like mine, Josh, except that I can see some very positive results within the whirling chaos, though at 71 I doubt I'll be here to see the genuine clearing of thought that I believe has begun in real time. Among them: the dissipating status of the horrid corporate media (a genuine evil that is going down as fast as they hold on to the absurdities of truth they've been dictating to the rest of us); the coincidence (?) that the houses of James Woods, Dr. Drew, and Adam Carolla--some of the most vocal critics of the Democrat deep state--were spared from catastrophic fires, almost as if the angel of death had passed them by, while, at the same time, the political careers of slime ball Gavin Newsom and other far-left Democrats are evaporating into smoke; and, best if all, the total fall from grace of Barack Obama, the faux oracle now rumored to be at odds with his wife (I never thought they were tight) and linked romantically to, of all people, Jennifer Aniston, the epitome of the all-American girl, who just happens to be white. Even if the last observation turns out to be wrong, the rumor itself shows that his diminishment is clear; his stature, collapsed. All in all, we just might be okay.
I laughed out loud at parts of this video, analyzing the "Armageddon bunker" photo Barack shared of him and Michelle on her birthday. She looks like a possessed Aunt Jemima. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4PSxu3iAupo
I never thought of the "coincidence" you pointed out--the houses of Woods, Pinsky, and Carolla being spared. Interesting. If we're very lucky, the disaster of the past month will be the nail in Newsom's political coffin. Good riddance, Governor Hair Gel!
And yet we have each other, as dissidents, also. So for those of us in deeply blue states and cities, after being out there among the people who are resisting change, we can come here and read that there are others like Josh and these commenter's who feel our pain. That's worth a lot to me right now.
You're not alone. Tulsi Gabbard, Megyn Kelly, James Howard Kunstler, Matt Taibbi, Glen Greenwald, JD Vance, Lara Logan, lots of others have had their road-to-Damascus moments.
I experienced a feeling of dread recently seeing a comment from someone that half of humans do not have souls. It’s a non-falsifiable hypothesis of course, but I see too much of people doing awful, soulless things.
Stay strong and be of good cheer. There are a lot of good, decent people out there.
Josh, you DO belong, with all of us "misfits" (not!), who rely on your weekly dose of sanity. Many of us have lost friends and family members, because we decided we could no longer support my former lifelong party and its associated cults. I'm not going to tell you " just think positive" and you'll get rid of the blues, but do keep in mind how many people you are helping, how many people who were on the brink of losing their minds have NOT, because they found someone (you) who was able to help them escape the insanity bubble in which so many of those close to us reside. We're counting on you, Josh! (no pressure...!) 😊❤️
hey Josh, you took the words out of my mouth. The convid scamdemic in particular destroyed any faith i had in human beings. Their willing compliance to tyranny, donning muzzles and injecting and becoming tyrannical themselves. I suffered from the delusion that people had 'grown up' , had 'learned' from WWII, Vietnam, 9/11...delusional me...they had not. My family rejecting due to my being 'nutty'.... No critical thinking, no empathy and a willingness to submit to criminals. The result is ...i don't belong in the world anymore. Many time i say...Father, if you're listening, please take me home.
I think I know how you feel. I'm old now, and not very sorry that I probably won't be around a lot longer. The world I grew up in is gone and forgotten.
I know where you're coming from Cary.
You are very young, Josh. But I am very old and have watched humanity careen through the ages, going all the way back to its beginning.
Remove to the time of the Roman Empire or even the Roman Republic. Such hysteria and betrayal has happened many times in human history, and will happen again. It is just that you have lived through it personally and it has dispirited you.
Don't let it take you down too much. Remember that just as humanity occasionally sinks to abysmal depths, so too does it recover and soar to new heights. Keep the faith, brother, and go forward in time with a sense of optimism and hope.
May Christ bless and protect you. 🙏🏻