It started with a post called The Idea. 15 years and 499 blog posts later, I'm at #500.
Normally I'd be composing my annual entry on things I'd like to see happen next year. (A couple of them actually happened, but the majority didn't, as is the norm.) But I'm not going to do that this year. In fact I may never do it again, because the time has come for me to take a (permanent?) sabbatical from this blog.
I never started a blog with the expectation that it would influence anyone or create a following. I did it because at the time 1) it was a popular thing to do, and 2) I thought it would help organize my thoughts and possibly help my writing skills. The former has been taken over by new technology (substacks and podcasting), while the latter....that probably did work out. At the least, I have some good background material for the age 45-60 part of my future memoir.
Looking back at those previous entries, so much has happened and changed over 15 years, to me and to the world and how I view it. If this is going to be my last post, I'm going to spend it by pulling the camera back to that long ago, and draw some big picture conclusions:
The world is sorely lacking critical thinkers.
I've always subtitled this blog "The random rants of a critical thinker." I never meant it in a braggadocios way, but rather to spotlight a competency I have that, frankly, most people don't. Most people believe, in full or part, whatever they hear or read. They're either unable or unwilling to do their own objective research to determine what's true from false, or right from wrong. Lots of my rants over the years made this clear, and it's a major, worsening problem in America. If the 2024 national election proved anything, it's that propaganda rules when we don't have enough critical thinking.
Advances in personal technology are both the best and worst thing for America.
First the good: We are so much more productive now than 15 years ago. We're able to do more with less, and do it more efficiently. I've had my sole proprietorship business for the past six years, and there is no way I could do it without the technology I have at my disposal -- some of which wasn't available 15 years ago.
That said, social media is softly killing this country. It was great at first, and then rogue players moved in to monetize it and/or politicize it, because they know people are easily manipulated. (This goes hand-in-hand with the prior paragraph.) It makes people do bad things to themselves and to others. In the worst case, it leads to autocracy and anarchy.
Music must have good lyrics to be good music.
'Nuff said.
Travel to other places is a very good thing.
I wouldn't say I've traveled extensively, and definitely not internationally, but I've traveled all over the country enough to know everyone should do it. Every time I've been to a different region of the country, I've come back with my thinking reset as to how people and places aren't alike in how they go about things. There are all kinds of people doing all kinds of things all kinds of ways, and it's great to see that. People who don't travel don't see this, and tend to think their way, their beliefs, are the only ones. That isn't good for them or anyone else.
Cannabis deserves the same legal treatment as alcohol and prescription drugs.
The federal government insists on acting like marijuana / cannabis leads to worse outcomes than alcohol or prescription meds. Really? Worse than the tens of thousands of alcohol-related illnesses and drunk driving deaths? Worse than the opioid or fentanyl crisis? It's willful ignorance. Most cannabis users are just going for at-home pain relief or a cartoon-watching buzz. It calms them down, it doesn't make them hurt themselves or go out and hurt others. It's beyond time for regulated, federal legalization, but it won't happen until the feds decide they want the tax revenue now going to the states.
Investing isn't costly, but it can be.
I'm not saying it's easy, but I am saying you don't have to pay so much to have others manage money for you. You have to dig deep, find out where the hidden costs are, and not let the financial and insurance industrial complex work for them instead of for you. For most, this simply means finding an advisor they trust. Unfortunately, that usually means they end up going with some non-credentialed stranger they know from somebody who knows somebody who knows a person who they sometimes sit next to occasionally at church. Like anything else you buy, caveat emptor.
So.....I guess that's all for now. Don't forget to buy my memoir, but until then, peace out.
No comments:
Post a Comment