It has been a long time since I’ve done an “Letters to My Descendants” post. Here is how I see the world around me in the year 2019.
We are in the midst of the Trump presidency. Historians will surely look upon this time as a very low one for America. You may wonder how we could have elected such a person to the presidency. I ask myself the same.
Trump is Trump and he is just being who he is. He is caustic, nasty and some people still like him very much. So the better question to ask is what is going on with society these days? When I think about it I look back to a program called Jerry Springer back in the ’90s. It was a show that featured the lowest of the low. Expectant mothers who did not know who the father was and so they’d do a test and reveal the results. People would cry, fight, throw chairs and it was absolute chaos.
Well, things have not gotten any better as society has evolved. Girls these days post picture after picture of themselves on Facebook and Instagram, everything is about self promotion. The love of money Trumps everything else. We have Republicans and Democrats at each others throats speaking with insults and whatever will garner views. People love to see a train wreck and the news will happily publish it as it translates to money. People like shows filled with violence and sex. Their lives look OK on the outside but dig a little deeper and you’ll see just how many are taking pills, in fact we are in an opioid epidemic with many overdoses everyday. People don’t want a change in lifestyle, they want a pill to make it all better and then go back to their shows.
The USA is in serious decline. We’re harming the planet but instead of doing anything about it choose to look the other way. We promote unity through 4th of July celebrations and singing the Star Spangled Banner but it is all a facade. We’re not unified, we are all individual competitors. The USA is much more of a business than a country. The Democrats want to change this but Republicans do not.
It took a long time but I finally see the vision of the Republicans. We’re all here to get money at any cost. We don’t want to take care of each other, in fact we don’t even like each other very much. So, they make it harder for minorities to vote, they remove national healthcare, cut social programs and give tax breaks to the rich.
This was all very hard to swallow as I was raised to be a team player and thought we were all on the same side. We’re not on the same side and what a relief it is to finally see it this way. It has been a blessing to live overseas and in countries that actually care about their people. It has been a blessing to be able to be able to give my kids a choice between countries. The USA is a fantastic place if you’re here for business and know how to play the game. If you don’t then your circumstances are declining. And here is a real kicker. Most of the people who voted for Trump are not in a great situation and are voting against their own interests.
They say the “don’t want no government handouts” yet extend their hands for benefits, farm subsidies or whatever will be given to them. A serious tech revolution has begun and just as their jobs disappeared when industry moved overseas so shall even white collar jobs. AI can do it better, cheaper and AI doesn’t need breaks, lunch or sleep. If we keep chasing profit at all costs without regard for the people so many will be left behind.
As for me I’ve had a revelation that I should invest in technology as it truly will take over the world. Google is exploding, Tesla is making cars that drive themselves, and perhaps eventually humans will be absolutely useless as drivers of profit. What will we do when our skills are no longer needed? We thought that technology would give us much more free time but quickly learned that companies learned out to further exploit workers and now the opposite has happened and we find ourselves twice as busy as before!
The people will continue voting for those that are making the rich richer and it is those rich people that are the owners of all this technology. There is no compassion or caring what happens to everyone else. When a machine can do the job better than a human the human no longer has a job.
I wonder what the world will be like 30 years from now. I hope I live that long and I’d be 71 years old. I imagine my mind might not be as sharp, many of my friends will have passed away and I’ll just be sitting in a corner with no one wanting to talk to me. Nobody cares about the past, or the experiences that elders have had. I am different. I am intensely interested in the past and what people of a different generation have lived through. Here in 2019 it seems the young are only interested in posting another picture of themselves or playing video games.
At least I’ll have this blog and be able to look back on my own life. I wonder if you’ll even read these letters I write to you or if they will be something just some old guy wrote a long time ago? I wish I could read my ancestors writings about their lives and experiences. They would be an excellent window to the past and allow me to further understand where I come from and why my own circumstances are the way they are.
Will you leave me in a rest home when my mind doesn’t work as well. I’m thinking about you now and you don’t even exist yet. Will you think about me even when I still exist but am old? Will I even be alive and if not are there questions you want to ask me? I try to think about what you might ask but the times are changing so quickly I can scarcely imagine the world you are going to live in.
At 42 here is some advice for you if you’ll have it.
- Confidence – Find it. Life is much better when you have confidence and it doesn’t just come when you get older. Wrestling is what gave me confidence in high school. In college is was my language abilities. Now it is doing karate with Kai and Ren, working out and doing well at my job. You’ll need confidence so if you don’t have it, find whatever it is that will give it to you.
- Learn about finance and the stock market. The stock market has finally “clicked” for me thanks to new tech tools which help me keep a finger on the market and the confidence to invest. This was not taught to me and I wish I would have started twenty years ago. Invest as much as you can but wisely. I’m investing now and it is my decisions which most likely will greatly impact your future. Right now the market is good and I’ve made wise decisions but nobody knows what the future holds so it is nerve wracking as well.
- Marry a person with a good heart. Beauty is something all young people look for and seemingly is the only thing they care about in boyfriend/girlfriend. Beauty fades and even if it doesn’t the thrill of having a pretty partner will certainly fade, especially if they have a terrible personality. Who would want a Ferrari when it complains or gives you so much trouble that you hate even climbing into it? Pretty to look at but what a pain in the ass. It is my experience that the prettiest people rely on that too much and fail to develop good personalities or other qualities. Marry someone with a good heart and life will be good.
- Appreciate life. Watch the sunsets, listen to the birds, be calm. Whatever is in fashion will soon pass. Nobody cares how many ‘likes’ you get on the pictures and all those pretty people will soon be old. What will they do then, tell stories about how they got 10,000 likes on a picture 10 years ago? People get so wrapped up in the stupidest things. Instead ponder the universe, realize that we all live on one “pale blue dot” and we are quite insignificant in the vastness of the universe. But don’t let this trouble you, we are alive, we have a mind and we have absolutely no idea what is going on. Why are we here, what is mind, what was before the universe and so on. Religion doesn’t have the answers, it is an ancient belief that very stubbornly refuses to die so many people still cling to it. They need to be reassured that their lives have meaning and there is a god watching over them. This is all false. However, I do believe we are part of something greater that we simply cannot comprehend. And so I search, I think, I study and I meditate.
- Don’t get wrapped up in what society is into. Society is dumb evidenced by our very own President at the moment. People of my day like sports very much and you have guys that wear other guys names on their shirts. What sense does that make? Discover who you were born to be and don’t let teachers, your parents or any others tell you otherwise. It is your life to live and your right to live it to the fullest. Make wise decisions but go your own way. You can tell them I’ve given you permission and since I’m their elder I should be the wiser right? It is better I write this now as nobody will probably listen to me when I’m old, so you can just reference this post and I hope it helps you out.
- Travel – Go see the world. Every community, nation whatever thinks they know everything yet they know very little. You must go out and explore. Don’t worry about sharing your experiences with those who haven’t traveled. They will neither understand nor care. You cannot ‘enlighten them,’ just be polite if they ask but keep the explanation to a minimum else their eyes will glaze over.
Well, I think that is enough for now. I’m thinking of you this Monday, July 29th in the year 2019.
