No Magic Solution

It’s time to stop whining about who is responsible for creating jobs for Americans. The press and the GOP-TP’ers are waiting to pounce on the “jobs proposal” by the President as if that is supposed to cure the pervasive and increasingly embarrassing malaise in this country due to a shift in the economy. We seem to be standing like helpless children, wanting a solution to appear effortlessly and spontaneously like magic and give us back our toys, while our lives seem to get worse.

Blame seems to be the balm that temporarily heals the nasty wounds created by the loss of our “things”. The pain is real as thousands are without employment; thousands have lost their homes and many of those are homeless; thousands are hungry; and still we wait for an answer to magically materialize and save us from ourselves.

Our elected leaders seemed determined to do nothing but debate about who is to blame for this thing, this loss of our stuff. Any attempt to really solve the problem is shouted down, not out of a measure of real value but rather out of a political necessity to win at all costs. The rhetoric has escalated to the promise of a magical return to yesterday when all was well. These messengers revel in their self-proclaimed close association with a deity, as if they then transcend all others, knowing where to find the magic that cures this “boo boo”.

The media have found job security in a twenty-four hour churning of meaningless banter that feeds this malaise. Yet we, like a junkie, can’t or won’t unplug because we might miss something, something really important like that magical moment when all is well again. We’ve become dependent on the media to tell us what is happening and who is dumb or dumber. There is no good news just bad news.

The reality is that there is no magic solution; No, Michelle, the economy can’t be turned around in one quarter; No, Rick, what you say worked in Texas, didn’t and won’t again; No, Mitt, you do have to stand for something; No, Mr. President, you do have to stand up for something. In reality we have to take responsibility for being duped by the banks, the politicians, wall-street and the media. We drank the kool-aid and took the magical ride. Now we all are back in a real world.

The answer isn’t what “they have or haven’t done or can or can’t do”. We simply have to make lemonade out of the lemons we have. Americans have a rich history of leadership in innovation and creativity. Many of our successes have been the result of the necessity of our survival. The reality is that thousands of Americans are doing well; thousands are eating so much they are obese; thousands are still shopping and incurring debt; thousands are figuring out how to change their lives so that they can pick up the pieces and go on with their lives; thousands are helping others pick up the pieces of their lives; and, yes, there is a lot to do and many are suffering real pain.

How is it that we now view ourselves as poor beggars, requiring someone to hand us the magic potent that cures our malaise, lifts us up and back to yesterday when we had all of our stuff? That’s not going to happen. No matter the circumstance we have to keep moving. No one will come to your rescue, except you. Life for many could be so much better if “we” could ignore “them” and do what “we” need to do for ourselves and others and if “they” would do what “they” should be doing. There is wisdom in the old hippy bumper sticker “If the people will lead, the leaders will follow.”