Hard times spreading just like the flu
Watch out homeboy, don’t let it catch you
P-p-prices go up, don’t let your pocket go down
When you got short money you’re stuck on the ground
Turn around, get ready, keep your eye on the prize
And be on point for the future shock
That’s the intro for “Hard Times” by Run DMC from way back in 1984. I remember listening to the album shortly after it was released and I did so daily for quite some time actually. Living in Key West or Stock Island actually, I grew up listening to many of the original rap hits with my teenage friends like Dominic and Keith who were both into music in their youth and had parents who afforded them nice things like new record players and lots of records. We listened to all sorts of raw lyrics and our parents never knew what our innocent minds had been exposed to. We lived in key West, a unique paradise devoid of racism, intense peer pressure and many of the social traps that children face today but lots of us were not as wealthy as some of our neighbors and I often wondered how that happened. What kind of secret knowledge did these people possess that allowed them to become so rich and happy? I thought rich people of Key West always looked happy with all their cool new stuff like big fast boats and fancy homes and when we tagged along with them I always wondered if me or my family would ever have so many nice things and so much happiness. We were always happy enough with what we had so they must be that much more happy with all the extra things they had, right?
I now know that money does not afford a person happiness but it can make happy people more comfortable and it’s nice not being poor. I’m content with the idea I may never be wealthy but I do well enough and I keep working at it for the sake of my family and my own well being. I always remember asking myself if there were some way out of the difficult financial times faced by so many people I knew and I remember thinking that surely this was a temporary or unique situation. It could not be that people were poor all of the time and eventually a person or even a family could bring themselves out of it.
How naive a child I was and how fanciful those dreams were when I thought about my Utopian life in that perfect place free of troubles and worry? Looking back now it would seem my dreams are shattered or at least in a shambles when you consider that the closest thing to them has been realized in a 3D movie. I must have spent over $60 for tickets and popcorn to watch Avatar in 3D twice because it was so close to my childhood dreams except of course for the 10 foot tall blue creatures and floating mountains in an alien world. My utopia was right here on earth and I just had to find it, or so at least that was how the dream went.
Approaching what must be 25 years now of seeking the truth to it all I have come to realize the truth is we are in sad shape as a species and humans across the globe are soon to face the most difficult times in our history. Ever since the cold war days of apocalyptic movies like Red Dawn and Mad Max and my first full read of the Bible and understanding of the gruesome ending that so many of my fellow sinners will face under Gods wrath I have wondered if the world was coming to an end or if there was some other explanation for the madness that played out on the daily news. I mean things just seem to be getting worse and worse for everyone but the very wealthy and we are poisoning everything from water and air to our own genetic code with the chemicals and toxic lifestyles we live and the only thing most people seem to care about is themselves.
I know that in time Mother Earth will be just fine no matter how sickened she is by the prescience of us disgusting humans and the horrid waste and pollution we produce with total disregard for anyone or anything around us in the name of vanity and greed. Whatever we do Earth can heal and move on and if anything is known it is that “Genesis” can and does occur and that life will continue if not for us then for some other more adaptive or maybe plain lucky species. Maybe some other world, one free of humans, can be a Utopia but I think we humans are hell bent on destroying ourselves and everything around us in the process.
For all our intellect, education and understanding we must be the dumbest of all the animals. For being such social creatures by nature we have an outrageous number of social limitations which hold us back as a species with issues like race, religion, wealth and even sexual orientation taking precedence over the fact we are all human and members of the same family. Those of us with dreams of equality and stability for all humanity who still think we have a chance at all should seek medical attention and/or psychiatric care because you are crazy and most likely ill of mind. It is obvious we have never been more separated by church and state and race and education and wealth and so many other huge obstacles than we are right now today.
Some will call me crazy but I think we have been screwed by nature. I know it sounds weird but it’s true. I believe we were doomed to fail as a species by the very nature of our success as a species. Charles Darwin’s survival of the fittest theory has survived now for quite some time and at no time in history has it ever been more believable then now. Looking at the current status of our evolution it is obvious we are devolving and falling backwards as a species through the degradation of society and our lack of compassion for our fellow humans.
Our evolutionary drive to live no matter what, that survival of the fittest mentality that made us the ruler over all other species, has evolved into a sickness called greed which is destroying all the social gains made since the time when cavemen roamed the earth and bashed each other to death with rocks and sticks over food and water. Greed is so powerful that it has stunted or even warped our social evolution and driven us into complete madness. Humans have never been so savage as they are today and the severity and heinous nature of our actions has never been more disgusting. There is no need for me to list the many horrible things that we do to each other but the crimes against children are the most disgusting. Why must we prey on children? How is that any supreme being would allow it’s creation to destroy itself and prey upon the most innocent of all?
We live in a world controlled by a select few who have the secret knowledge which brings them wealth and power. A world where the struggle for life is about building something for someone else with the hopes you can live on the scraps they toss you for a majority of the people and the minority are doing all they can to keep it that way. The gap between the have and the have nots has become a chasm that most families will never cross as the rich have gotten richer and the poor have never been so damn poor.
America has entered what will be no doubt be an even “Greater Depression” than the one my grandmother lived though with one glaring difference. In the 30′s American families came together and took care of each other in hard times and in the first decade of the new millennium we are more likely to have an experience like Hurricane Katrina or even Haiti where total chaos and social meltdown takes place immediately after the system fails. There will be no coming together of the people in the hard times we face. Those days are gone and those people have been replaced with a new generation of less able and less caring people. We have never been more dependent upon government and the people that control us than we are right now and it gets worse and worse with each new generation.
We are well conditioned consumers with total disregard for anything other than our own immediate personal gratification. Our lack of concern and understanding for the repercussions of our actions is sickening and with every second we do more harm than good in the world. We have now gone so low as to have the concern that human traffickers are stealing babies from an earthquake stricken disaster zone in Haiti and selling them off as slaves and prostitutes.
Can you name any other animal that is so cruel and sadistic as we are? Is money so important to us that we have to sell children into these horrors?
Did you know that Alfie loves you?
