Many critics have labeled this last decade a failure.
Between 9/11, tsunamis, Hurricane Katrina, and The Hills, many people have decided that the 00's was one of the worst decades in history.
Apparently some people have forgotten the World War Decades, the Vietnam years, the onslaught of AIDS in the 80's, and that period in the 90's when people actually listened to Vanilla Ice.
I refuse to say this decade was a failure.
And you know what? Even if it was, the next decade certainly isn't going to be any better by labeling this one a loss.
I think the biggest problem of this decade was--Yes, here's where I become a self-help guru--negativity.
The patterns I saw over and over again from the time I was sixteen on was "Lift 'em up, then watch 'em fall."
Pick a person, a situation, a show, a movie--and laud it. Praise it. Plaster it across the skies.
Then take it down. Degrade it. Attack it.
Now we're trying to do that to an entire decade.
Well, I say 'No.'
Yes, there was 9/11, but there was also a country and a world full of people uniting together after a crisis.
Yes, there was the onslaught of stupidity that is reality television, but there's also been smarter and more interesting television produced this past decade than in the rest of television history combined. (I'm sorry, kids, but most of those old television shows--though entertaining--were not all that clever. Try watching a rerun of 'I Dream of Jeannie' and tell me if you disagree.)
Yes, there were eight years of a horrible President, but there was also an election where everyone decided that we had to turn things around--and No, they haven't been turned around yet. The negative people just can't wait to start getting in early on screwing up the next ten years.
Well, I say 'No.'
I could easily look at things from a darker perspective, and many times I have, but I will not take ten years of my life and say they compromised nothing, or that they were made up of disasters and catastrophes.
Yes, we have to be more practical as a country. We have to be realistic. Barbara Ehrenreich wrote a book called "Bright Sided" about the dangers of strictly positive thinking, and I understand what she's getting at, but I also think that there's a difference between being pragmatic and being a whining asshole.
(Sorry for the technological terminology.)
I think we need to have hope. That's a statement that's been echoed a lot lately, but people don't seem to be listening.
We have to hope, and we have to plan. Let's not get confused--as our President says, Hope is not a plan. So we need both.
We have to remember to smile at each other--it helps.
We have to remember to laugh--it really helps.
We have to remember that spirit of unity we had after 9/11--not the unbridled nationalism, but the feeling like it was okay to ask someone how they're doing even if you don't know them.
We have to say that we'll make the next ten years better, but that doesn't mean we have to say the last ten sucked.
These were years of people's lives--and they make up a generation.
Can someone tell me what good would come of telling an entire generation that they're a wash?
I say we don't say fail.
I say, for once, we say something else.
Between 9/11, tsunamis, Hurricane Katrina, and The Hills, many people have decided that the 00's was one of the worst decades in history.
Apparently some people have forgotten the World War Decades, the Vietnam years, the onslaught of AIDS in the 80's, and that period in the 90's when people actually listened to Vanilla Ice.
I refuse to say this decade was a failure.
And you know what? Even if it was, the next decade certainly isn't going to be any better by labeling this one a loss.
I think the biggest problem of this decade was--Yes, here's where I become a self-help guru--negativity.
The patterns I saw over and over again from the time I was sixteen on was "Lift 'em up, then watch 'em fall."
Pick a person, a situation, a show, a movie--and laud it. Praise it. Plaster it across the skies.
Then take it down. Degrade it. Attack it.
Now we're trying to do that to an entire decade.
Well, I say 'No.'
Yes, there was 9/11, but there was also a country and a world full of people uniting together after a crisis.
Yes, there was the onslaught of stupidity that is reality television, but there's also been smarter and more interesting television produced this past decade than in the rest of television history combined. (I'm sorry, kids, but most of those old television shows--though entertaining--were not all that clever. Try watching a rerun of 'I Dream of Jeannie' and tell me if you disagree.)
Yes, there were eight years of a horrible President, but there was also an election where everyone decided that we had to turn things around--and No, they haven't been turned around yet. The negative people just can't wait to start getting in early on screwing up the next ten years.
Well, I say 'No.'
I could easily look at things from a darker perspective, and many times I have, but I will not take ten years of my life and say they compromised nothing, or that they were made up of disasters and catastrophes.
Yes, we have to be more practical as a country. We have to be realistic. Barbara Ehrenreich wrote a book called "Bright Sided" about the dangers of strictly positive thinking, and I understand what she's getting at, but I also think that there's a difference between being pragmatic and being a whining asshole.
(Sorry for the technological terminology.)
I think we need to have hope. That's a statement that's been echoed a lot lately, but people don't seem to be listening.
We have to hope, and we have to plan. Let's not get confused--as our President says, Hope is not a plan. So we need both.
We have to remember to smile at each other--it helps.
We have to remember to laugh--it really helps.
We have to remember that spirit of unity we had after 9/11--not the unbridled nationalism, but the feeling like it was okay to ask someone how they're doing even if you don't know them.
We have to say that we'll make the next ten years better, but that doesn't mean we have to say the last ten sucked.
These were years of people's lives--and they make up a generation.
Can someone tell me what good would come of telling an entire generation that they're a wash?
I say we don't say fail.
I say, for once, we say something else.
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Kaleb Blake
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There is a DC Italian Gelato vender. They make broccoli ice milk!
Honest. Flavors are chocolate, cucumber, beets, and carrots too!
Serious. here's some Gelato in the farm ice-box! Vanilla too! Ah!
Also:` other flavors we barter. Butternut squash, salads, onions!
Tomatoes,
Scallions,
Garlic,
Parsley,
Tofu,
Fatty,
tease,
skinny.
Chubby,
Cheese,
Ravioli,
Spinach,
Pasta,
Hyperbole?
Yea, yes Broccoli!
Yea for a peasant!
Eat what's on Ya plate!
Enjoy Broccoli Gelato!
Thanks Kevin Broccoli.
`
"You are old," said the youth, "as I mentioned before,
And have grown most uncommonly fat;
Yet you turned a back summersault in at the door--
Pray, what is the reason for that?"
`
"In my youth," said the sage, as he shook his grey locks,
"I kept all my limbs very supple
By the time of this ointment--one shilling the box--
Allow me to sell you a couple." - Louis Carroll
Harry's Ghost said`Bah!
Spoof? Ya being harsh?
Yea for Keith Broccoli!
I see Mr. Broccoli's point.
H.'s Ghost and empty hut.
Boarded up city factories.
DCs a haunted war house.
I remember a sad Marine.
This is not fiction. It's true.
He was home from his `Nam.
He was this young Lutheran.
A preacher ask with a bellows!
Preacher yelled`Can't Ya Feel?
He ask`Ya Feel the holy ghost?
The Marine ran out the church!
He never heard `Holy's Ghost!
I smile at the true testimonies.
Peace.
The blogger cheers us up, yes!
He's a Good Broccoli snacker!
If any Kevin is a Broccoli? Ah!
Paraclete.
coo coo
dove
coo
coo
Broccoli?
Ah Great!
Yummy!
You say "there were eight years of a horrible President, but there was also an election where everyone decided that we had to turn things around". Also there was great tv (no examples, and who is dull enough to care about tv, anyway?)
So your sole example is "there was a gigantic clusterfuck, and finally a majority recognized it, and in a somewhat close race threw the jerk out at the end of his term, and installed the guy who was a little less like Bush, but continued all his evil policies".
And by the way, Bush wrecked the US economy. All the people I know who were laid off in 2008 or 2009 are STILL looking for work, and may be for some time in the future too.
So let's not delude ourselves. Policies that lead to two wars and the Great Recession are an unmitigated disaster. It IS a lost decade. Be truthful, and acknowledge that, but keep hoping for better change too.
Thank you. I'm tired of the attitude that if you try to see or say anything positive it means you're delusional. I think that's a load of B.S. People still laughed, even during the last decade. I don't think I'm unreasonably optimistic, but I find endless negativity and a relentless search for the downside of everything toxic to be around. In anyone. I'm certainly not arguing that Bush was awful--I thought he was the worst president ever and he did extensive damage, but I voted for the guy who wants to turn things around. Am I delulsional if I don't expect him to fix everthing that's wrong in a year? I don't think so. Am I delusional to feel that a little patience is in order? Again, I don't think so. I knew that Obama was going to have to do hard, unpopular things and that his approval rating was bound to drop.
you will hurt more if you dont face it.
What I'm saying is that we don't write off any other decade as being "lost." How can a decade be "lost?" It happened. It may be bad, but it certainly wasn't "lost."
I also think you can make the case that every decade has severe ups and downs. 9/11 was horrible, but do we write off the decade during which the holocaust happen? Oh wait, holocausts have happened in every decade.
The point of my post was not to be delusional--it was to say that people whine too much, rather than say "What can we do to make things better?"
Overall, I'm just tired of the cynicism.