"Americans Need to Love Themselves, Not Medicate"

Yes, I am wasting time again when I should be reading or writing or something (and yes, you do NOT want to know what I am wasting time on!) In the background, CNN is running on the TV. Why not music? Because talking heads blow by me like mist. Music, on the other hand, distracts me, sending me into other thought-paths, and I am trying to CONCENTRATE.

Yeah. OK. I lie. I am not trying to concentrate at all. I am floating on some rogue thought-path that does not even promise to end in something worth while. Yeah. So?

So, on CNN, they are doing some story about the Mexican drug wars that are spilling across the border into the US (Shocking.) Funny, how we can remark about bad long-distance news when it is … long distant. But, when it crosses the border into our peony-laden lawns (read that: HOME,) we freak out, call in the National Guard, demand Congressional hearings, as if the problem just reared its misshapen head yesterday.

CNN has embraced Twitter (must have a significant chunk of stock, and no, I will not provide a link. Google it.) And, someone on Twitter twittered (has Merriam-Wagner blessed that new word yet?): “Americans need to love themselves, not medicate.” Yeah. We do. We need to love ourselves, not a lot of things.

We need to:
Love ourselves, not start wars unilaterally.
Love ourselves, not sink our economy in pursuit of mega-yachts.
Love ourselves, not treat our country’s problems like an opportunity to make political hay.
Love ourselves, not hate the “different” neighbor with the eggplant-colored door.
Love ourselves, not ignore safe-sex in pursuit of sensation.
Love ourselves, and love each other.

Owww! So HARD!!

Suck it up, buttercup.

The thing about the “War on Drugs” is that it is more about misdirection than direction. We want everyone to be healthy and sane. We want everyone to be clear-headed and balanced. We want everyone to be at 100% focused and productive/effective/successful. Theoretically. We want everyone to be wonderfully conceptually. We want everyone to be happy and fulfilled – at a safe distance. We want everyone to soar as long as it has ABSOLUTELY NO IMPACT on our high-flying lives. We wish everyone well as long as they are a reasonable facsimile of us.

So, when someone says, “Americans should love themselves, not medicate, “I hear: “Americans should live within the established parameters, and not start any shite.” March. Adhere to the predominant society-speak. Live your lives. Work your institutionalized work. Drink your beer, wine, or commercially prescribed spirits. Cheer your local teams. Watch highly-rated TV. Read the NY Times best-sellers. Maintain your Facebook account. Attend your 20th High School reunion. Quit smoking. Cut down on processed foods. Adopt a shelter-dog. Go to church. Be in bed by ten. All within the rules. All within the rules. Stay the hell within the rules.

But, we will still have all of our political, economic and societal problems. We will still be rampantly undisciplined. Some of us will still need a cheesecake, a drink, or a joint to feel whole. Most of us will not be able to fit into a size 4. And, you know what? For all our foibles, all our breaches of societal norms, all our bad habits and behaviors, the sun will rise the next morning like nothing ever happened. We will have a new day to try to figure out who the hell we are, what we want, and what we believe we should be. And, it will have nothing to do with artificial prescriptions against behaviors that never touch the things that really need our attention.

“Americans Need to Love Themselves.” Period.