About the time I semi retired I was gifted with a Kindle. A friend had one lying fallow in his home. I always vowed, when my work schedule demanded less of my time, that I would read. It was my intention to read esteemed writers I felt obligated to make time for. Mark Twain, Jack London, F. Scott Fitzgerald, I tried to read Hemmingway but just couldn't connect and gave up. I've even downloaded a collection of fairy tales by Oscar Wilde. These are authors whose work I have enjoyed in the past or who I feel I should expose myself to. It is the same as my attending the symphonies in the park to better acquaint myself with classical music. Also the classic books and symphony are free, so that's a plus.
However, it has become evident that, at least to some of the U.S. population, education is viewed in a negative light. That because I find my soul refreshed by quality literature and great music, by travel, art, theatre and ballet, all of which I afford on a modest budget, I am somehow aloof, an elite, someone to be mistrusted and an object of scorn.
I do not know when education and exposure to new ideas, forms and cultures became something negative Perhaps it is because many people with these views do not seek, even resist seeking alternative viewpoints and life experiences outside their bubble.
It is fine if people want to live like that, although I feel some sorrow that they may never experience the beauty and joy I have found in the world. It is when they have, and feel they are entitled to, an outsized share of government power, in proportion to their numbers, and this power affects the lives of other citizens, that I become concerned for myself, those I love and the country I grew up in. I am frustrated and dismayed that a minority is able to keep a majority from moving forward.
If they are upset because they may find things about my life style, or the life style of others, which harm no one, offensive, simply don't look. I will disagree with but respect their views, as long as they do not contain feelings of hate for others, and ask them to respect mine. But I do not see this. They attempt to legislate things they do not like into nonexistence. However these things will still exist, but, once again, be pushed underground, to the extreme detriment to some. They wish to recreate an idealized version of the U.S. that never really existed outside of television.
I do not know how it ends. Perhaps a younger generation will rise up, in their own way, as we did and demand justice and equality for all, compassion for others and the right to love and marry who we choose. Our nation needs to progress into the future, not regress to a fictionalized past.
