Observations From the Spectrum

While the ship sinks, many still find reason to hate. Me, if the ship is sinking, I want to be one of the musicians spending my last precious moments doing more of what I love.

Hardship sucks in whatever form. But how we handle the hardship in many ways is up to us as an individual. Think about the film Titanic. Yeah, it’s cheesy but I think it’s worth a mental game to ask yourself what character do you identify the most with?

The ship is a metaphor for the world. There are all sorts and at the end of the day, we are all on the ship together whether we like it or not or whether we like each other or not. I think this latter premise is missed by many. From my bird’s-eye voyeuristic view, I see a society, my nation of origin, in which ALL individuals hate another group for one reason or another.

This Hate does not foster a healthy society at all. It builds one that can easily be broken from the inside or out. Those who truly Hate us, like our political enemies, probably look at the news every day with joy. They won’t have to fire a bullet to break up our nation, they will just have to wait.

And waiting is just time. It keeps ticking regardless of what we do. Period. Tick-tock. Tick-tock.  

I think ALL Americans feel that something is amiss, and that there is a need for change. The leak is evident to all to whom I speak. The Right sees a threat to traditional values and the Constitution and the Left feels like they are being left behind as fodder to capitalism while the centrists are unable to go to brunch or spas as often as they’d like. 

But, this does not change the FACT that we are ALL on the same ship. If we don’t remember what it means to be neighbors, or more likely the case, keep putting the Golden Rule on the shelf behind our own personal desires and interests, then the ship will sink.

For many people a sunk ship doesn’t matter. They are hungry, sick, homeless and poor. In other words, many of them feel that any change will be better than ‘the now’. Be very careful what you ask for. 

Slavery, in the American sense, was a feature of capitalism providing business owners free labor. Slavery, throughout all other histories, was a spoil of war. Best to remember this. That if America falls, there is no guarantee that those living in America now will be the same people to rule it after the dust settles. Just a thought.

Let’s climb back on board the Titanic and I will answer the question about what character I would want to be as the ship sank.

First, let’s take a look metaphorically at who represents who? Jack, the poor and working class. Rose, the philanthropist. Caledon, the generationally wealthy. Fabrizio, marginalized races. Brock, the innovator and future. 

Me, I’d want to play the part of Wallace, one of the players in the band if the sinking of the ship is imminent. The band was content with their fate, spending their last moments doing more of what they loved. It’s a good metaphor to live by.

So yes, America is at a crossroads. One path leads to survival. The other to doom. Either way, with the few moments we have left as individuals, it may be better to do more of what makes us happy as long as it does not harm others while simultaneously accepting that even though we may Hate others on the ship, we are still stuck together as we sail towards the horizon.

• All works at Observations from the Spectrum written by Dylan Netter
• Observationsfromthespectrum.org
• OFTS.blog 
• On? a third point of view – book of Essays
• Marinehippie.com podcast w/ Docstodden.com – dialogue exploring politics and musings of life 
• Horizoncoaching.org – English Tutor and Guide
• beehiveplus1.org