Fall Weather
Praise God for this weather. It's only three days until Fall officially begins, but Fall being my favorite season, I start to count this time already as "Fall." As soon as the mind-numbing purgatorial heat-humidity of August in Oklahoma has past, I'm already into the spirit of the Fall season.
Which for me means being outside more in more tolerable temperatures, fishing, hiking, grilling, and backyard fires. There is something primordial and life-affirming to gaze silently into the flames of a fire, with cool crispness in the air, contemplating the inner nature of things. My senses come back alive this time of year, as it were.
The Presidential Election
As of late, with the presidential election, I've been contemplating more and more the future of our country. Yes, I am praying quietly for a second miracle, that Trump is re-elected, but I'm not expecting him to, as I wouldn't expect any kind of miracle. Maybe he will, God knows. It will be interesting to see what goes down after November 3rd in terms of predicted contesting of the election from the losing side, potential civil war, etc. And with the passing yesterday of Supreme Court Justice Injustice Ginsberg (may the Almighty God have mercy on her soul), pundits are suggesting a possible stalemate scenario, if a contested election goes to the Supreme Court that does not have the full nine justices.
But if Biden wins, we have crossed the Rubicon. There is no turning back. Conservatives will have to concede that the federal government will certainly be from now on a One Party system of Communism.
I hope I'm wrong. Who knows, what if some good patriot discovered/leaked that Biden frequented Epstein's island and women come out accusing him of raping them when they were sexually trafficked minors. Or some new damning evidence comes to light that proves publicly beyond reasonable doubt that the Democrats (Washington D.C.), Obamas/Clintons/Bidens/etc, are ruled over by a blackmailing Cabal of cocaine-snorting, child molesting, occult devoted, orgy-arranging powerful elites. It could happen.
Perhaps a more likely scenario is Biden makes an utter fool of himself in the debates, saying something so Biden-like that it goes viral, or Trump's lawyers make a strong enough case of election fraud if Trump loses for him to win. Not over hanging chads, but this time over mass conspiracy by the Dems to manipulate absentee ballots.
But I'm not holding my breath this time around.
Cultural Narcissism
Besides heading out for one last Blue Hole outing here in a minute (not planning to swim, too cool out), and plans for Sunday Mass, this weekend I'm nose deep in this excellent book, the authors resonating very well with my traditional Catholic world view.
https://www.amazon.com/Narcissism-Epidemic-Living-Age-Entitlement/dp/1416575995
I talked about this subject a couple posts back. And I think its what we really need to understand going forward with our certain cultural decline, especially if Biden/Communism wins in a few weeks.
We conservative Christians can expect more and more "soft martyrdom," socially and economically. Women can expect their faithful husbands to report more and more crazy behavior and personalities at work, pushing a radical leftist agenda, making the work environment more inhospitable. Present issues about sexuality and gender will get worse, but I expect the conditions to exponentially shift in our disfavor.
And this is all about entitlement. People thinking they have special rights just because they say so, above and beyond the actual rights granted to them by God, nature, reality, not to mention the law. Social media has turned almost all of us into junkies, and its ubiquitous power is growing. There is no turning back for the mainstream from this, barring some dystopic fallout, except maybe for individuals, families, and conservative local communities. We must have our Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Tic Toc (for personal reasons, I especially hate this one), Amazon prime, yada yada. That includes by the way the Catholic "Blogosphere" or trad blogs/websites/discussion fora. We are addicted. I even run that risk posting this.
Baby boomers, Gen-Xers, Millenials, Gen-Yers, whatever is next, we all have slid into this culture of narcissism. Me, me, me. The measure of a person being self-esteem, self-confidence, physical appearance, and financial status, combined with how tuned in said person is to our PC, social media culture. What comes to mind writing this is the Netflix Black Mirror episode called "Nose Dive." Narcissism has already destroyed our society. Humanity, decency, morality, religion, Christianity, God Himself, all these on a practical level are gone.
All because we are precious, and good enough, and smart enough, and dog-gone it people like me (mocking reference to the SNL character Steward Smalley).
Our grandparents and great-grandparents were not like this. Their value system was the complete opposite. They valued their neighbor, coworker, and fellow parishioner when he was honest, fair, polite, loyal to family and friends. Status, in comparison to our view of it today, was proportional. A doctor for example was valued more for the work they do for the sick, for the nobility of their education, training, and profession. Today that is out the door. A doctor's status is now based mainly on their income. Being a "doctor" now means being a rich bad-ass, more than a healer. Which is one of the main reasons I decided in my youth against this profession.
Thus ends my Saturday Musings, fellow Okie Trads and Beyond. Enjoy the weather.