There will be blood. We are a very violent country. Guns out-number the people. Lots of folks believe in the power of the gun and the bullet. It is a death-dealing, heart-breaking, nihilsm of the first degree.
There will be racism. The country was founded on Genocide and Slavery. That stain and history never goes away. A deep scar, an in the bone racism, the Mark of Cain.
There will be Drugs. People like to get high. People believe that Drugs, I am including alchohol-abuse, are the answer. Some can't control themselves. The Drugs are too powerful, too addictive. There are folks in all walks of life, stomping around like brain-addled, drug-crazed, zombies.
There will be $. Folks sell out everything to the $. Americans think $ solve all problems, that accumulating vast sums of $ are salvation. Sure, being wealthy in America is a good & privileged thing. Solves many of the basic problems of survival. The answer to everything? For sure not. If you live for $ and turn away from Love & Meaning, you are basically a just hollow, soul-less fuck.
There will be bible-thumping. There are folks who believe every word in that musty, moldy, totally-confusing, totally retrograde, contradictory, man-made, and man-compiled stack of pages. Folks who think Jesus was a lilly-white, nationalistic, sort of Authoritarian & Fascistic Dude. These folks are free to think and believe whatever they want, but they also want to force that shite down everyone else's throats, and to make laws based on their own very poor reading comprehension.
There will be bad actors & chaos agents. There are folks who will happily fan the flames of Chaos & Racism for kicks and for profit. And, unfortunately, this toxic B.S. is sometimes a political winner.
So yes, these constants float around us. We need to see with eyes of cold clarity. Can't let it get us down. We must swim against the current, lean to the light. Hope and fight for a better day.
Let's just say that the American Experience is a work in progress. It's easy to fall back into cynicism and hopelessness. We must not. Not a good or healthy way to live. Disappointment and failure lurk around every corner, but that's just the price of admission to being a Human Being in the USA and on this little, spinning, blue planet.
