As Darkness Falls, Be A Point of Light

You Don't Have to Rage Against the Dying of the Light, But You Should Light A Candle

Yesterday, while watching football, an ad for Google’s new Android-based AI assistant, “Gemini.” Gauzy images of Americans, spanning a representative sample of every conceivable demographic, duly inquired about a variety of subjects after the bot said, “We can have a conversation about anything you like.”

My 14 year old looking on said, “If I want to talk to a friend, I’ll call one. I don’t want to talk to a robot.”

Thank God she got her mother’s brains.

I’ve thought a lot about the ad. In 90 seconds, the slick spot illustrated where we are as a society; how massive companies see us only as hosts to feed upon, their parasitic nature undaunted, their need to keep us engaged on their devices, to collect more data points about us to sell us more stuff. Rinse and repeat.

As Donald Trump prepares to take office again tomorrow, the same oligarchs that run or own many of these financial and data vacuum cleaners, have financed and/or will be in attendance at his inauguration. Never have so few done so much to separate so many people from their money, their identity, and one another.

Trump and Company (aside from Google) would like nothing more than for us to spend all our time talking to inanimate beings comprised at their core of 1s and 0s. If we’re chatting with “Gemini” or “Siri” than to our friends, neighbors, and colleagues. Our atomization is their goal; we should resist it.

I don’t mean to lecture or be a Luddite. Technology is here and it’s not going away. Instead, I make a suggestion: As those that would bleed us of our resources: financial, personal, and community take a dominant position in our society, that we revert to an essential practice: Talking to each other, preferably in person.

Here are some ideas to consider:

• Book Clubs*

• Bowling (Together) Leagues

• Volunteer Opportunities

• Block and Neighborhood Parties (when it warms up!)

• Civic Groups (Lions, Kiwanis, VFW, Foreign Legion)

*The Home Front Book Club is debuting soon! Stay tuned!

Reed, you might say, these look like ideas from 50 or 60 years ago! Perhaps, but each of them served to create ties between people, their towns, and many folks they might never have met. Plus, most of them cost little money, and time you’re already using for something else (as I’m guilty of.) The rewards far outweigh the work or time you’ll spend.

I’m not suggesting anyone avert their eyes and ears from what will take place in the coming days, weeks, and months. However, rather than allowing an energy vampire like Donald Trump to leave you exhausted, daunted, and depressed, turn your attention to things you can control, feel good about, and will create positive change in your world.

Tomorrow, Monday, January 20th represents the most ironic of historical coincidences. We will celebrate the life, legacy, and acts of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. while Donald Trump once again prepares to ignore the oath of office he’ll take tomorrow inside the Capitol Rotunda.

“Everybody can be great, because everyone can serve. You only need a heart full of grace, a soul generated by love.”

What Donald Trump has promised is the opposite of service. He lacks grace of any sort. Love is not in his vocabulary. We cannot and must not attempt to match what he brings; the world doesn’t need more of what he has on offer. The antidote to this time will not be further division. The cure is not to ask “Gemini” what to do next. We know in our hearts and our souls. It only remains for us to get to work.

News and Notes:

I’ll be watching tomorrow’s events and will have my report, anaylsis and response to you first thing Tuesday morning.

Please join Sez.us, the social media network for sanity. We’re now in the Apple App Store and the Google Play Store so there’s not excuse not to download it today!

Deep breaths, everybody. Deep breaths.