(For the past several weeks, I’ve been living with a sense of foreboding about what’s ahead. I want to thin this emotional bile that’s eating at my soul. Today some older adult assurances about long-haul thinking….)
The newly arrived gaggle of angry, self-centered and self-righteous political appointees is making statements and taking actions that will clearly harm the public good. Given the patterns of the new administration’s actions, this phenomenon will likely continue. It feels hopeful, though, to look ahead with eventually in mind. This chaos won’t last forever. That view of the future might be a positive way to think about the question, “What’s going to happen to us”?
I’m old enough to have experienced arrogant folks like this before. I’ve seen how their eventual downfall doesn’t come only from the resistance of elders like us, but also from this truism: Arrogance creates its own enemies. Eventually….
Looking to see if this might be true about the new crop of political leaders, I realized that some condescending crusaders have already started to turn on each other. Some of them show the same self-important disregard for each other that they’ve learned from their ultimate boss. As haughty holiness spreads, it seems possible that dictatorial government officials might destroy each other with that mindset. Sooner-or-later….
Arrogance creates reciprocal contempt: I don’t respect you, so you don’t respect me. If both of us wants to win only by defeating the other, neither of us benefits. As this conceit replicates itself among more and more domineering leaders, their self-centered attitudes will weaken their ability to work cooperatively. Their disdain for each other seems likely to lead to open conflict. “I’m better than you” won’t function as a practical governing philosophy. Ultimately….
Eventually helps me remember that dueling disregard inevitably brings down super-scornful people who claim to serve us. In their arrogance, they will foul their own nests. They will defeat themselves. Even if eventually takes awhile to get here!
I feel better now. My dismay has been diluted….
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