Ok, the world is nuts.
I never really write about how crazy the world is because I’m always writing to The Future. I don’t want to be too time-specific in order to be relatable to my great grandchildren, who will read aloud my quips and jibes in their blue reflective jumpsuits, marveling at the simplicity of the writing (“…perhaps Great-Grandpa took a sharp blow to the head as a child?”) and the universal themes which somehow still ring true to them, even though I lived so long ago and never had even one cybernetic implant.
But, c’mon. The world is nuts. Maybe I can just leave it at that. Maybe that’s the universal. Isn’t that what Marvin Gaye was writing about? Will Rogers? Jonathan Swift? Since their writing of then helps me understand now, shouldn’t I try to pay that forward?
Let’s see…
Hello, Great-Grandchildren!
The world is nuts right now.
I’m sure you’ve taken care of all that and are reading this from a lawn chair in a societal utopia, breathing clean air, relaxed and carefree, enjoying a “green drink” that actually tastes terrific.
To boil it down, the world is currently illogical. “Things” don’t “make sense”.
We carry ever-increasingly powerful and complex communication devices that cause us to talk and interact less.
Playing a game with a person has evolved into a technological platform which costs $500 – but can only be played together with someone in a different house (who has also spent $500), while playing cards still cost just a few bucks. (Tic-Tac-Toe is free.)
The world’s primary game is “keeping people from doing things”. Groups large and small pursue this, but in reality are focused less on limiting what somebody is doing than “who someone is”. Quintillions of dollars are spent here.
It’s all very confusing and it’s hard to tell from here how we’re going to get to where you are. If you’re reading this far enough in the future to have access to a time machine, it would be great if you’d come back and let me know. I’m that black guy on the F train. I’ll keep an eye out for you.
As an artist it would be my greatest legacy to provide useful information, navigational signposts from my own experience, but the most honest thing I could tell my great grandchildren is that the world has probably been nuts as long as it’s been round, and as it is highly unlikely that they live in any kind of utopia, they should take care of themselves, enjoy their lives, and try to leave everything a little better than they found it.
Art can be inspiring. Even if mine is not (which is likely) maybe I can curate some wisdom that has guided me:
We have a favorite family movie where a young man who’s given up on everything is spiritually revitalized after successfully navigating a legendary local ski run, which, for various reasons, he completes using only one ski.
At the beginning of his quest, his best friend attempts to give him a skiing lesson. Atop the impossible slope, he tells him,
“Go that way, really fast.
If something gets in your way, turn.”
Now there’s a useful piece of advice. Simple, elegant, yet undeniably applicable to everyone, mirroring Frank Zappa’s quote, “There are only two things to remember. Number one…Don’t Stop, and number two…Keep Going.”
But there is one phrase, a keen distillation of respect, harmony and self awareness, that I have carried with me for decades - immortal words not from any pundit or guru, but a made-up hero named Buckaroo Banzai:
“Don’t be mean. We don’t have to be mean.
Because, remember, no matter where you go, there you are.”
There you go, Great Grandchildren. Live long and prosper.
P.S.
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