We’re in a mess these days, but guess what? This is nothing new for our species.
Bread and Circuses
The Romans
understood that
if they kept the people
fed
and entertained/distracted
that the people
with real power
could go about
the business
of enjoying/expanding
and otherwise
taking full advantage of
that power.
Keep the masses bellies full
and their brains/minds
confused
by what their eyes and ears
attend to,
and all would be well.
2,000 years later
not a fucking thing has changed:
the debate over
the minimum wage
and the life-altering significance
of the National Football League
Playoff scenarios
and the HUGE
One day
Sales Event
guaranteed to change
not just your
life
but
your life AFTER
death,
all are in play.
The wind blows,
the sun shines
the rain falls
but we have
meteorologists
and sexy blond weather
girls/women
to explain low-pressure systems
and to help us plan
for picnics
or disaster relief.
Money is stacked
in the Roman Senators’
conflict-of-interest,
insider traded,
blind trusts —
(although technically not
because his
brother-in-law
made the trades and holds all
investments in his name)
while the other
99%
of us
try to sort out
the rather complicated
Playoff
picture,
considering
head to head
and myriad other
tie-breaker
considerations.
Why has nothing changed
in these two millenniums?
Well,
simply explained.
the earth has been around
4 or 5 billion years old,
the earliest forms of life
500 million years or so.
Dinosaurs
roamed the earth for
66 million years,
so in terms of experiential knowledge,
we humans,
maybe 150K years max,
haven’t been here very long.
We’re babies, toddling around
the living room banging our heads
on the edges of the coffee table;
and since Jesus & the Romans?
2K years is nothing.
I doubt that this
reversion to perspective
based on time
is very helpful
given that, after all,
either the Seahawks
or the Cardinals will win
the NFC West
and we won’t know
why or how, not for sure anyway,
until ESPN explains it.
image courtesy of David Todd McCarty, Unsplash