0.0 PRELUDE - WHY DID I WRITE THIS? WHY SHOULD YOU READ IT?.
Let’s be clear. I’m writing this book for me (the author), not you (the reader). I watch the news: see white supremacists rant about tradition, a nuclear North Korea, young Boko Haram hostage wives, genocide in Aleppo. I want to go enjoy my time on the beach. I don’t want to be involved, but I want to know its not my fault. As Johnny Cash sings “When the Man comes around”, I get a little nervous. What can I do? Somehow, liking stuff on Facebook or Tweeting “damn right” doesn’t seem to matter like I thought it would.
What is my responsibility to my kids? My future grandkids? Those young girls in Chibok? That little unknown boy bleeding alone in the Syrian bus station? The stunted, starving citizens of North Korea? It haunts me. So, I’ll say my peace and try to enjoy this life I’ve been blessed with. Maybe the reason Gen Xers have chased extreme sports and Millennials are hiding on line is to avoid the real world. It’s hard to appreciate what we have if we start to think about the hundreds of millions who don’t.
I’ve started this book numerous times over the years. The birth of children. The death of close relatives or friends. 9-11. Obama. The Tea Party. Take your pick. Standing in the voting booth on November 8th, 2016 was a real head scratcher for me. So with all this technology and transparency, we ended up with the two most unpopular, untrusted candidates to EVER run. How did this happen? Who’s fault is this?
How did we get to this point? We can simply say that only bad guys go into politics. OR that politics are crooked and can’t be fixed - if they can corrupt Jimmy Stewart in Mr Smith goes to Washington, what chance does a normal human have? In order to fix a problem, you typically need to understand the cause and work at the “root cause”, not a surface symptom.
Let’s be clear. I’m writing this book for me (the author), not you (the reader). I watch the news: see white supremacists rant about tradition, a nuclear North Korea, young Boko Haram hostage wives, genocide in Aleppo. I want to go enjoy my time on the beach. I don’t want to be involved, but I want to know its not my fault. As Johnny Cash sings “When the Man comes around”, I get a little nervous. What can I do? Somehow, liking stuff on Facebook or Tweeting “damn right” doesn’t seem to matter like I thought it would.
What is my responsibility to my kids? My future grandkids? Those young girls in Chibok? That little unknown boy bleeding alone in the Syrian bus station? The stunted, starving citizens of North Korea? It haunts me. So, I’ll say my peace and try to enjoy this life I’ve been blessed with. Maybe the reason Gen Xers have chased extreme sports and Millennials are hiding on line is to avoid the real world. It’s hard to appreciate what we have if we start to think about the hundreds of millions who don’t.
I’ve started this book numerous times over the years. The birth of children. The death of close relatives or friends. 9-11. Obama. The Tea Party. Take your pick. Standing in the voting booth on November 8th, 2016 was a real head scratcher for me. So with all this technology and transparency, we ended up with the two most unpopular, untrusted candidates to EVER run. How did this happen? Who’s fault is this?
How did we get to this point? We can simply say that only bad guys go into politics. OR that politics are crooked and can’t be fixed - if they can corrupt Jimmy Stewart in Mr Smith goes to Washington, what chance does a normal human have? In order to fix a problem, you typically need to understand the cause and work at the “root cause”, not a surface symptom.
