My Terrible Life

By rl murdoch

Fri, 19 Jun 2009
  • 1484 reads
8 comments
 

01/29/09
My Terrible Life

I was sitting around the office when three of us started to talk about the global warming issue. We agreed to disagree about everything from the natural climate change to the rape of the earth’s resources, and the massive pollution we create every day. We talked about how terrible things are with the economy, and how the politicians are so crooked that they believe if they do one thing right that it counters the several things they do wrong. We talked about how bad the job market, housing market, and the stock market are doing. We even discussed how social security might be out of money soon after we retire.
Then we left work in our nice big cars, stopping at the supermarket trying to select what we wanted to take home from the huge selection offered to us. Once at home in our nice four bedroom house we turned on the large screen T.V. after eating so much it felt like a Thanksgiving dinner. Then we had the problem of trying to find something of interest on TV as we scroll through the 140 channels offered by the cable company.
Meanwhile over in Europe a young man is waiting in line at a soup kitchen for his only meal of the day while he tries to find enough work to get an extra meal. In the jungles of South America another more mature man carrying only a small spear for his defense is stalking a wild boar that has razor sharp teeth. He is trying to find food for his family who has not eaten in two days. At the same time a young boy in Africa is being trained by a dictator on how to shoot an AK-47 so he can kill his former friends and neighbors.
The life that we lead is the envy of so many. Our life is the dream of so many others, it is a shame we do not appreciate it. Life can be terrible; it depends on what you make of it.
We forget how lucky we really are when we are living out someone else’s DREAM.

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Comments

Submitted by Jupiter on
Hi Robert. This had me interested all the way up friends and neighbors at which point I thought you might talk about changing US lives to reduce pollution or helping those less fortunate but instead you seem to tell me how lucky you are to be in a position to pollute and it just left me cold. I wasn't sure why you capitalised the last word either? I'm not an expert on the construction of prose, I'm just interested in the story so feel free to ignore this if you wish. Thanks for the first 4/5ths which I found interesting ;-)

Submitted by rl murdoch on
I capitalized the last word only to impress on people that we are living out someone else's dream, & should appreciate how good we have it. My hope as far as polution and the waste that we create as a society is in the hands of everyone, but I am really inpressed with the interest that young people have taken in trying to make the changes now instead of waiting for someone else. The world is far from perfect, but things are a lot better now than they were when I was young.

Submitted by Jupiter on
Hi Robert. I'm not so sure that as many people want the American dream as Americans would like to think. Guns for everyone, mass school killings, poor and underprivileged living in ghettos, huge variations between the greedy and uncaring wealthy and the poor, racism, corruption ... I could go on but I feel sure that if you just stop for a second and look around you you will see you already know what I mean. Anyway my friend, this is a writing site and not a debating site, and I know I started it and I shouldn't have. ;-) If you ever decide to redraft the ending to this I would love to read it because I find your flow easy to follow and your topics generally interesting. Cheers ;-)

Submitted by rl murdoch on
Hello Jupiter: I loved your comments and believe deep down you and I share the same concerns about our fellow man. We can all do a little better job at trying to make the world a better place, and who knows maybe something we write will inspire someone to get away from the keyboard and take action. Woudn't that be great. I agree we need to stop taking and start giving. The American dream is something other people have tagged us with, but like everything you have to watch what you wish for. Again thanks for your input.

Submitted by chuck on
I see an inherent contradiction when it comes to topics that are intended to spark debate but I guess that's just me.

Submitted by celticman on
Hi. I read your piece about Obamma (the fly killer!). I tend to be more cynical than you. The first two paragraphs I can relate to. 'Over in Europe...' doesn't work. It sterotypes. Look closer to home. There are lots of complicated issues around, but global warming, might effect me, but I'll probably be dead by the time it fully kicks in. But, even as a cynic, I have no doubt it will kill more than the First and Second World War combined. If you have children and grandchildren...they will see the apocolypse.

 

Submitted by rl murdoch on
hello Celticman: In retrospect I have to agree with you about Europe (I should have been a little more specific.) I was thinking about some of the people in Russia I have seen waiting in lines for pretty much anything that is available. I could have used one of the many examples right here in the states. I was only trying to look at how the world sees us with all our waste & pollution. It bothers me when I see fellow countrymen whining about how bad they have it. Thanks for your reply.

Submitted by Jupiter on
Hi Robert. and who knows maybe something we write will inspire someone to get away from the keyboard and take action. You are spot on here. I have found that this is a good place to hone my craft especially as there are so many talented writers here to learn from. I do try to put a lot of my stuff online and a lot of the pieces I have written here will find their way onto one of my websites in the near future, after all - if it's not read it's dead! ;-) I look forward to reading some more of your work when I get a moment. :)