The 600 pound gorilla...

Why is it so hard for us to see that being dicks has not solved our problems? That forcing our way through issues has really undermined those efforts, generally, rather than supporting them?

I was watching the 60 Minutes interview about the Hewlet Packard situation -- the Wall Street Journal plays gotcha journalism with HP, HP executives authorize spying on HP employees and journalists, executives investigate board members to see who authorized the leaks and the spying, and a former HP CEO is criminally indicted for the whole incident -- and the whole time I'm thinking...

Are we just completely obvlious to how this whole strategy of strong-arming our way through life is failing miserably? The journalists, the executives, the board members, the prosecutors?

Which one of them is doing good, here, or did any good in this situation?

None of them...it's a pox on every single one of their houses...

What major issue or situation has been helped by our strong-arming and self-centeredness and thoughtlessness?

And why is it so hard to see the crazy cynical mess we've created with this ugly political period?

It's the 600 pound gorilla sitting in the middle of our terribly large, messy living room, right now...

And we can be sure that things will continue to get worse until we take some responsibility...

We only get out of this mess when we face up...

And it is more important than any particular issue we face, right now...

The environment, wealth inequities, religious freedom, gay rights, free markets, drug and gun laws...

International policy and security issues are intimately bound up in this issue...

And until we face up to our complicity in all of it, we will continue to get worse until we decide to get better...

It's the 600-pound gorilla in the middle of humanity's living room, right now...and it's not going away until we face up...

Let's hope that happens sooner rather than later...

Love,
Ben