Power and Depression

No, I am not wanting power. And NO, I am not depressed. Read on.

I have been walking to work in the mornings, not just because the buses are running on a wacky schedule during spring break, but because it has been gorgeous out. I walk around 7:30 in the morning, so the sun is just beginning to rise over the trees, which washes the sky, trees, and everything around me in a really pretty pink and orange combo. Not only that, with the arrival of warmer weather, the bird population and literally exploded into song. At one point this morning, I had to stop, look around, and just listen. It took my breath away.

Yesterday, I decided to put my earbuds on and listen to my Ipod about half way to work. The song that came on was "The Yeah Yeah Yeah Song" by The Flaming Lips. For me, just listening to the lyrics brought on a wave of mixed emotion. Here they are, for those who have no idea what I am talking about:

If you could blow up the world
With the flick of a switch
Would you do it?
(Yeah yeah yeah yeah, yeah yeah yeah yeah)
If you could make everybody poor
Just so you could be rich
Would you do it?
(Yeah yeah yeah yeah, yeah yeah yeah yeah)

If you could watch everybody work
While you just lay on your back
Would you do it?
(Yeah yeah yeah yeah, yeah yeah yeah yeah)
If you could take all the love
Without giving any back
Would you do it?
(Yeah yeah yeah yeah, yeah yeah yeah yeah)

And so we cannot know ourselves
Or what we'd really do

With all your power
With all your power
With all your power
What would you do?

With all your power
With all your power
With all your power
What would you do?

(No no no no, no no no no)

If you could make your own money
And then give it to everybody
Would you do it?
(No no no no, no no no no)
If you knew all the answers
And could give to the masses
Would you do it?
(No no no no, no no no no)

Are you crazy?
It's a very dangerous thing to do
Exactly what you want
Because you cannot know yourself,
Or what you'd really do

With all your power
With all your power
With all your power
What would you
Do do do do, do do do do [x2]
(Yeah yeah yeah yeah, yeah yeah yeah yeah) [x10]
ahhhhhhhhhh...... (from third yeah yeah line to the last one)

To me, this song epitomizes why our nation, and the entire world for that matter, is in the mess that it is. I am not going to lay blame at any one doorstep in particular. In my mind, we are ALL to blame. Even if you did nothing wrong in particular, the fact that we all remained as ignorant and silent as possible makes us just as guilty as the people on Wall Street, lawmakers, banks, etc.

Moving on.

In the end, there were those who wanted to "lay on their backs" and watch everyone else work, rake in the dough for not doing much, then give nothing back. Money just does not magically appear. But somehow, we all thought that we could keep making money magically appear without working for it and that we could borrow above our means. Yet we were told that was okay. Ouch.

This brought something else to mind. On Monday, I finally caught up on the anchor wars going on between John Stewart and CNBC. For those of you who have not seen those episodes, CHECK THEM OUT! They are hilarious!

Essentially, John was right. There are people who HAD the power to stop all this before it started did nothing. Why??? Out of greed. They saw money to be made and ran for it. They must be held accountable, just as we all should.

There is something to be learned here. I know I have learned the value of having a savings account rather than running up huge credit bills and student loans.

There is a mistake I will not make again any time soon. I, literally, cannot afford to make that mistake again.