Old dogs and new tricks. New dogs and old tricks. As for humans, well, nothing much ever changes, does it? The old, the rejected ideas, the cheating, the lying, the corruption, always manage to stay hale and hearty beneath the surface veneers and bust through that veneer with growing strength when troubles brew.
It is so simple, the answer, but all avoid it, trample on it, relegislate laws so it does not have to be. What? Transparency. Bad things grow in secret, waiting their turns, always building, building, waiting, biding their times until society is ready to accept once again. And when is that? Usually when society is in crisis. People are tired, physically and emotionally. People are looking for some knight to rescue them, to fix the problems. All, of course, without too much interference with their daily lives. Not too much thinking either.
The first thing to go is transparency. Light helps the truth. Darkness not. Cronyism, cheating, corruption, special interests, all have their best moments when the public is shielded, blocked, from the truth. It is only when whistleblowers endowed with courage and valuing truth, come to the fore, and their reward for this valiant moment? Usually, disgrace, shaming, demotion, firing, a pariah in the society of the time. Where? All over. In any society, big or small.
Take a condominium association that has had bad rumblings. People 'know' that something is wrong, their upkeep and maintenance off, their finances truly rocky, but does anyone investigate? Nope, for if the truth will come out, one , someone, anyone, will have to stand up against the power of the association, face their mouths, their nastiness, becoming an outlier, a lonely place to be.
It is not an easy choice, yet some have that courage, that strength to be able to live with the unpleasant consequences of their truth exposures and not be thanked for anything, even if and when their ideas are acted upon, put in place after some time, when things are smoothed over. But the whistleblower in society? He/She will never regain the same place, never win the approval of the majority, never live down a reputation of a troublemaker, even as that reputation is laid upon him by the target of the whistleblowing!
At every level we see the consequences of lies, of the growth of opaqueness, of the drawing of the curtains against the light of the truth, of the vicious hectoring of the truthteller. The entire Trump administration is prime example. Every single person who has told the truth - the naval officer, the health people, the members of the inner circle, the latest courageous one fired for his truth exposure - and it never stops. It begins to wear on people but rather than insist that transparency return, they shrug shoulders, wanting to be left alone in their own personal lives and struggles. Let another handle it.
But there is no other. Everyone is too tired, too busy, too sick, too troubled or actually pleased with the status quo, benefitting from its corruption and bad governmental tactics. So there the person remains, on the edge of a precipice, to tell or not, to jump or not. To know what is coming, yet go ahead with it all. Fear is the prevailing emotion of this society. Fear of loss of power, of position and prestige, such as it is, of loss of wealth, of whatever makes them tick.
As a result, we are in the mess we live with now. Open the cities, the country. Over 70,000 dead and growing, this from just a few people, maybe three, that was predicted. By the geni-ass. Never mind that the plateaus are bumping up again if we leave out the big cities such as NY and Chicago who were tough on their citizens and did the job. Never mind that over 20,000 and more will sicken each day and thousands, thousands, will die, again, for how long? The truth? We will never know it, for it is hidden, people afraid to speak out, subpoenas denied, laws broken, and the cronyism that benefitsfrom all this, well not to worry, for it is hale and hearty.
Now to a more local issue. Even as we have good local examples such as James, of West Palm Beach, we also have the Commissioners of Palm Beach who are fussing, wanting to open the county, even as more are still dying, even as we have such a large population of the most vulnerable. Why? So people can swim in dangerous pools? So it can spread, even in its new more contagious mutations, even as we have no vaccine, even as we ignore what successful countries such as New Zealand, Australia and Israel have done. We are fools. Those of us who will charge out there, throw away the masks, forget the gloves and who has time to wash so often, well, unfortunately it will not be just you who get ill, but also the one to whom you spread it, who sicken and die. Live with that! If you can.
Finally, how about the Village. Ed Grossman has been fighting for truth, for exposure to the light of day, for full transparency, for years, the chief opponents allegedly being Israel, Black and all the sycophants who love to hang around the UCO building, 'basking' in the aura of 'power' of their officer buddies. Things are never done in a straight line and manner here. By laws are ignored or changed, always to make it more difficult to oust or protest the powers that be.
The Village has suffered for it. Huge divisions in the residents. Ignoring new demographics, UCO officers rarely coming to shows though I must exclude David Boas from that for he always is there, sharing in the Village entertainment, out there, mingling, as compared to others. The money situation of the Village is shrouded in more coverings, denials, resistance than any other area. Israel has denied the Treasurer and the auditor of the Village any information, leading to the resignation of a long term CPA auditor and an increasing cloud cover over our finances.
We are spending monies that should never have had to be spent, making up for poor contracts such as the road repaving. These days we are repaving patch by patch, an expensive process. I also wonder how many more things we can find to expend even more funding for the guardhouses and the UCO building. I have lost count of the times the foliage around it has been totally revamped, or the repainting, presumed upgrades, etc. Meanwhile, there is a growing shabbiness of some associations who are undermanned, overrented, populated by the elderly elderly who cannot manage the responsibilities any longer. They seem to count and matter only during election time when suddenly there are boards and delegates. Interesting!
Anyone who asks questions that might even cross over a danger line for the powers that be are blackballed from serving in UCO and its extensions. They are shamed with names, with nastiness from the dais, shut out in the cold, denied their rightful roles within the Village, within UCO and Ed G. is a prime example. Read the letter he has made public, written by the auditor to David Israel. Ask questions. Raise a racket!
I do not know when, if ever, will we humans be able to rid ourselves of these selfish people who find a place for themselves in politics, in big business, who play the ropes and control their puppets. Can we? Will we? Until such time we must be ever vigilant, for the consequences are ours to pay.
In the meanwhile, my friends, prepare for future waves, be well, stay safe.
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