Dreams Gone Bad

A while back, I wrote about the Puerto Rican "dream." Pissed Me off, it did. I had hoped for something better and though you may say 'Well, Jenius, it's your opinios so don't be a spaz and just change the damn thing," the fact is: I'm right.

Now My good friend Kevin Shockey made the comment that another "dream" We have is to "pretend We have more money than We actually do." When I first read that, I didn't consider it a "dream," but a character flaw, to which Kevin rightly replied that what I had suggested--and he agreed with--was equally so.

Over time I looked at both "dreams" and tried to figure out why the one I suggested "fit" My selected criteria for a national "image dream" and yet somehow didn't "fit" with Kevin's. (The obvious tack of "I'm right and he's wrong" doesn't apply here; as far as My conversations with Kevin go, it never does.) Here's what I came up with:

--The way I see it, the national "dream" is an idealized portrait of what the people of that country see themselves doing and being when times become a challenge. I expressed as much in My original post. On that basis, acting like you've got more money than you actually do doesn't mesh very well with the "facing a crisis" mode I defined, for it is obvious that in times of crisis or even near-crisis, the average brethren of Mine here prefers to wail about how they need more money to get anything done. Proof? Check out the number of claims and the insane drop in productivity at all levels after a natural phenomena such as a hurricane or flood.

--However, the national dream is also present in times of emotional buoyancy, when the good times are rolling, as anyone can see by delving into the history of the U.S. of part of A. or Japan (My two examples.) At those times--so very few and far between for Us--Kevin's assessment is spot-on, but sadly, so is Mine, for in the midst of plenty, We consistently keep looking outward, to others, to "keep the party rolling" rather than relying on Ourselves to make the party bigger.

But I still resisted Kevin's suggestion, until I noticed that My suggestion covers both good times and bad and his doesn't. True, it's My game and My rules. But if I forget that and simply look at what Kevin suggested, then I notice that what bothers Me still about it is that he is right--and We have another bad dream on Our hands.

And for you Larva Lovers out there, that's not a good thing. Because if Our dreams are passivity or vanity--one a weary attitude of defeat and the other a mindless pursuit of useless approval--then what can possibly unite Us as an ideal to step firmly towards progress?

I don't know. And that pisses Me off, too.

The Jenius Has Spoken.