Death vs Something Else

Life in the Boomer Lane keeps promising herself that she will no longer write anything about Donald Trump. On the other hand, she also keeps promising herself that she will stop talking about aging, her allergies, and the documented fact that she is getting shorter. She has failed in all of these areas. She now adds another topic of non-discussion to her list: The emerging penchant that a lot of humans have to reduce all preference to 1. I like it or 2. I don’t like it and I want it to die. or 3. I don’t like it and I want to kill it.

She’s not sure how this failure of imagination started to take over, but, as time goes on, it seems to be building up steam. There have been some notable events in the last few years that have called attention to it: 1. I don’t like gay people. I will go out, find out where they gather, and then kill them. 2. I don’t like Mike Pence and Nancy Pelosi. Let’s invade the Capitol and kill them. 3. I don’t like Megan Markle or Justin Bieber. I will go on social media and announce that they should die.

LBL would add Jews to this mix, but hatred of Jews has been around since before humans were around (I’m a primate. I’m afraid some primates will turn into Jews and that will ruin our lives). It has also, unfortunately, been documented that, once humans appeared, and then once Jews followed, any number of other humans devised clever ways of eliminating them. It’s an ancient story and nobody seems able to do anything about it.

LBL wonders why, if humans don’t like something, they can’t come up with any other solution (I don’t like Republicans. I will not vote for them. Or I don’t like the human now known as Ye. I will not listen to his music.) But this would involve imagination and we are doomed to the aforementioned lack thereof. It would mean coming up with a novel solution that would allow us to express our feelings without resorting immediately to murder.

A note to Loyal Readers: LBL has not included Jews, blacks, gays, Muslims, Asians, nor immigrants into the above paragraph. This is because when hatred involves a vast group of humans who never did anything to anybody except to exist, this constitutes another issue entirely.

A second note to Loyal Readers: LBL has no solution at hand, least of all for how to instill imagination in humans. Jeans and tee shirts have taken over the known world, malls highlight the fact that most stores sell the same products, and the Kardashians have redefined the female form for millions (the goal being to acquire huge eyelashes, huge butts, and overly long pointy nails). All are examples of our sheeplike tendencies.

A third note to Loyal Readers: The following week will include Hanukkah, and the annual final week of holiday frenzy before Christmas arrives. LBL wishes all of you some kind of personal oasis of sanity amid the mayhem. LBL takes comfort in knowing that her own readers will come up with more imaginative responses to people they don’t like or with whom they disagree than wishing for the person’s death. She suggests that you test this out when forced to break bread with family members whose sense of reality doesn’t coincide in any way with your own. Let her know how it works out.