We Got our Hierarchies Mixed Up
I’ve been thinking about how much value stories provide. They help us make sense of this chaotic world.
It’s interesting, isn’t it? How an item of clothing once worn by Elvis Presley is worth so much more than the same outfit produced long after his death. Similarly, a picture with Joe Rogan posted during a heated debate has greater universal value than when it was taken just after the podcast recording. Don’t get me wrong, Joe seems like a great guy. It just makes me cringe a little when I see everyone gushing over him. There’s a part of me that is dying to be cynical about the fact that people worship him. It seems to me that the part of him that people find most honorable lies within the ancient lessons he’s learned through practices like martial arts.
In a world that does not need religion, we still reach for figureheads/false idols. We cannot avoid the fact that we inherently want a hierarchy system. I remember one of the interesting things about the Occupy Movement was that there was no leader except the mask of Guy Fawkes. I always thought the movement would’ve done better if there was a relatable face to get behind. Bernie Sanders ended up stepping into that role to an extent but dropped the ball hard when he capitulated to Pelosi’s Left. The problem with mortals is that they have bills to pay.
This leads me to another issue I have that is tangentially related. We no longer value our elders and its a disgrace. The number of times Fox News anchors joked about Sleepy Joe’s dementia is abhorrent. They should be ashamed of themselves but I know they aren’t. It was no different for the populists I used to watch Krystal and Saagar with, but my Grandpa (with dementia) wasn’t listening to their disrespect. I’ve declared many times that my grandpa is a terror but it only degrades his spirit further when people make flippant comments about the demon thats clouding and darkening his mind. Also, there have been small pieces of good advice I have been able to glean from him, still. I get that we want to make light of it but I think that’s only acceptable if we face the dark side, head on.
Wisdom should be valued as it is relevant to the discussion. What our centurions went through in their childhood can help guide us through our current crisis. Instead, we look the other way to our fancy new technology that we don’t undesrtand and wait from someone to tell us its all going to be okay. All those people that were here to comfort us and teach us to slow down have been shamed into a corner in a nursing home to only be seen for a short-while during visiting hours. We don’t care what they remember and we don’t care to listen. All we do is focus on the next appointment that feels much more pressing in our lives. We are about to find out what really matters as we try to recover, I just hope we don’t have to learn the hard way.
Originally written in Collective Journaling at The Stoa
