What’s Going On?

I’ve just had the shock of my life. I’ve just come to realization that I’m not living at the center of the universe in the way I have always conceived it of myself. I am watching television programs like Sunday Morning and Face The Nation. I come across the faces and names of people who have been famous for years and realize I have never known of their existence. How did I miss that? How did I miss knowing them? Where was I all that time- was I marooned on some desert island? How could I not have known what was going on?

I have always thought of myself as having my finger on the pulse, aware of the currents in the ocean of world events. Don’t you sometimes think of yourselves that way? I have had an education. I can make myself understood in at least six languages. I have travelled to many countries, seeing a good part of the world. Retired from the workaday world for the last twenty-five years, I have nevertheless seen myself as an attentive viewer of world events on my wide-screen television screen.

Now I must come to terms with realization that I am an obsolescent nonentity in an enormous population, like many of my ilk, with no idea of what is going on. This is true, in spite of the fact that I have strong opinions about all sorts of things regarding world events. I always felt I had to share my important insights. It was the least I could do since I had so much wisdom to share.

Now things seems quite different to me. It follows that since I have no idea what is going on, that any opinions I may have are likely to be based on a criminal absence of knowledge on which to base those opinions. I should shut up and listen to what those who may have more information have to say.

Maybe, like some of you, the ego rebels at the thought that we may have been confined to the ashcan of history. All my life I have been under the illusion that I have been an important actor on the world stage. Most of the time, I might have been only a bit player. But in my mind, I was always in touch. As earlier, in my more active days, at any moment it could fall to me to pay a significant role affecting the fates of many of my fellow travelers.

I know I am a hero. I was a hero, and I stood ready to perform any heroic role that was required in my environment. I took career risks that paid off in benefits for many people, as well as myself and my family. Naturally, as required by my vision of myself, and my expectations of future potential roles, I have always felt that I had to make the effort to be fully in touch with all the pertinent facts regarding important events occurring on the face of the planet.

 It seems I have been dreaming in technicolor. I have failed to keep in touch. I have also failed to adjust my expectations as to my role in the scheme of things. Wake up and smell the roses that wilted long, long ago!

What is going on is that the world has moved on in its search for heroes. We always need those. I don’t know who most of them are because I missed the program, but surely they are there. I don’t know who they are because I probably was busy working on my nap.

Wow! I’m so busy! Now, I must get ready to play the hero role for my great-grandchild. I’m tired already thinking of all the things I have to do before I get ready for bed.