"Human Politics" - Time Out #31

Wouldn't it be nice if human politics weren't involved in every day life?

Of what do I write?

No, not a hint of Republican, Democrat or Independent political parties that have swept our country like a swarm of locust since last summer.

The topic of what I write is as basic as it gets; we are usually recognized in the long human line, by not only by what we have done, but also by who we have known to get there.

As much as we would like to think the so-called cream always rises to the top entirely based on merit, lots of that "rising" is because we knew the right people at the right time.

The process begins very early in life.

As young toddlers and pre-school children, our relatives/guardians make certain key life choices for us regarding such things as our hair style, clothing, activities, travel and sometimes even our early childhood friends, all that greatly influence how society views us. Many of these "first impressions" of us are glued to us for the rest of our lives.

As we enter school, we take a more active part in our own political process through our choice of friends, extra-curricular activities, choosing our own physical appearances---hair, clothes, weight, etc., and the common phrases "being popular/unpopular" and/or "attractive/unattractive" start gaining momentum in our lives.

Thus the foundation is laid for the future politics of our lives.

Whether one stars in athletics, becomes a member of an organization as a school-age person, receives various honors, and the myriad of other things today's helicopter parents are able to involve their offspring in almost 24/7, many of these things are achieved through the school of who-you-know. One's ability certainly counts, but other humans have opinions, positive politics and negative politics about you.

Not all are political, mind you members of Our Town, just many things, and you know what I say here is spot-on correct.

As we go down life's path, with each milestone, we realize more and more that our earlier life ideas of becoming this or that could not be a pure accomplishment. We discovered as the years passed and we got our experience tickets punched, it REALLY did matter who we knew (i.e., politics), so that a particular achievement was made much easier, or even happened at all.

We've all experienced politics during life's ups and downs, and have probably tended to concentrate on it more during the unfortunate down times.

Does the line "It's just not fair" ring a tone for you?

The "fair" part of that is in-your-face politics humans can never fully escape from even though we'd like to for sure.

Part of life's greatest lessons, however, are taught through competitive athletics. That is, when knocked down, in this case by politics, if you don't get something you really want (i.e, a job, promotion, etc.), to quickly get back up. If you are slow to spring back to your feet, opportunity may pass you by. If that happens too many times, you will play the dreaded "what if" game the rest of your life.

Yes, dear readers, human politics are alive and well.

I would love to always practice Carpe Diem (capture the present, not worrying about the future), but really wonder just how that would play in the human political arena???

Just sayin' .......................