Today the meaning of service is pretty complicated. My first thought is military service and how badly, even disgusting, the treatment and disrespect of military members by the leader of our country and the pentagon. Fools and philanderers take the lead in their jobs, making speeches, declaring unnecessary wars, threats to our allies, and that is only a trifle of their unqualified behavior. The latest by Hegseth about testosterone checks? Omg, unbelievable! How is this happening? It’s mind boggling! Service used to mean serving our country to the best of our ability. Trump has no idea what that means. He only serves himself in every aspect of his life. I’ll stop here😐
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Writing Prompts
You’ve put this so well ❤️
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I think you touch upon something worth exploring here.
Everyone needs to provide service, not only to their own country, but to the whole world. The American obsession (forgive me for calling it thus) with notions of ‘veterans’, ‘patriots’, national ‘greatness’ and the waving of flags has become something of a self-perpetuating myth and can be a bit counterproductive in a search for common ground and common good.
There’s nothing wrong with those who choose to serve in the military, but there is nothing inherently special about them either. I find nothing more or less to admire about a military man or woman to the one that drives the garbage truck.
Everyone shares a responsibility. We should, as much as possible, develop common goals. The very existence of the military indicates how badly we have failed in doing so.
Clearly we should expect the notion of ‘service’ to be always in the minds of our elected leaders who are, after all, public ‘servants’. You and I might be labelled as selfish or inconsiderate or even a waste of oxygen if we fail to do service, but the accusation carries far more weight when directed towards a politician. If they are not providing genuine service to those who employ them (you and I) they are in breach of contract.
It’s worse than that, though. They manipulate us through these great myths of patriotism and military superiority to support the very things we should appose.
What do you think might bond all Americans together under the flag and current leadership? How about an attack on American soil by a foreign country? How do you think Americans would react if Iran started lobbing missiles into their country? If they murdered a playground full of schoolchildren do you think we’d turn the other cheek? Or do you think the suggestion of ‘annihilating’ an entire nation might be suddenly more palatable?
So I’m all for service.
But don’t ask what your country can do for you.
And don’t ask what you can do for your country.
Ask only what we all might do for humanity.
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A lot to think about RR…I believe in even distribution of food, shelter, education and happiness it provides our people, any color, anywhere, in the world. How is it achieved when you have money hungry despots ruling a country?
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It is, indeed, very difficult. And never lose sight of the fact that it is not just America. It’s not all your fault. Once again, there is nothing exceptional about America here. It is happening everywhere. The ‘market’ has been elevated to a position above the people all over the planet.
We are (with good reason) very concerned with the risks involved in losing control of AI. But we have already lost control of capitalism. We find it impossible to even contemplate a world without capitalism and so we view it as a fact of life, like the weather, which does its own thing, as though it cannot be controlled.
But it can be controlled – and it is controlled – by the very people who should not be controlling it.
I don’t pretend to know how to fix it. But I would start by encouraging a less adversarial approach to those around us, to look very carefully at who we have been told are our enemies – to start recognising our own reflection in them.
And I’d start taxing the hell out of the ultra wealthy too – that’s a given.
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