Broken Record

What does this title mean? Does it refer to a record of achievement soundly beaten, surpassed? Or might it mean the constantly repeated track of sound, looped forever over and over again on a malfunctioning record player or CD player? Or maybe something else? If so, how many others might there be?

As I started to write this piece my mind went in several directions. Certainly not the path I had in mind when I first started typing. But then I returned to my original intent. Here it is.

Repeating the same behavior and expecting a different outcome is the intent of my title. Examples abound. We mow the lawn week after week and enjoy the result for a short time. Rain and sunshine urge the lawn to grow some more and out comes the mower. Week in and week out, we do the same thing. In climates of perpetual summer, this behavior goes on for 52 weeks. Or in colder climes, the weekly behavior is swapped with shoveling snow, only that task is done as called for, rarely once a week, unless your live in Syracuse or Buffalo, New York!

I know, these two examples are not a true example of the ‘broken record’ syndrome. A better one is talking about gun violence and doing nothing about it. Or worrying about the abortion problem when it is quickly disappearing, but never mind, we will continue to force laws on people so they don’t have an abortion. The question remains a constant: what are we fixing here? Is the focus of our interest a true problem requiring repair? Or are we playacting at living life?

Perhaps a better example yet, is public education pushing kids through a teaching model that does not actually produce adults that can manage their own lives? Or foreign affair regimes that say they are conducting diplomatic tasks but wars and economic sanctions continue to happen endlessly.

A more current example, of course, is the public demanding solutions to COVID-19 when that same public refuses to follow simple instructions and get vaccinated, wear a mask, and forego a desired pastime while the pandemic remains in full swing.

Yet another example is bemoaning climate change yet returning elected officials to public office to do absolutely nothing to solve the problem. Let us be clear: doing nothing about climate change will cause the death of all of us as the planet ceases to be a sustainable, life-giving environment. So much for other problems. They are no longer an issue. All is lost. No survivors.

That is the broken record I am mourning. Constant talk. Busy actions. No outcomes forthcoming that make a difference.

If 2022 is to be a year of promise and hope, best we get down to business of saving the planet. Right now. The other issues can wait.

If not, what is the excuse this time?

January 5, 2022

 

 

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