monagustafsonaffinito   CHATS AND RANTS — PSYCHOLOGY AND LIFE

There are so many other kinds of things I’d like to be saying, but today one thing stands out in my thoughts. It’s definitely not pleasant, but reality? Yes. Just for starters, there’s the way we have the apparent freedom these days to practice greed and the willingness to cheat, steal, in general to take from others without apparent guilt. I am just so sick and tired of reading about meanness, name-calling, and downright cruelty as they become staples in our lives. 

Sometimes it’s almost funny. In my book, for example, I talk about superego, that “thing” in us that just automatically tells us it’s wrong to – whatever. It’s a basic mechanism that helps maintain order in society. My example in teaching used to be a visit to the grocery store and what havoc would prevail without the constraint of superego. And just as I was writing about it there was the news that three Target stores (in California, as I recall) had to close because they couldn’t control the common theft.

These are nothing compared to the cruelty of family separations, bombings to smithereens in places throughout the world, people being imprisoned without due process, the almost ”ho-hum” reaction to whole neighborhoods being destroyed by flood and fire. So how did I get to scammers and such? Actually I’m unhappy without cease about all of that, but it’s been a little more personal lately with people wanting to cheat me by pretending to help me sell my book.

I know. I grew up naïve. Maybe such shenanigans have always been a major part of our lives. But lately I find myself longing for the days when we, on the safe side of WWII, pulled together to win a common battle, ration stamps, stamping to flatten aluminum cans, victory gardens, songs of encouragement, etc. I don’t know. I was only a kid. Maybe I was surrounded by more local hatred and cruelty than I knew. But whatever, I sure would like to feel that I’m safe to talk about what I’m working toward without evoking the anger of the people around me. I surely never felt that loving my neighbor was stupid. Or that I had to be careful what I said, or alert to attempts to scam me.

Anyway, I’m sure I spend more energy than I want to wondering where I can put my trust. To put it boldly, I wish I felt more vibes of love and fewer attacks of anger, hate, and destruction.

No, so far as I know I haven’t yet yielded to a book marketing scam. It does help that my advisor at Beaver’s Pond Press has learned to recognize the “tells” of an AI creation and where else to look for evidence.

I’m sure I’ll be writing more about this “vibes of love” stuff. I really do believe that’s what will ultimately come out of all this.