#103 / The World As It Is #2

I have been commenting on Chris Hedges' book as I have been reading along. It is a series of very brief essays. I have definitely been engaged by the arguments he presents, by his "dispatches on the myth of human progress." 

Reflecting on my two comments so far, one stimulated by Hedges' essay, "Buying Brand Obama," and the other comment made yesterday, focusing on the book more generally, I can see that I have been somewhat impatient with The World As It Is. That is not because I don't agree with Hedges' analysis, either. I do.

I am impatient, I think, not with Hedges, but myself. 

As I said yesterday, I am unwilling to admit that the world actually "is" as bad as Hedges paints it - at least insofar as the word "is" is meant to declare that the realities described are the inevitable and ultimate realities of our world. And yet..... I pretty much have to agree with virtually every one of Hedges' essays. His descriptions are accurate; his anger and outrage are legitimate. So, if my reaction to an unacceptable world (and that is exactly the right word to describe the world presented in Hedges' essays), then I have to do something about it.

If I don't do something about it, then I am admitting that Hedges actually does describe "the world as it is."

This book has put me into a kind of panic. I know all these things. But I must say, Hedges does make them vivid.

We have got to change the "world as it is."

That world is not acceptable. It's not right. It's not just. It's life-threatening.

I recommend this book, but this book has made me impatient.

I recommend doing something about what this book describes.

I am going to have to do that. Somehow, I am going to have to do that.

I am getting impatient with myself.

Image Credit: 
http://www.kpfa.org/events/kpfa-radio-present-chris-hedges-world-it-dispatches-myth-human-progress