Yesterday

I yearn for yesterday. Though it seems so distant, I know it’s near. I remember a time when our leaders led. They motivated us to be better, to want more, and to love more. Each day of our lives were seen with a childish optimism, a chance to redeem ourselves and honor our country. Our leaders have become like minded. They are sycophants, eager to impress, but lack morals. Their party’s ideology and rules are more important than their underwhelming desire to protect the unprotected. They don’t fight for us today. They fight for ideas, disinterested in the pragmatic process required to change anything that won’t pay off before the soapbox is removed from beneath their clinched toes.

Yesterday I had hope, an all encompassing desire to be part of something more important than myself. Today’s climate is frigid. I can’t see the goal, to be better, through the blanket of snow falling from the clouds. However I can see each and every flake. Riding on the crystals are the ideas of men. Each idea pointing to “me.” We have become a culture of self-serving “me” followers. Every political and philosophical idea is wrapped around the essence of what can you do for me. Gone are the questions of Jack Kennedy and the dreams of Dr. King. The hopes and aspirations’ of a generation, that once lived among the circumstances of life, have been replaced by the wants and excesses of the “me” and the “now.”

I truly want to believe again. I want to live within the comfort of the fight for the weak. Where the wounds may run deep, but the softness of an eager soul and the warmth of a youthful exuberance for something bigger than “me” keeps us safe and parts the clouds. Tomorrow, I hope for a retroactive approach to today. I pray for a leader to fill the void, that the chill of this winter has left behind. A Utopian society may be a Trojan horse, but we can strive to be better, we just need someone to stand up and ask us.