Has it really Peggy? Or is the world experiencing another repeat generational season of wisdom and folly?
Peggy, Congratulations for Winning the 2017 Pulitzer Prize……..
“For rising to the moment with beautifully rendered columns that connected readers to the shared virtues of Americans during one of the nation’s most divisive political campaigns.”
Frankly, I have not read Peggy’s columns, only her personal quotes which I agree are profound. With exceptions I take issue about her statements “That world is gone,” and about “marijuana.”
The Peggy Noonan Generation Quotes
My generation, faced as it grew with a choice between religious belief and existential despair, chose marijuana. Now we are in our Cabernet stage.
You don’t have to be old in America to say of a world you lived in: That world is gone.”
Purpose of This Post
My purpose is to take issue with Peggy and anyone who states, ‘That world is gone,” which to me is to imply any state of social affairs in the world is gone forever. Rather I say their generation, and every new generation, has and will repeat again to make wise or foolish decisions same as were made in past generations.
Also, over time, each new generation will believe they are smarter (Presentism) or wiser than the past generation. In other words, there is no world gone by, it is the same world as always when you consider human behaviors and wise and foolish decisions that have occurred in history. Whether you are young, impressionable, and perhaps foolish, or wiser in age from experiences that may have been a result of the wise or foolish choices you made.
King Solomon
What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun. (Ecclesiastes 1:9)
So I turned to consider wisdom, madness and folly; for what will the man do who will come after the king except what has already been done? (Ecclesiastes 2:12)
To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven. (Ecclesiastes 3:1)
Long life is in her (Wisdom’s) right hand; in her left hand are riches and honor. (Proverb 3:16)
Cabernet
Peggy mentions in her quote the Cabernet time in life. A great time to hopefully enjoy the results of your wise decisions in life, especially if you worked hard and were successful. A stage in life that most people strive to experience and relish every last second, flavor, or drop of the good things that happen when you age in life. Especially if they are in good health so they are able to enjoy and participate being with family, friends, and grandchildren, or who or whatever they love doing, before their inevitable health issues occur.
Marijuana
In Peggy’s quote of her youth she mentions her generation chose marijuana. Current news articles report how the attitudes of marijuana are changing, again. This time to support legalizing it for recreational use. Whether a person believes it is wise or foolish will depends on your season in life.
If you are young, you may enjoy being stoned. When you are old, you may enjoy some type of pain relief. In King Solomon’s time, he approved wine and drugs to ease the pain of a person about to die to help end their misery.
However, every modern physician knows the long term effects of smoking anything or taking any kind of drugs poses risks of side effect detriments that will or may shorten normal life span. Many still remember a past time the cigarette ad that promoted “the cigarette Doctors prefer most.” In other words, recreational marijuana use is now being promoted same as cigarettes were, to profit sellers, and/or to become a source of revenue by politicians, even though they all know it is a long term health risk to users.
No one knows for certain the long-term health and social risks. States like Colorado admit they are monitoring the effects of their legalization laws. In other word, users are being monitored same as monkeys or guinea pigs in a social experiment which every physician already knows poses risks for bad health. And every policeman knows and may have seen some gruesome scenes of the results of DUI car accidents.
It is such a hot topic of expectation that I received just today a news tip to alert me that recreational marijuana is a great penny stock to invest in and named a host of billionaires who are doing just that. Speculation, Hype, Scam, who knows for sure? Best to check with the Las Vegas betting boards. I predict recreational marijuana will become law in the Nation because history has proven that there is a huge appetite and demand in the USA for drugs, recreation, and profit regardless of the risks.
In My Opinion
Three thousand years have passed since King Solomon, once esteemed to be the wisest man in the world, wrote his Proverbs and Ecclesiastes of Wisdom of his observations of man. Since then, every generation has replicated the same observations of mankind that he reported in his writings.
Yet, in spite of his advice and the advice of numerous wise man of different cultures all over the world, each mew generation for the most part ignore their advice and repeats the same follies of the past over and over, under the same sun.
Peggy, their world is not gone, it merely waits again in abeyance to serve the next generation of the wise or fools.
When will we wise up?
You Decide
Someday everyone will consider the action and results of their choices they make in the seasons of their past lifetimes as to whether what they chose was wise or foolish. Was King Solomon correct about the benefits of wisdom to provide health, wealth, peace, and happiness that result from wise choice they made in their youth to enjoy and savor in their cabaret time of life?
I recommend you spend a little quality time to check King Solomon writings out. You just “might be rewarded with long life, riches, and honor.”
Regards and goodwill blogging.
Sources
Pot Nose Lightning HERE
Wine and Marijuana HERE
Ameliorate HERE
Presentism HERE
Peggy Noonan Quotes HERE
As a Lily Among Thorns – A Story of King Solomon, the Queen of Sheba and the Goddess of Wisdom HERE
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