expectations – David Vaszko's Blog

On this fourth Thursday in November we give thanks to God for the comfort and prosperity we in America have. We give thanks to the Pilgrims who took a leap of faith, making a perilous journey to a new continent. We also thank our Founding Fathers who were wise to know the proper time to rebel in order to more fully take advantage of their energeticness.

There are others we must thank – the industrialists who planned our systems of interconnectedness; the relentless laborers whose faith in God, America and property brought their bosses dreams to reality.

To round this off we must thank our civil rights leaders who challenged America to truly be religious, to truly be philosophical, to make our interconnectedness spiritual and our drive something that does not annihilate others.

Our focus should be on God. Without tremendous faith in God America would not have been the beacon of the world for so long and we would not have the wealth we have. America was the shining light of the world politically, economically and religiously no matter the extent of our injustices.

We were a balanced people. But we have come further and further from God. Our national leaders have become corrupt. Business and American citizens have become greedy.

Our religious leaders have made a mockery of religion and have abused their positions. Our injustices are no longer something that one can overlook, for there are so many at the same time in all areas of society.

Our faith remains, but it is a faith in expectations. We no longer have an agreement with God that what is most important is our goodness and our willingness to know when we have enough money, success and comfort.

We were wise and humble. We knew that if we were good and not greedy, and we failed in our financial goals, we would be blessed on earth with our goodness and in heaven with God. We knew that if we were good, not greedy and successful we would be extremely lucky and blessed.

Our good points were so powerful they overshadowed our immense evil. This shows you how great Americans were and how seriously so many Americans took words like honesty, truth and integrity.

Often people criticize the Pilgrims as being puritanical. But they were not.

We are. We do not value people who are humble and live simply. We say they are not realistic.

We have a relentless need for money, property, cars, a young image. When somebody says this insanity has to stop, that person is not listened to.

Our godlessness is far more dangerous than the religious conviction of the Pilgrims and the narrowmindedness of the Puritans. They made tremendous sacrifices and constructed stable communities.

We destroy our communities. Any sacrifice we make when young is to live a selfish life at middle-age when we should be combing talent, energy, sharing and good will.

We must regain our integrity. We must rebel against our last fifty years of greed.

God can help us do this. But we will need strength and wisdom. For when we begin to sacrifice our selfish desires to build communities and enhance our relationships, we will realize how unfree America is, how much we do not trust one another, how afraid we are.

We will be tempted to become frivolous again, not out of greed but out of terror. A greater sacrifice will be needed.

We will need to take risks like the Pilgrims did to attain religious freedom, like the Founding Fathers did to be free of a corrupt government, like our civil rights leaders did to attain freedom in their own country.

We need to regain our souls. We need to attain freedom in our own country. If we have the courage and wisdom to do this we will have something to humbly be thankful for.

Our wisdom can begin now. Let us eat lightly this afternoon, so after thanking God that things are not worse here, we will set out to make America once again the beacon to the world.

Because of the seriousness of the problem, I feel it necessary to speak during National Depression Week. I also feel that here at the Golden Gate Bridge is an ideal place to talk about depression.

At the western end of our continent is this mighty bridge, a symbol of hope for those heading to the land of opportunity.

People come here knowing the future will be theirs, that mild success in the middle of the country will be a big success here, that failure in the competitive east can be transformed here in the Golden West.

But things don’t always turn out as planned. Trying with all your might doesn’t always bring you success, happiness or love.

For those born on this magnificent West Coast, they expect to have a grand life. But assumptions do not always turn into reality.

It is no wonder then that people committ suicide from this bridge. They came to the end of the continent and failed. They grew up in paradise and failed. Life passed them by so they could not continue anymore.

Failure. It is a big part of our American experience. This is so because our expectations are very high. Whether one physically heads west, success as a result of hard work and big dreams is expected.

But even without a desire to be rich, Americans dream about greater freedom or a stupendous love life or an awesome something. We always want a lot and we always want more.

It is not surprising we are depressed. If our current assumptions continue to be held as the global marketplace creates a greater number of poor people and a greater number of unhappy angry people, America will have more cases of depression and more suicides.

Reducing depression and suicide is essential. We cannot though, because of our market economy and its inherent unhealthiness, eliminate them.

The federal government can do its part. As I have said before, we are working on affordable health insurance for Americans. We are funding drop-in no-questions-asked clinics for those seeking psychological help.

Equally important, maybe more important, are the efforts of my administration to be a much more honest administration than recent administrations and to focus on peace rather than war. It is common sense that dishonesty in government and a belief in unnecessary violence creates ramifications such as a depressed citizenry.

But Americans also have a big role to play in reducing depression and suicide. You must take proper risks. You must not want more than a job that pays well and one nice house in a nice neighborhood. The high expectations of financial success and gratification that advertising and business bombard our nation with must be rejected.

I want my fellow Americans to think for a minute. My recent predeccessors often talked about patriotism while doing little or nothing for the average American. To them patriotism entailed unblinking allegience to disastrous and dishonest government actions.

I ask you to think of patriotism in a different way. I ask you to think what you do to your country when you are greedy, when you want three pieces of property, several vehicles and unlimited freedom to be selfish.

I want you to think of what you do to yourself and your family when you accept the exhortations of the advertising industry to buy more than can make you happy and more than you can afford. People are depressed because they want more than can make them happy and more than they can afford.

I know Americans complain a lot about unjust practices of business. This is a great time for Americans to put their money where their mouth is. Spend a lot less money on people who have gotten rich on your willingness to be unsatisfied.

The real problem is a question: Do Americans want to be happy? Does America want to be satisfied with necessary comforts as it seeks tremendous happiness with an ordinary spouse and ordinary friends?

I hope by the end of my term there is a lot less depression and self-inflicted death in America.

I hope that thirty years from now the suicide barriers on this glorious bridge have come down, because we as a nation have stopped committing spiritual suicide.

Tag: expectations

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