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Its all good, especially the bad parts

Bob Sweigert

The following conundrum (no, thats not a musical instrument from a tribe up the Amazon River) occurred to me one exquisite Tahoe Morning. I cant remember which one. Some people believe that no judgments should be made about human behavior. They say its wrong to judge people. They say that in school, unruly students should receive some tangible recognition for the great energy they display in the classroom. The fashionable new mantra of tolerance and acceptance has been stretched to the extreme. The trite phrase, Its all good, which is nothing more than a gross oversimplification of Eastern Spirituality, is just a small example of all the nonsense.But, suppose its not nonsense. Suppose we took this new standard seriously. You would have to ask (and heres the conundrum) how come, when that unruly student grows up to be President of the United States and starts a war in Iraq, all of a sudden those people who helped raise him and build his self esteem completely reject their entire, infallible philosophy, criticize him and want him punished for war crimes? Why not give him an award?I was talking to a guy the other day who took issue with the fact that I had the nerve to question the logic of, Its all good. Then he proceeded to rant about the abhorrent behavior of human beings and denounce others for all the terrible things they had done to him throughout his lifetime. He recognized the existence of evil in the world, but boy, he sure had a serious problem whenever I said, No, its not all good. If what these people say is true then they must believe, according to their own way of thinking, that its perfectly all right to deny their assertion that its all good. Instead, they get all bent out of shape when you do. I fail to see where their beef is. Oh, I forgot, theyre vegetarians. Beef is bad.Logic. It is in such short supply. I cant help but think, if its all good, then whats wrong with bad stuff? Thats where such perverted thinking is taking us. Oh well. Its all good. Hey, look out for that unruly student. Shes about to beat the living daylights out of you. Did you see the video on the news of those girls repeatedly punching the 16-year-old girl in the face? They actually lured her into a room (probably telling her it was all good) and proceeded to beat her to a pulp. I was glad to hear that they will be tried as adults. Thank God the nonsense hasnt infected the entire legal system yet. When the judge hands down their sentence, which I hope will be severe, and they act surprised, the judge can just tell them its all good. One of my favorite bumper stickers says, War is not the answer. What if the question is, Do you want to convert to Islam or have your head chopped off? Its all good.Another favorite bumper sticker of mine says, Im already against the next war. At least it acknowledges that there will be another war. Its all good, especially when someone else is doing all the fighting to protect me.Yeah, its all good all right. All of it. Everything except meat eaters, homophobes, racists, warmongers, anti-abortionists, neo-cons, fiscal conservatives, FOX news, taxes and tax loopholes for big corporations, the destruction of the Amazon rain forest, war, fast food, troop build-ups and a hundred more years of war. It doesnt get any better than that.Thank God its all good. Its nice to know that life is so flippin peachy. Now we dont have to care what happens to each other. I just wish things would get a whole lot worse. I still have lessons to learn and oodles of good things to rise above.Bob Sweigert is a Sierra Sun columnist, published poet, ski instructor and commercial driver. He’s lived at Lake Tahoe for 25 years.


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