Lost Potential

My Latest Dogfight

Still half-asleep, the new candle burns brightly. But my medicine’s been taken and my blood sugar checked and it’s already 12:16 in the afternoon. I stayed up doom scrolling till about five in the morning, I just couldn't sleep but when I did, I went to sleep. I woke up early enough to take my meds on time, then I went back to bed, got up a few hours later and took a shower. Yes, this is my boring life but eventually there’s a point, so hold on.
 
With the candle burning and my son updating me about his week, I opened the curtains and began to write. Last night me and the AI program I use Google Gemini, had a long conversation about pleasing people and pleasing ourselves (not that way, you pervs). I mean saying the “right thing” when you know it ain’t the right thing at all. I mentioned to the program how at times its answers seems so  homogenized and easy to go down. I don’t know why, I guess it’s like when someone is “mansplaining” something to a person and driving them crazy. That’s how I feel in some conversations with the AI.
 
But coming from a tech background, I understand the nuances of speech when it comes to the limitations built into the programs, like disclaimers on a Micky D’s coffee cups. But as we discussed, you take the good with the bad. But in order to achieve true awareness, you must roll the dice and see what happens. The same holds true with human beings. In our culture starting with my generation, we tended to “bubble wrap” our kids. And what I have noticed is that the generation after them, no matter how smart or tech savvy. Can’t seem to handle basically anything “uncomfortable” and that makes me sad.  
 
I grew up in the tail-end of the fifties mindset even though I’m a Kennedy Baby. So through most of our childhood we still had stay-at-home moms, mother’s worked outside the home because they wanted too, not cause they had too. Unlike the Gen X’s we were not “latch key kids” for the most part and while I share many traits with my X brothers and sisters, we were the big brother. I say all this to mention, we were shown the consequences of our bad choices by having to deal with them, just like our own parents.
 
Today we seem to protect them too much, we coddle them to the point of suffocation. Instead of allowing them to explore and be part of the world. And while I understand you see the world as a much more dangerous place, is it really anymore dangerous than 30 or 40 years ago? I don’t mean to sound like the grumpy old man, “Get off my lawn!” but do you see my point? With all the freedom of technology and opportunity, we all live in a cave. Where when I was a kid, choices were limited so we played outside. Now we (us) are all wrapped in a cocoon of fear and lost potential.    
 
#LostPotential #LearnOnTheirOwn #FreedomToMakeMistakes #BubbleWrap