Priestly prescriptions

Another aspect of getting older is the realization that one must relinquish the desire to see certain aspects of society change.   In one's earlier, optimistic years, it had seemed the very little would be required to tweak the system to function in a better gear.    A naive supposition is that one need only point out a better way of doing something for others to concede, "This is true!" or "You have a point!"

There are all sorts of reasons why this doesn't happen.  One is that any change is fraught with risk.  Another is that the system generally serves the majority of people adequately enough for them to embrace.   A third reason is that easy solutions are easily adopted, whereas difficult solutions are adopted only with great difficulty.

I reflect on this as I read of the ways in which external conformity to societal expectations is enforced through ideological and medical means.   A difficult solution to the problem of ADD would be to check the diets of children to make sure they are balanced and not contaminated.   It would also include encouraging children to play, for the larger part of the day, without adult supervision -- thus children would learn their limits and burn off steam.   It would necessitate that society become simpler, less contradictory and distracting, so that society's demands were easier to understand.   

This is of course self-evidently true and I "have a point".   Nothing will be done in this direction, all the same, because it's difficult.

To me, difficulty is a very good facet of life, because it makes us human.  To others, it is not so good, because it hinders progress.   The more difficulties can be avoided, the more progress one makes.  To what does one make progress?  For what purpose?  Those who do not address these questions must necessarily trust in divine intervention.

So we live in a society with an increasingly religious and mystifying face.  Experts of all sorts are supposed to help us avoid facing difficulties -- and, if your difficulties persist, shame on you -- for you have a trust issue.  We live in a faith-based society.

As I get older, I realize that most people resort to faith.  Whether the advice they're given turns out to be right or wrong, they're happy with that.   It's the priestly admonition that brings satisfaction, not the soundness or unsoundness of advice.