By Kathleen Anderson
Anyone else noticed the latest holiday promotion? The one who introduced their great product that we couldn’t possibly live without, which was immediately followed by the announcement of the company’s closure? “Order now or it’s gone forever!” shouted the announcer.
I considered making a list of these companies just to see how many recover by next Christmas.
January is already over and I have to say it hasn’t been smooth sailing. There is now a new Speaker in the House of Representatives. This voting took a while and broke all previous records for the selection process.
With presidential candidates already lining up, it’s going to be a long year of campaign promises, missteps, and outright lies. So far, we’ve learned that a former president and two former vice presidents (one of whom is the current acting president) have classified documents in their private homes and storage rooms.
One of the newest elected officials has lied about everything on his resume, personal life and history and is still in office. Apparently when his lips move…
And what’s with all these new identifiers? How do you become an influencer? As far as I know, all you have to do is apply on any social media platform.
Your comments, clothes, makeup, body additions or deductions, and dance moves are so mesmerizing that we all want to see, hear, and copy your every move.
I was also trying to understand what constitutes “awakened” individuals and had to look it up on Wikipedia:
Woke up (/ˈwoʊk/ WOHK)
“is a word that originally referred to awareness of racism and discrimination. Later came awareness of other issues of social inequality, such as gender and sexual orientation. Since the late 2010s it has also been used as a generic word for left-wing political movements and points of view that emphasize the identity politics of people of color (those who are not white), LGBT people and women”.
I thought the word for it was Consciousness.
I know there are areas near my home that my family doesn’t feel comfortable living in. There are clues with specific graffiti, flags and other landmarks identifying those who defy the definition of WOKE.
I don’t understand why people feel the need to change definitions and create new words for old problems if they want me to understand and support their platform. Buzzwords don’t do it for me. They just shorten what should be a deeper and more informative conversation.
But then I still wonder what Paris Hilton and the Kardashians did that could be considered a contribution to society besides glamorizing cosmetic surgery. Apparently they were among the first “influencers”.
Times change, I know. And I’m clearly not as up-to-date as I obviously should be. I love the english language. I still love Maya Anglo and Dorthey Parker quotes.
I still admire the doctors and scientists who prevented death and invented vaccines, teachers who inspired students to follow their dreams of becoming leaders, and leaders who inspired us to feed the hungry, the sick of Healing the mind and body and sheltering the homeless.
The word that was kept, the handshake that was the bond, the honesty and integrity that mattered to us as individuals.
These people were and are my “influencers”.
So I go in search of good news, good people and good deeds. I know they are out there. They’re just a little harder to find when I’m constantly searching for new words to use to describe them.
Kathleen Anderson writes this column every week from her home in Olympia. Contact them at [email protected] or post your comment below.