{"id":961,"date":"2019-01-18T14:16:33","date_gmt":"2019-01-18T22:16:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/aculpableinnocence.com\/home5\/aculpabl\/anthony_blog\/?p=961"},"modified":"2019-01-18T14:16:41","modified_gmt":"2019-01-18T22:16:41","slug":"carpe-diem","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/aculpableinnocence.com\/home5\/aculpabl\/anthony_blog\/carpe-diem\/","title":{"rendered":"Carpe Diem"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWhile we talk, jealous time will fly by. Seize the day, with rather less belief in the future.\u201d ** Forgive my literal translation of the well known \u201c<em>carpe diem<\/em>\u201d phrase from the \u201cOdes of Horace.\u201d But the underlying concept seems to me to have a contemporary relevance. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Carpe diem<\/em> can mean different things to different people. In the sixties, with the prospect of the draft and Vietnam, many young men seized the moment to live life to the fullest. The future felt out of their control and even life threatening. Fear of death can be a strong motivator. Some sought solace in drugs, sex, or a pervasive agnosticism. Whereas the sixth century B.C. poet reminded us of our immortality, his dictum c<em>arpe<\/em> <em>diem<\/em> can have a broader significance: it may encourage us to act in the moment without regard for the future or any reference to death. Is this not the strategy of a consumer whose purchases risk bankruptcy or an unfunded retirement? Is this not like the thinking of a person who might seek solace outside of marriage rather than attempt to mend a spousal relationship? Is this not the very strategy of an elected representative who does whatever maintains his\/her power in office and the esteem of supporters rather than what serves the enduring welfare of the electorate? Maybe thIs is the real significance of the mantra to \u201cmake America great again\u201d by fueling the capital markets at the expense of basic government services and the long-term viability of the American economy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Living in a democracy bestows many personal freedoms: freedom\nof speech, free press, equality under the law, freely elected representatives, a\nliberal economy with unrestricted opportunity, and so on. But a liberal\ncapitalist economy also promotes the accumulation of wealth and consumerism. Is\nit not obvious that unbridled capitalism and unrestrained consumerism jeopardize\nthe personal freedoms of a democracy? If only the wealthy should gain control\nof the instruments of power, then most citizens will have less leverage to\ninsure their freedoms and the welfare of their posterity. If the less wealthy\nare more concerned with present comforts than their future security or that of\ntheir children, then excessive consumerism will guarantee a bleak future for\nboth. Perhaps many of us simply feel justified in living for the moment because\nwe feel powerless to define our future. Certainly, that justification motivated\nmany in the sixties. But not all and not now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As in the sixties, a new citizens\u2019 movement has emerged.\nThat movement is not beholden to special interests, the tribal chieftains of\npolitical power, or personal rapacity. It wants to seize the day to reform the\nfuture. But nobody can assure the future or promise to make America great\nwithout some measure of sacrifice. Children do not raise themselves. Societies\ncannot educate its youth, provide healthcare for the infirmed, secure its\ncitizens from harm, or provide prospects for a better future without the\ninvestments made by its members. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">My fellow Americans, if we accept the bromides of political promises\nrather than grassroots efforts to change policies, then we will forego our only\nchance to determine a better future for ourselves and our children. Abigail Adams\ncould not have foreseen Harriet Tubman. Likewise, neither could have imagined\nSusan B. Anthony. But the woman\u2019s march toward equality benefited from each of\nthese women and their sacrifices. And it continues today with the election of\nmore women to Federal offices than at any time in American history. This outcome\nis the result of changes in our society\u2014changes that promise a new political\nhorizon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Our Constitution is only a roadmap. Our self-proclaimed goals do not create a future we can guarantee. But we can act now to make meaningful change, to right a wrong, even to prepare for known dangers and contingencies. What we may become depends upon who we are now. And that identity is defined by what we do now. As a recent President remarked, \u201cwe are the change we seek.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If you will permit me to redefine Horace\u2019s \u201c<em>carpe diem<\/em>,\u201d I would first state that it is not possible to live in the moment. Our senses perceive reality about a tenth of a second after it happens. Even with the extended present Einstein explained in his theory of special relativity, we live for only Nano seconds in the present, well below the threshold of our sense perception. Perhaps the only time we come even close to living in the present is that moment in transcendental meditation when one may recede into an awareness of basic bodily functions, like the beating heart and breathing lungs. So, what did Horace mean? Well, the Latin word \u201c<em>carpe<\/em>\u201d literally means \u201cpluck.\u201d His reference then was more epicurean than transcendental, suggesting we should pluck the fruits of life before our time runs out. But he is intimating something much deeper\u2014a pervasive fear we all share. We do not own our future. Our every action merely defines our history and prepares us for an undetermined future, except for that one certainty that our life\u2019s hourglass will eventually expend its last grain of sand. As individuals then we can only assure the past we create. As Michelle Obama states in her recent book, we should own our own story. It is our personal creation. As members of society and a nation, we are also creating the American story. And the history we create right now can prepare us for a better future\u2014or not. When former President Obama decried the moral failings of our political class with respect to gun laws, he often said, \u201cthat\u2019s not who we are.\u201d He was exhorting us to write a new chapter in American history by following our better instincts as morally responsible individuals. \u201cWho we are\u201d is defined by what we do. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If we are honest about the American history we are currently creating, we must admit that our institutions are becoming less effective at meeting our social needs, that our political leaders\u00a0 are more interested in maintaining their offices than serving the general welfare, and that America\u2019s status in the world has become less a beacon of the Enlightenment than a rapacious hegemon bent on hording wealth and power exclusively for itself with less regard for its allies and the world in general. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Yes, we are still the change we seek. But that statement begs the question: what do we seek? If we pluck the rotten apple, then we rewrite the history of the Fall and assign America to a footnote in history. I believe we can do better: discard the rottenness that has pervaded our politics and act on the ideals that have defined the American spirit. Let\u2019s seize this moment to write a new chapter in our personal history. If each of us create a better personal history and own our story, then we will become the beacon of hope for others. They too will join in recreating the American story and help prepare a more fertile ground for whatever America will yet become. Belief in a better future depends upon what we do now. How else would you define the audacity of hope? <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-very-dark-gray-color wp-block-paragraph\"><em>** Dum loquimir, fugerit invida aetas: carpe diem, quam minimum credula postero<\/em>. (\u201cThe Odes of Horace,\u201d The Folio Society, London, 1987, p. 42) c<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u201cWhile we talk, jealous time will fly by. Seize the day, with rather less belief in the future.\u201d ** Forgive my literal translation of the well known \u201ccarpe diem\u201d phrase from the \u201cOdes of Horace.\u201d But the underlying concept seems to me to have a contemporary relevance. Carpe diem can mean different things to different [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[2,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-961","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-domesticissues","category-humaninterests"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3UqUK-fv","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/aculpableinnocence.com\/home5\/aculpabl\/anthony_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/961","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/aculpableinnocence.com\/home5\/aculpabl\/anthony_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/aculpableinnocence.com\/home5\/aculpabl\/anthony_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aculpableinnocence.com\/home5\/aculpabl\/anthony_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aculpableinnocence.com\/home5\/aculpabl\/anthony_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=961"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/aculpableinnocence.com\/home5\/aculpabl\/anthony_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/961\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":966,"href":"https:\/\/aculpableinnocence.com\/home5\/aculpabl\/anthony_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/961\/revisions\/966"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/aculpableinnocence.com\/home5\/aculpabl\/anthony_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=961"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aculpableinnocence.com\/home5\/aculpabl\/anthony_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=961"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aculpableinnocence.com\/home5\/aculpabl\/anthony_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=961"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}