Red or Blue Revisited

 

"The Matrix is the world that has been pulled over your eyes to blind you from the truth"

The Matrix

It seems like many of us today are concerned by where we come down on the "great divide". Mac or PC, American or National, and of course Republican or Democrat. However, there is one more which is infinitely more important than any other category - Red or Blue.

Now Red or Blue has nothing to do with the color of states in an election. It has to do with (metaphorically) what color pill you have taken. In the movie "The Matrix", the hero (Neo) was offered a pill to open his eyes and see the world as it really exists, or take the other pill and "go back to sleep and continue living in the Matrix". The Red Pill was truth; the Blue Pill was to ignore the truth. Neo chose the Red Pill and joined the fight to save the world, such that it was. If Neo had chosen the Blue Pill, the dream would have continued and his life would have amounted to nothing more than being a "battery" for the system. 

Today, taking the Blue Pill is much more serious. Events are unfolding before our eyes and yet many choose not to see. The impact of these events, some of which could be calamitous, will effect everyone. It will not matter what race, religion or political leaning one has, most if not all, will be affected. Many people I have talked to recently (most of them younger) have said they have given up reading the paper or watching the news as "things are too depressing and confusing". They have decided to walk though life with eyes wide shut hoping against hope that things will just get better on their own. They won't.

Taking the Red Pill means staying involved, reading, learning, listening and processing. It means constantly asking questions rather than accepting garbage for answers. Our National Debt is a prime example, yet it is only one of a multitude of issues which need to be addressed and solved now. People who have taken the Red Pill are scared to death about the long term impact of the National Debt on our children, grandchildren and beyond. When the debt is discussed in earnest, Red Pill people are at the edge of their chairs listening, while the Blue Pill takers appear to be skeptical, disinterested, or dispassionate at best.

In November of 2012, we had one of the most important elections of our lifetime, maybe the lifetime of the Republic. The Blue Pill people won, and now we have entered uncharted territory. Many of the Red Pill people decided to sit this one out and the result was a continuation of a failed president. The gravity of our financial situation is lost on many, and the euphoria of getting more "free stuff" has taken over. Yes, just like Thelma and Louise, we have all put our arms in the air and headed off the cliff.

In Stephen King's novel "The Stand", survivors of a worldwide pandemic are gathered in Nebraska by Abagail Freemantle (Mother Abagail) to be constantly vigilant of the approaching evil from the west. Captain Tripps (Randall Flagg) was also gathering  survivors to join his forces for the final battle in Las Vegas. Outnumbered, the only chance Mother Abagail's people had was to be alert, aware and informed of the coming danger. Captain Tripps is coming folks - not in the form of a demonic spirit as in the book, but rather the offspring of apathy and ignorance. If you are taking the Red Pill, thank you for your courage - stay strong. If you are taking the Blue Pill, please, for the sake of all of us, and all yet to come, change your color. Listen to the words of Mother Abagail. The stakes could not be higher. And pray - pray that even what happened in November, our fate is not sealed.