Dear Peer(age),
Well, what do you think? I think we aren't going to get our turn, and I am both things at once: mad and slightly heartened. I am not so sure that we can sabotage from the inside, anyway.
Yes, mad that they never retired- okay, they retired at 80, leaving me at 50 plus, so, so what? I am going to scramble to make a 'career' from age 50 to 80? Or even 40 to 70? Nope. It just don't add up. I am more mad that they never let any new ideas in than that they actually overstayed their welcome by 20 to 30 years. I am mad that few of us will get a public voice, or any outloud voice at all. I am mad that I labored under the training of canons that were never anything but interior decoration for the wealthy. I am mad that all my friends have moved away because they had to have their minimansion in pleasant climes and their cheap cheese from Costco, too. I am mad about that, and lots of other petits détails, but I am also slightly heartened, because, our dear Older Elders, seem a bit resentful about the widening world, the great inky spill of dis-obedience that keeps on seeping. Nothing could please me more than to do nothing, to loaf, on their dime. And I will be passing that along, to anyone who will listen: do nothing you do not like, do nothing that you think you 'should' and maybe, just maybe we can break the massive yoke of habit and conditioning that we have built so tirelessly.
Ah, but I am forgetting our motto: obstinacy & optimism. This became our motto because there wasn't much else left, and the directive was to be seen and not heard; but, I think we can use it anyway. I put a lot of trust in repair, in rebuilding. I say we switch the first few letters, so it is properly muddled up, and then set about doing what we can. It might mean only a very small change in your daily habits, and it might mean no change at all. Either way, I am glad to have you with me in the fight. Onward, in optinacy & obstimism!
