the red pill

red pill stories: “but the blue pill tastes so sweet….” October 7, 2009

My Mom and Dad were awesome…are awesome, I mean.  They’re elderly now, and my Mother suffers from alzheimers disease – which means my Dad just suffers period.  (but that’s another red pill story for another time).

Anyway, they really believed in family, marriage unto death, our government, the system.  They took everyone who paid them lipservice at face value as being honest and well-intentioned -  just because the person asked them to.  I guess a lot of the people from my parents generation wouldn’t have had it any other way. In fact, this is a habit I inherited from them – practiced incessently, and paid for …many, many times over the years, and because I was born an idealistic acquarian, it’s been one of the toughest habits for me to break. You know how some people are suspicious by nature – about everyone and everything?  I was the exact opposite – I was sure that everyone was as well-intentioned towards me as I was to them.  Harmless, friendly, trustworthy. yeah… 

So while my sister and I were  growing up, my parents, especially Mom, continually drove like a mantra, a list of irrefutable truths of the universe -  along with golden rules to be strictly followed if we were were to be successful, and more importantly REMAIN HAPPY EVERY AFTER in the this world.  These “pearls of wisdom” were , of course, drilled into their heads by the relatives who had raised them.  Here are a few of the ones that stuck with me the longest:

1. You find a GOOD paying JOB and you STAY THERE…FOREVER.  YOU take care of the COMPANY and that COMPANY will take care of YOU!

2. As long as you’re well-liked you can’t go wrong! Be kind to people. Be a friend. Forgive them. Be good to them and they’ll be good to  you.

3. You find a GOOD MAN who will treat you well and support you.  Then you’ll have a good life with children and a husband who will always love you!

4. America is the ONLY country who has a big enough heart to OPEN it’s doors to the poorer countries – America takes care of EVERYBODY!

5. You will be rewarded for GOOD deeds. People who do bad things get punished in the end.

6. We believe in Jesus! He’s the SON of GOD! Go to church EVERY Sunday – it’s the right thing to do.

7. People in the position of power have worked REALLY hard to get there!

8. Question NO ONE in authority – after all, they must know what they’re doing!

9. Trust in our government – they know what’s best for us!

10. You are safe and warm and protected – God loves you, we love you, our country loves you. 

And we bought into these things, as our parents did before us and their parents did before them.  Over and over and over again. Always without question. Never needing explanations. Our fantasy land of false security. That inheritance of the fabled security blanket.  And we ALL so wanted -no, NEEDED – those things we were told to be true. That we were and always would be protected and warm - as long as we followed the golden rules for “happily ever after” to a T - everything would always be alright. 

I have to admit – the blue pill is very sweet…I swallowed it down like a chocolate pudding pop for a long time. 

 Feel free to share your thoughts and stories on this subject…