Bread and Real Circus

By Bob Livingston

I have often spoken to you about being distracted by "bread and circus": The political parasites' slick oratory and promises of government largesse; corporatists in their fancy suits telling you that you can "get rich" their way; Hollywood antics and amoral lifestyles; mass-watched sporting events. These all serve to blind us to creeping collectivism. Nearly a year ago now, the real circus — The Greatest Show on Earth — went dark. The last performance of the venerable Ringling Bros.& Barnum & Bailey circus rang down the curtain on the age of the big top spectacle on May 21, 2017. I have been thinking about this often lately. In my mind, it symbolized the end of a way of life before the digital age, when kids' imaginations were stimulated by the sight of the real. They had live lions and tigers and bears and the magnificent, ponderous elephant, instead of being mindlessly numbed by fake bread and circus through a screen. The real circus aroused all the senses — the smell of the sawdust and the animals, the sights of the glittering costumes and funny-face clowns, the tastes of crunchy roasted peanuts and sweet cotton candy. It meant a certain excitement in the air in anticipation of an amazing escape from the humdrum routine of ordinary everyday life. There are other circuses still around, but none capture the essence of the fantasy and enchantment like the old Ringling Bros. circus. It was of a time when kids often spent their free time outdoors playing games of their own invention instead of being herded off to adult-organized rituals like soccer games. It was of a time when families "went visiting" to chat face-to-face with friends instead sending faceless messages through a phone. How many of us still "shoot the breeze" with neighbors over a backyard fence instead of exchanging Facebook messages? How many of us even know our neighbors? We ate meals as a family, where fathers and mothers, sons and daughters looked at each other and shared experiences. The TV was the first interruption at the dinner table by the propagandists, and today if you visit any restaurant, which has replaced the family meal for many, you will see nothing but each person at the table staring in silence at a smartphone screen, each isolated in his or her own world apart from the family. I am not against technology. I am against separating families from each other. The digital age revolutionized our lives in amazing ways and gave us individual powers and conveniences we never had before. But we have paid a sad price for those benefits — the loss personal contact and interaction and the rise of incivility afforded by the relative anonymity and separation of electronic communication. People today have no hesitation to say things to others online that they would likely never say face-to-face — or would at least think twice before saying those things at risk of being ashamed before neighbors, and God. Courtesy is an endangered trait in our culture. Respect for others — from the heart and not from the false dictates of liberal political correctness — lies inert on life support. Social discourse has abandoned the idea of free exchange of ideas and opinions, bulldozed by hardened my-way-or-the-highway dogmas. Businesses that once strived to be good community citizens are now owned by faceless corporate giants that care only about bottom-line profits. Customers are just an inconvenient means to that end. Does your mail carrier know your name?  Does your grocer know what cuts of meat you like? You have a rare relationship if they do. As I look back on the farewell of Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey from the stage, I think it serves as a reminder to us all of what our society once was and still can be. Spend time with your family. Set aside a time when TV, computers and cellphones get put away, and just talk with each other. Treat your neighbors with the same respect you expect from them. You may be looked down on for believing in, or simply repeating, Jesus' admonition to love your neighbor as you love yourself. Despite this, go for walks in the neighborhood and say hello to people. Maybe stop and pass the time for awhile. In all things, remember to not think conventional thoughts. They are not your own. Conventional thoughts and wisdom come from the news media, public schools, the medical establishment, organized church and the government. It's a lifetime programming process that builds parameters of thought from which few escape. And there are precious few who do escape their bread and circus.