OBSERVANCES
People make extreme sacrifices or take large risks to acquire things or experiences that they think will be a dream come true, yet the results are often quite different.
A lady described the luxury home the family acquired when she was a youngster but after three months it was just a place where they lived and no longer held the magic of first moving in. They would often invite guests over just to hear them gush about the majesty of the house. Even though the excitement was gone the mortgage payments kept going.
I remember going up Pikes Peak in the early 1970s on the gravel switchback road and being in wonderment at the scenery. Our oldest daughter, who was 5 at the time, was reminiscing this week about hearing Karen yell at me to be careful. We have gone up it twice more over the years on the modern paved road. neither held the awesomeness of that first time.
The same principle holds true for national leaders who have dreams of grandeur. We sent an army into Iraq to spread democracy and make good little Republicans and Democrats out of a nation ruled forever by autocrats. Putin dreams of recreating the old Soviet Union and Xi dreams of reacquiring Taiwan and surpassing the United States as the preeminent world power. In the information technology age, Putin would acquire a piece of devasted real estate and Xi would capture the world’s major computer chip manufacture, r but without the technical workers that would leave the factories would fall silent.
Like for all of us, when we reach too far, dreams often turn to ashes.
