a little something for the weekend

i haven’t been doing as much posting these days as reading. it’s probably just as well because what i have been reading hasn’t been pretty. many folks are leaving their blogs in what is probably best described as a state of ptsd- and that isn’t to make light of the problem. there is one thing nagging at me that i can’t get a handle on- and that’s why? why what- i am sure you are asking. why people just go with the flow. i mean i suppose i know why- it’s easier and you generally don’t get killed or tortured or jailed- as in burma (myanmar) and various protests here in america. my mother and i were talking about greed and power and how wealthy folks wield a lot of power because of their money. my question was why? and who are these people who are willing to sell out for profit? who are these people who are willing to wiretap fellow americans or kill civilians in iraq or place ‘enemy combatants’ in concentration camps indefinitely? and– how do they sleep at night?

my blog buddy dan would say it’s the group think thing where they believe that their way is the only way- and that it is the right way. i would agree to some extent. it is cultist and elitist and classist- and really not sustainable. the one saving grace we have as a species is- this regressive, conservative way of doing things is not sustainable. we have seen it time and again- from the egyptian empire to the persian to the greek to the roman- and on up to the british and other europeans bid for empires. they have all failed. communism failed. nazism failed. fascism fails. why? they aren’t sustainable. blending the worst of all of these ‘isms’ with an unparalleled arrogance is what is giving us a chance to undo the bush/cheney legacy.

we know their laundry list of crimes and we know that they have had help- from pnac and the strong israeli lobby in this country. the chaos that is ensuing in the middle east is solely for the profits of the neo cons and the strategy of israel. the crippling of the american economy and raping of the resources continues to baffle me. the complete denial of- what almost everyone else on the planet knows instinctively- global climate crisis is beyond me. burying your head in the sand to avoid unpleasantness or walling yourself up in an insulated bubble does not a problem solve. and it doesn’t postpone the inevitable- it’s just that you don’t have to make a decision or clean up the mess.

there is so much to think about and listen to- and we are constantly bombarded- that we may just shut down. we can’t. we have to reach down inside of ourselves and take a stand. whatever it is that you can do- latch on and do it. we, each of us, knows that we can help to save the environment by consuming less and making our own lives more planet friendly. we can. folks resisted recycling programs at first in the 1980’s but now it is commonplace. we can carpool, consolidate and conserve. we can think more and use less. that’s easy enough. we can become more involved in politics. we are not in a position to politely decline. ‘all politics are local’ and if it is nothing more than encouraging folks to actually vote- or educating folks on the candidates running- or volunteering at the polling places- you get the picture- we can all do our part. democracy is a responsibility. we have lived through horrific seven years and it isn’t over yet. “9/11 is over” and it will either make us or break us. it was one horrible instant in our country’s history of horrible instants. we are made of stronger stuff than to buckle with one tragedy. what a slap in the face to all of the brave folks who really did have the stuff to stand and be counted in the face of adversity- if we cave and allow our freedoms to summarily be dismissed. can you look yourself in the face each morning? can you look at your child and tell him or her that you’re sorry that this country and planet is all fucked up for them but you are too busy to vote? or write a letter to the editor? or recycle? or change a lightbulb? can you call yourself an american and a fellow citizen of this planet? just wondering.

cross posted at life’s journey