Rant

When confronting greed, deceitfulness and abject poverty of spirit, it is well to realize that we are not alone in this world, it is not a competition and that our choices say more about who we are than those we seek to “overcome”.  A reputation is built over a lifetime of making sound choices that line up with our morality, ethics and world view. Our reputations cannot be plastered over like a crack in the wall. No amount of saying the “right thing” or promising what we wish we could do can save us when we begin to let fear, lies, and greed steer our actions. Being good is far more than saying the right thing, it comes from our hearts, takes root in our thoughts and actions and becomes us, over a lifetime of remaining true to our essence, our spiritual life and the respect we show for the spiritual lives of others. 

It seems childish to let greed overcome sanity, family and the good will our forefathers bestowed upon us. Their lives were spent living according to their own standards. I’m very sure that they tried to do their best. Their legacy is tainted if we revert back to the worst behaviors that they had to deal with in their generation. What parent or grandparent could stand for their loved ones being hurt and cheated by one another? Have we utterly lost our sense of self? So many years ago, someone wished well for their family, made the arrangements that would exhibit their care for the next generation in meaningful ways that they understood. Now we have the chance to see their wish granted. Our many lives could be made better by their good fortune. We must try to remember our own part in the circle of life.

The flippant use of what was left for us, our trust for education, without the honor required to repay those loans, the petty bickering and the dishonest approach to the very intent of the trust that holds all of our inheritance threatens to erase all the goodwill with which it was established. As we carry on from this day forward, we need to think of our own part in the circle of life. We can either continue to reflect the fear and deceit with which old money used to hold for the “lower classes”, or we can rise above bigotry and hate and see one another for what we are, brothers and sisters in the same great family. As Nickleback  says, we could feed the world on what we throw away. Living in harmony with the planet can help us to live with one another in peace, security and with a wealth of spirit that is difficult to explain, but for those who put the planet first, it is hard to deny the wealth that can be discovered when living in harmony rather than discord with creator and the planet he/she has bestowed upon us.

No longer should the tiniest fraction of the world’s population consume the lion’s share of the resources and energy. No longer should we demand such a vast supply of materials. Let us begin to value the more important acts that can humanize our lives and tend less to the gardens of despotic tyranny over all living things. Spend less on fuels, poisons and waste producing technologies. Let us find in our hearts the time each day for reverie, cultivating sacred space and the wherewithal to appreciate that which remains obscured by those blinded by greed, deafened by media and dumbfounded by the truth.  Rest assured that none of us get out of this experience alive. Nothing that exists after a dollar sign is real and the things that matter most are never available to us no matter how much we spend on them.