The time has come for action. I know that the vast majority of "Americans" shun any mention of responsibility for the supposed freedoms that they love to claim. I also know that the major media sources that feed our country information try like the devil to strangle public discourse rather than encourage it. Considerable experience has also taught me that no matter what obvious path to a better way of life that I mention, probably because they all require hard work and sacrifice in the short run, are ruthlessly rejected out of hand. There is little excuse for the way we have treated one another, no justification for the raping of the planet and no cogent argument for saddling future generations with the lasting effects of war, extractive economic methods that foist boom and bust burdens on those who do not benefit from the boom times, but are crippled by the bust, poverty, ignorance and debt, but I fear, chances are that we will continue to do all of these things if we do not take a stand now for what is right and good in our civilization. Believe me, we are not, as we are told, isolated pawns in a rich man's game, unless we let ourselves be. Taking our civil rights back will be an extremely hard road and there may be more blood shed on freedom's path. Rest assured that there will be sweat, toil and sacrifice, but the change must come at whatever the price. If we continue to let the powers that be railroad us in the directions of their choosing, we are going to fall deeper and deeper into the chasm of ruthlessness and hate, remain at odds with planet Earth and succumb to the evil that drives the ultra rich to pick the pockets of our elderly, ransack the stores of knowledge that we have developed over centuries to pass on to our children and continue to exploit and confound both mothers and fathers who, after all, made a commitment to the future just by having children.
Frequently, when people ask what I do for a living, I say, "I am a living manifestation of the infinite." I say it not so much to enlighten them, because, let's face it, most folks don't have the background or level of understanding to decipher that truth, but for myself, to help remind me of what I do for a living. We are all facing terribly complex ciphers. The puzzles themselves are usually manufactured by various different interests and the pieces rarely seem to fit or have distinct information on them to give us clues about where they go or even whether they "fit" with the puzzle that we may be working on at the time. Recognizing that we are part of a centuries long struggle and that our responsibility is to the next seven generations seems to be a good place to start for many. With this basic starting point, it is easy to see that atomic energy, whether for electric power generation or war, cannot stand the basic test for safety over future generations. The radioactivity that results from our need in this moment will be a dangerous legacy for thousands of generations. One of the pieces of the puzzle will be finding our way to generating energy that does not kill, maim or saddle future generations with the cost of providing us comfort.
Transportation, as well, needs to be transformed. As we learn to reestablish connections to the locations in which we live, produce more of our food locally and begin to re-think the last generations decision to separate people from capital, goods and services, we will have to use triage in dealing with the empty suburbs. When I was a child, even tiny towns had bakeries, medium sized ones had several and it was rare to find a neighborhood that didn't have fresh bread within walking distance. Try that today and chances are you would be wearing out a lot of shoes. The right wingers seem to be overjoyed with their own voices chanting the mantra of "mass transit can't work", yet in truth, it is the greed of folks who live on the city edge that forces us to expand every other service to the point of recklessness and whatever the opposite of thrift is. The properties that lie beyond city services are going for inflated prices because everyone seems to want their little piece of heaven, but then the trash needs to be picked up, eventually hey want curb and gutter and fresh clean water like the rest of us, so we pay for their wants by sacrificing our own needs. Them subsidization of suburban fringe communities is at once a greedy money grab for the outlying communities, hoping for increased revenues from taxes and a multi-generational sentence for those who cannot afford to flee the cities. It has been frequently pointed out by people far smarter than I that the ultra-rich only call it class warfare when we fight back. I am somewhat resolved to the fact that I may forever be a city mouse, but I should not bear the burden of contaminated air, water and soil left behind by the wealthy exploiters of planet earth. We need their wealth and education to help us solve the pressing problems of the city, not having them squander their money and time mowing acre and a half lots that used to produce food.
It is hard to tell a farmer who has struggled all their life that they are not entitled to millions in retirement because they sell their land to Target, Costco or Wal-mart, only to have it paved over and ruined for ever, but one can look back just a few generations and find people who went into farming because of a deep connection to the earth and a desire to do what was right for their communities. Now, many have been kow towed into thinking that it is every person for themselves and if their greed is not as over the top as the next guy, they will end up losing everything. Some say that growing population will inevitably force the further degradation of the planet, but improving the efficiency with which we do business and increasing quality of life for all people, our needs will become much easier to meet and with far less environmental damage as well. We need to stand up and let local decision makers know that we will not tolerate another back room deal to sell out the towns and cities of our great nation for he sake of another get rich quick scheme that only benefits the few at the expense of the many. All of this is hard work that needs doing if we are to leave our children anything worthwhile.
We have been told that the generation gap is inevitable, but that is another popular lie foisted upon us by those who really don't care about us. If your children see you working for a better world, and you explain to them that all of your efforts are to salvage a liveable world for them, you will be surprised at how quickly they will respond to the great and pressing needs as well. if they see you buying into the lies and deception that "business as usual" wants to sell you, they will see what you are made of and hate you to the core. Fortunately, there are more voices joined in the cry for justice than ever. With a bit of work and taking some time to get involved, we are making change happen. It comes at a time when the inertia of bad decision making has all but overwhelmed us, but there are those all across the globe who realize that we must take one last gaps and fight our way back to shore, or we will surely perish. This is truly a fight for life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, not only for ourselves, but for the coming generations as well. The time has come to stop standing idly by and "waiting for the world to change". We have every right and the responsibility to take charge, not only of our own lives, but the direction of the governments that we supposedly elect and the discourse about what will make this a better place and time to live in. Get involved, become agents of change and remember, the hardest part is starting. Once you resolve to give your life to the betterment of others, the rewards are nearly infinite and the difficulties along the way transform from boogey men into temporary hiccups and gems along our spiral path.
Frequently, when people ask what I do for a living, I say, "I am a living manifestation of the infinite." I say it not so much to enlighten them, because, let's face it, most folks don't have the background or level of understanding to decipher that truth, but for myself, to help remind me of what I do for a living. We are all facing terribly complex ciphers. The puzzles themselves are usually manufactured by various different interests and the pieces rarely seem to fit or have distinct information on them to give us clues about where they go or even whether they "fit" with the puzzle that we may be working on at the time. Recognizing that we are part of a centuries long struggle and that our responsibility is to the next seven generations seems to be a good place to start for many. With this basic starting point, it is easy to see that atomic energy, whether for electric power generation or war, cannot stand the basic test for safety over future generations. The radioactivity that results from our need in this moment will be a dangerous legacy for thousands of generations. One of the pieces of the puzzle will be finding our way to generating energy that does not kill, maim or saddle future generations with the cost of providing us comfort.
Transportation, as well, needs to be transformed. As we learn to reestablish connections to the locations in which we live, produce more of our food locally and begin to re-think the last generations decision to separate people from capital, goods and services, we will have to use triage in dealing with the empty suburbs. When I was a child, even tiny towns had bakeries, medium sized ones had several and it was rare to find a neighborhood that didn't have fresh bread within walking distance. Try that today and chances are you would be wearing out a lot of shoes. The right wingers seem to be overjoyed with their own voices chanting the mantra of "mass transit can't work", yet in truth, it is the greed of folks who live on the city edge that forces us to expand every other service to the point of recklessness and whatever the opposite of thrift is. The properties that lie beyond city services are going for inflated prices because everyone seems to want their little piece of heaven, but then the trash needs to be picked up, eventually hey want curb and gutter and fresh clean water like the rest of us, so we pay for their wants by sacrificing our own needs. Them subsidization of suburban fringe communities is at once a greedy money grab for the outlying communities, hoping for increased revenues from taxes and a multi-generational sentence for those who cannot afford to flee the cities. It has been frequently pointed out by people far smarter than I that the ultra-rich only call it class warfare when we fight back. I am somewhat resolved to the fact that I may forever be a city mouse, but I should not bear the burden of contaminated air, water and soil left behind by the wealthy exploiters of planet earth. We need their wealth and education to help us solve the pressing problems of the city, not having them squander their money and time mowing acre and a half lots that used to produce food.
It is hard to tell a farmer who has struggled all their life that they are not entitled to millions in retirement because they sell their land to Target, Costco or Wal-mart, only to have it paved over and ruined for ever, but one can look back just a few generations and find people who went into farming because of a deep connection to the earth and a desire to do what was right for their communities. Now, many have been kow towed into thinking that it is every person for themselves and if their greed is not as over the top as the next guy, they will end up losing everything. Some say that growing population will inevitably force the further degradation of the planet, but improving the efficiency with which we do business and increasing quality of life for all people, our needs will become much easier to meet and with far less environmental damage as well. We need to stand up and let local decision makers know that we will not tolerate another back room deal to sell out the towns and cities of our great nation for he sake of another get rich quick scheme that only benefits the few at the expense of the many. All of this is hard work that needs doing if we are to leave our children anything worthwhile.
We have been told that the generation gap is inevitable, but that is another popular lie foisted upon us by those who really don't care about us. If your children see you working for a better world, and you explain to them that all of your efforts are to salvage a liveable world for them, you will be surprised at how quickly they will respond to the great and pressing needs as well. if they see you buying into the lies and deception that "business as usual" wants to sell you, they will see what you are made of and hate you to the core. Fortunately, there are more voices joined in the cry for justice than ever. With a bit of work and taking some time to get involved, we are making change happen. It comes at a time when the inertia of bad decision making has all but overwhelmed us, but there are those all across the globe who realize that we must take one last gaps and fight our way back to shore, or we will surely perish. This is truly a fight for life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, not only for ourselves, but for the coming generations as well. The time has come to stop standing idly by and "waiting for the world to change". We have every right and the responsibility to take charge, not only of our own lives, but the direction of the governments that we supposedly elect and the discourse about what will make this a better place and time to live in. Get involved, become agents of change and remember, the hardest part is starting. Once you resolve to give your life to the betterment of others, the rewards are nearly infinite and the difficulties along the way transform from boogey men into temporary hiccups and gems along our spiral path.
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