Happy Birthday to Me!

What a special day for this author. I decided to take a day off from my own wage slavery, if only, to celebrate the number of the day, the 23rd. See, all of my life, the twenty-third of each month felt special to me. Many moons ago, a friend, who was worried about me and my immortal soul. Felt that it was dangerous for me to do so. I told them that all my life the twenty-third of every moon has been a special celebrated day to me. My birth-date being the 23rd (although of a different "month") and that, for me, remembering the twenty-third is important a dozen times a year.  Keeping that day special and leaning more toward caring for myself on those days than my normal preoccupation with caring for others has helped me keep perspective throughout the month. I have been working for the last three weeks and when I saw a monthly birth-date on my calendar, I made sure to keep it for R&R (Rest and Relaxation). Not only do I have this wonderful date to celebrate, recover from the heat and rest my hurting body, but today, I have surpassed a new milestone in my career as a blogger. Thirty thousand page views!

I write from time to time about my work as an educator. I have always prided myself in the fact that I study more often than I teach and I learn more than many just because I'm interested in such a wide range of ideas and subjects. Since I have doggedly tried to find tools and techniques for healing the rift between humankind and nature, I feel that I am well-suited to bring these ideas to the fore, critically examine messages that are supported by the media and to pragmatically assess the probability of success of various methods for creating a more sustainable society. In point of fact, I have found multiple corroborating facts that prove, beyond a shadow of a doubt that solutions to problems that I have been advocating for decades are under assault from the oligarchs. These ideas are not my own, they are shared by tens of thousands of individuals who have been paying attention and the costs are being paid by the vast, vast majority so that the infinitesimally small fraction of one percent can live larger than ever. They collect the benefits and we are forced cover the costs. If we can learn one thing, it is that one billion is one thousand millions. To wrap out heads around giant numbers, as the current oligarchy requires, we need to understand that each billion dollars is roughly equivalent to $3 for every man woman and child in the USA. The Olympics are billed as a peaceful way to bring the world together, but the Greeks invented sports to get people to stop talking about politics. That system is still in play today. I would like to use this "Moonthly" Birthday to remind us all of where we are today, some having never heard of such a thing and some having preconceived ideas about it. I only know what good it has done for me.

When I learned, in my twenties, that pagans (my friend who taught me this called them witches) celebrate their birth-date monthly, he seemed to be telling me this as a word of warning or that I may be putting myself in some sort of danger because divine retribution might just discipline me for my transgressions. I knew that my own lifestyle and process were more important than to be judged by any external force. I took it in stride and said, "Well, I have done it all my life, so perhaps I'm a witch." What I meant was that this way of life is what I do, regardless of who else does, or their reasons for doing it. The reasons that I do continue my own spiritual development are mostly important to me, however, my quest to be a better version of myself, more pure to my spirit and humble servant to the world around me, has increased my ability to more fully participate in and to bring even more substantial gifts to the give away. If this is difficult to understand, it is because we do not discuss the give-away nearly enough in our culture. some decry the term "Socialism" as a label to impart vehement hatred or fearful disgust with the idea itself.  Thinking of others is actually a healthy human trait and needs to be supported, not ridiculed. Yesterday, I was nearly killed on the highway. I was driving three people and we were within about five to eight feet of extreme hazard. In fact, I had to jerk the wheel so hard and fast to avoid a collision, that my arm hurt afterward. I am here to say that those who do not care about their fellow human beings, those who are willing to put the lives of others at risk, for whatever reason are the real danger in our society. I learned yesterday, and celebrate today the fact that I'm alive!

Just as we learn to turn lemons into lemonade, the life of a creative revolves around turning sow's ears into silk purses. A past tenant left these pieces of granite behind and the city now refuses to pick up waste rock and stone with our garbage. Rather than pay to haul them away and eventually put them in a landfill anyway, my wife decided to make beautiful mosaic art of them. As with all things, we attempt to do the best we can with what we have been given.

I am blessed with life, with friends, with love and the intellectual capacity to figure out and understand that the growing number of people who want to hurt others, lash out because they have been hurt themselves and who only think of themselves, presenting hazard to the rest of us are the real obstacle to peace and true security. If I had not elected to take today off work, you may never have heard (or read) these words. I may have never had the time to consider what importance there might be in sharing this information. I certainly don't want everyone to be like me, or practice this moonthly ritual, but I think it is important to hear the experience of one person who has tried it. Each of us brings our story to the table and more times than not, there are selfless elements that reveal humanity, The vast majority of us are not deceitful, conniving, self-serving creatures fueled by passionate greed and hate. Those who stray toward anti-humanitarian behavior, most often have been abused and neglected in their formative years. If I could get one gift for each of my moonthly birthdays, it would be restorative justice everywhere and prosecution of the corporate welfare whores and tax fraudsters. A friend once called them corporadoes, from the well-recognized term desperadoes, but these corporate "entities" are as desperate as thieves on the lam.

Today, I watched a bit of the Tour de France, Much street cred to the intrepid soul who painted "FREXIT" on the roadway. We are one! Liberty, Equality, Fraternity! Stand against "austerity measures", they are the fallout of the victimization that world banks have been holding over the heads of the people for far too long. I continue to celebrate the Universe is unfolding as it should.

With One Hand

With one hand we are given what the other hand takes away. This week in the United States of America, our Supreme Court has struck down two unjust laws that attempted to make second class citizens of our elders, our fathers and mothers, brothers, sisters, sons and daughters, for their "sexual orientation". Great celebrations took place across our great land for this important step toward a more humane treatment of those all successful native tribes revere. Both DOMA (the Defense Of Marriage Act), which limited marriage to couples of two sexes and Proposition 8 were struck down. I am as happy as anyone would be knowing that our federal Government will not withhold rights guaranteed to some individuals from others simply because they love someone who happens to be of the same sex. It is ironic that one day earlier, the same nine justices negated the Voting Rights Act, which attempted to eliminate the disgraceful exclusion of minorities from voting.

In my state, over 400,000, mostly poor, black individuals, were recently shifted from one district to another to keep them from voting for a state senator for the next six years. As heinous as that sounds, it is the type of deceitful and unpatriotic approach that "conservatives" often take when they are allowed into office. Each time a census occurs, population trends require some shifting of district boundaries to keep the populations of each district about the same, however, if you can cut people out of the voting process legally, it seems, the mostly rich, mostly white, mostly men seem to feel that they have every right to do so. In the eyes of the Supreme Court, they are right. I continue to see, hear and feel the prejudice still alive across our country. Not only is it alive in our language, our policing practices, the courts and our schools, but it is dripping from open wounds reflected in comedy, political rhetoric and in the unilateral opinions expressed by most clergy. Now, even if this criminal, but legal, disenfranchisement were to be challenged, there would be no legal foundation for those seeking to put things right.

Sadly, it seems, both of these decisions were made by money, for money and of money, not the people. First, let me take on the issue of gays. Please, remember that my father only wed my mother to help mask his own attraction to men. I have nothing at all against anyone who is open and honest about who they are. I respect whatever people feel or believe, but the court may be wiser than any of us can fathom. they knew that there would be hell to pay if they did not give something at the same time they were taking away rights from the growing population of "minorities". For many years one of the "gay" slogans was 10%. "They" claimed to be 10% of the population. I don't want to debate that, I have not looked closely at the numbers. Just in the last week or so, we have seen the admission of the founder of Exodus International, a gay man himself who began the "deprogramming organization" which sought to reorient gays, motivated by religious doctrine, that the whole theory of changing sexual attraction is a farce. This organization dissolving this week was, in my opinion, more important than the Supreme Court case that upheld the rights of individuals to marry whomever they desire.

Many, who would be happier in the "gay" community have not yet come out to themselves. The number could conceivably be much higher than 10%. The court threw them a bone. My cynical side says that it may be because "they" are mostly white, mostly better educated and certainly more politically active than those whose rights were undermined this week. Their celebrations certainly captured more media attention than the protests against gutting the Voting Rights Act. The "mostly white" part is because many minority communities are still in the grips of religious doctrines imposed on them by their oppressors and culturally important norms that keep many gay individuals from open admission about their sexual preferences. Having friends that are homosexual in both the black and Hispanic communities, I have seen this first hand. The stereotypes and malingering distrust and hatred of gays in both communities seems as strong as it was amongst whites fifty or more years ago.

Rich white men know that they are already a minority. That is why they work so hard to keep their women voting the way they tell them to (that effectively doubles their vote). That is why they continue to seek ways to legally keep people away from the polls and incarcerate or call into question the legality of more and  more minorities. These power brokers know that as all other segments continue to increase, they will become an ever-shrinking piece of the pie. The writing is on the wall, but they keep calling it graffiti and whitewashing away the inevitable. It is disgusting that the Federal Government has effectively turned their backs on those who suffer at the hands of rich white men day in and day out, the poor, the elderly, the women of our great land, the blacks, the Hispanics, the Asians, the native people, the disenfranchised. As glad as I am that we are beginning to get some things right, when the other jack boot falls, it always seems to be on the neck of those who have been treated the worst. I truly hope that when our ancestors look back on this time in history they will say, "There were those who stood up for what is right." I also hope that they will see the evil and unjust procedures that are being used to foist what is wrong on those least able to defend themselves against it.

I beg everyone to confront these issues truthfully, honestly and compassionately. Only love can triumph over fear. The only thing we have to lose is our humanity. We will only lose that if we turn our backs on our fellow human beings.

 

Meeting Hatred With Decency

It is well known that the most powerful amongst us have a vehement hatred, directed toward us. They believe that we are sub-human and deserve to be their tools. They will never allow us dignity or respect. Slavery is not in the realm of history, no matter our color, we are enslaved by the very corporate welfare that we pay to be subservient to the whims of industry, banking and the powers that be, no matter what capitalistic endeavor they choose to shove down our throats. We have a patchwork of many nations that have elected officials who are in cahoots with our real leaers. We see the hate reflected in de-humanizing rhetoric directed at teachers, "the poor", druggies, our elders, children, "liberals", criminals and welfare cheats while many of the most powerful interests on the planet get fat on the profits they make off our dreams. We hear incessantly about how terrible it is for a teacher to stay in the middle class, while her students are in poverty, but we forget that without a role model who has become better off, no child would want to climb out of poverty. What would there be to look forward to?

The hate that the ultra-wealthy have for us is reflected in the farce that plays out over our elders having to work through retirement to make ends meet, even though their lives were lived in service to the current power structure. The same elite "class" that extracts even more wealth, keeping the elderly employed, enrich themselves further as they continue to play the justified part as the oppressors, the extractors of "human resources", the rapists of Mother Earth. The same top dogs who made up the system of beliefs that lead to austerity measures being foisted on those disabled by corporate excesses have come to call for every last red cent that they can get, be it in the form of our last remaining shreds of humanity, our children's future and even our legacy for the ages. If there are human beings here in five more centuries, they will look back at things and understand that we have all been slaves to a lying, cheating, greedy and hate riddled elite. Do not get me wrong. I do have a certain "justifiable hate" for these people as well, but I know in my DNA that this is a mere product of their oppression. There is no value in perusing or living within the blind shroud of this emotion. The system that has been perpetrated upon us by the haters is what we must work to change. Love truly means letting go of fear.

Can the constant assault of the oppressors be tolerated? As difficult as it may be to say, it must be. Toleration, however is a  far, far cry from complicity. When we are decent to the haters, it will not mock, it will not seek to rub their nose in the crap as we find it. Never, will it lead to getting back at or humiliating them.They do these things to themselves by their own depravity, their own lack of humanity. It is from these self-destructive habits of theirs that our decency can bring them back. Decency opens a door that can eventually lead to their healing. Standing as decent human beings, worthy of respect and equality is the only way to prove that the insults they throw at us have no standing. Quality works by example and invites reciprocation has been the clarion call of good folk since the beginning of time. Reducing our own tactics to the depraved level of the self-righteous oppressors only guarantees that when we climb to the top of the shit pile, on the bones of their offensive constructions, that we will enlist their other tools for the oppression of whoever we choose to hate after their demise. This is not the way to found a new or sustainable culture.

A friend claimed recently that the reason that peace has not won out in political or moral debate is because it is so easy to inflame human-beings and that bashing heads, killing and being brutal to those we detest, need so little impetus to get started. Continuation of conflict has been the way all great cultures have flourished. Today, if we were to take this approach to the logical conclusion, war will remain inevitable. The rich will remain safe while the rest of us duke it out, striking out with hatred against imaginary straw groups who the rulers determine with the turn of a phrase. Decent people are unwilling to hate on command. The self loathing that the ultra-wealthy heap upon us can lead to crippling effects, but as long as we allow hate to flourish, it can only perpetrate their flawed system. Better human communication and understanding that we are all better off working in harmony as opposed to discord is the only way out of the ancient belief that we are brutish.

 I work hard to point out the hateful, deceitful, extractive and decrepit aspects of the ruling class. I use strong language to reveal the truth behind their lies, but I do not want to engender hate for those who hate us. Instead I beg each and every person I meet to be calm, to look with a longer gaze into the future that we are creating through our thoughts and actions. Each and every relationship that we cultivate, each and every emotion we feed will grow and in time it will determine who we are. Perhaps, the most enduring way that we can immortalize a sense of hope and self-respect in future generations is to model for them the respect for decency that has created the changes we see taking place amongst us today, territory we have carved out through tolerance, respect for others and the decency to stand tall, knowing that truth will eventually set us free from the detrimental effects of hatred.


I am not black, I am not a Jew. I am not a woman, nor Native by blood. Not Hispanic, nor Asian, not Christian, not you, but I respect the humanity that we all share. The majority has the right to breathe clean air, drink clean water and to touch one another in meaningful ways. No one deserves to be hated and no one is served by hating any other being. We are all reduced just a little bit by it. The honorable among us respect one another and the planet without condition, and we each feel the sting of hate when we see it, hear it or understand it. fortunately I have a voice to raise in defense of decency and I will not rest until I have spoken my own version of truth to power. When we all stand on the side of truth, the power structure that pits us one against another will run out of pawns. When we stand together, above the rhetoric of hate, this conveys a message to even the casual observers that we shall not be moved. The moral high ground exists in our ability to be our best in the face of the oppressors. Namaste'

Community Center As Close to Ground Zero As Strip Club

This issue was seen as a lightening rod by such political savants as Newt Gingrich. The trumped up public vehemence comes not out of logic or proportion, but of their frustration with the plans for what will happen on those specific 16 acres(Ground Zero.) Before the pile of rubble and body parts had cooled, I voiced the opinion that we should reforest the site. Ten acres would accommodate 3,000 trees, one tree per person would create a massive statement in lower Manhattan. This sort of memorial would leave enough space for 3,000 park benches commemorating the dead. The trees would be the most awesome negation of the efforts of the terrorists. A living testament to those innocent lives that would recreate a woodland in the heart of the city. Nature heals, that is the whole idea of National Parks, we are nurtured by nature in ways that cannot be duplicated any other way.

It figures that rather than keeping discussion about this on a very high level, we use hatred and distrust of our own system to lash out at others who can establish plans and make effective change in the general area. Having been a resident of NYC, I can tell you, there is nowhere in Manhattan that I have found few places that bear any relationship with the community around it. Imagine being able to go underground every ten blocks or so and being magically transported to any other sector. Everything is virtually a subway, and/or bus ride away from every other place. The best way I can describe it is the largest neighborhood in the world. What is really needed in that city is the open space that parkland provides. This too reduces necessary services, while providing space, which is so badly needed, especially in that part of town.

What has instead been allowed to creep back onto the site is a smaller version of what it had been, a place for us to return to business as usual and the politics of greed that made us a target in the first place. The audacity of our corporate keepers is unparalleled in human history. I wish only the best for New Yorkers, but in their hurry to abolish the "free establishment clause within the Bill of Rights because of their unresolved feelings over 9-11 make the rest of us pretty upset.