Friday, April 21, 2017

You Dropped a Bomb on Me

  I remember walking down the hall with a co-worker one day. Couldn't tell you now what we were talking about exactly. I do remember saying to him,

  "I don't know, I like working in a multi-cultural place." 

   For some reason I always remember him turning to me as we walked and asking, "What college did you go to?"

   I look at him quizzically, "What do ya mean?"

  "Well, not many people I know would use that expression." He chuckled.

  Though we remained friends neither of us are at that company anymore. A lot has happened since then and I haven't stayed in contact the way I should. Sorry about that my friend.

  If I had bothered. If I had cared enough about myself to finish college that would've been a great observation. Thing is I didn't. I partied my way out of school and started living. That has led to, well, a lot of low paying jobs basically. 

  I have though learned an awful lot not going to school. I've worked with people from a good many places. And I'm a listener, an observer, a questioner. I want to learn about people. Their culture. What makes them. I have had a Vietnamese person surprise me with food at work. Because I talked to him. I was interested. The homemade dumplings and whatnot were excellent by the way. I've talked with my Burmese co-worker about enough things he says I am like a brother to him. Because we got to know each other. Maybe because I actually learned his name and don't call him "Chinatown" like a lot of co-workers do. Maybe. 

  I'm not telling you this 'cause I'm such a great person or anything. I actually just wanted share with you something I've just recently learned. At the time it really bummed me out that I wasn't aware of this piece of history. I suddenly felt like there was a gaping hole in the way I should be seeing things. 

  Brass tacks now I guess, eh?

  It all started with Make America Great Again. 

  I'm at work one morning discussing my concerns about the election with the guy who works next to me. Now, there are only two of us at that point in our little department. Me and John. He reminds me of myself sometimes. Well, I mean except that he's a tall black man and I'm a dumpy white guy. Otherwise spittin' image. No, I mean we've made similar mistakes. Share the same outlook on some things. And he likes to know things. 

  Anyway. 

  We are discussing Donald Trump and the slogan. At one point John wonders just when America was great. Was it all the way back to slavery? 

  I honestly can't remember the next bit of the conversation. How he explained that. I do know it was a time heightened by police officers killing unarmed African American men. A presidential candidate was being supported by a former KKK leader. For me personally it was a time of foreboding. It was a time I was worried for what was to come for a lot of my friends. That was pretty much anyone I knew who wasn't a white straight male. 

  Believe it or not that wasn't the most important part of the conversation for me that day. We talked about a lot things. I'm pretty sure it was while John was telling me about his grandmother and how he liked to read her books when he mentioned something about The GAP Band. How he had to tell his mother what the band name and their song You Dropped a Bomb On Me is all about. 

  See the band was originally called Greenwood, Archer, and Pine after the historic Greenwood neighborhood in Tulsa, Oklahoma. It's where they grew up. It's where their history resides. 

  It was a booming time for Tulsa way back in 1910. Oil had been discovered in 1901. Oklahoma would become a state in 1907. Can you imagine the whirlwind? Oil companies throwing money around. Businesses springing up and thriving. Life must've been great. That was on the south side of the tracks. What about life north of the Frisco railroad line?

  Well, in Little Africa as white Tulsans called it things were on the rise also. African Americans had been moving to Oklahoma for quite some time. They were looking for a change. For a chance. To try and escape racism. They succeeded on a few of those fronts. In fact Little Africa eventually came to be known as the Black Wall Street. The people who had taken a chance on themselves soon lived in a community that contained: churches, a library, many lawyers, doctors, and successful businessmen. People looking for change showed they were so much better than many people perceived. 

  Wow. I don't about you, but I'm diggin' this story so far. A once enslaved people shining and taking full advantage of freedom. What could be cooler than that? Who wouldn't applaud that?

  I guess it turns out a lot of people. 'Cause it all changed. Drastically. 

  Starting on May, 31 and ending on June, 1 1921 white rioters destroyed the Greenwood neighborhood. 

  I was stunned. I mean blown away. Of all the things I've heard, learned, read, how on earth could I have not known about this? How? 

  Because it isn't mentioned anywhere. Certainly not in any school history books I've ever seen. It's not something covered during Black History Month. The pictures of lynchings, and people having fire hoses and dogs turned on them never had a caption that said, "You think this is bad look up the Tulsa Race Riot." 

  Why? Why hadn't I heard of this? 

  Well, if we all forget about events like this it's so much easier for the white media to concentrate on other bad things. Like rioting after the Rodney King verdict, or street gangs, black on black violence, welfare, absent fathers. Anything except examining white history. Anything except trying to understand someone else's viewpoint. 

  What would you do, where would you be if you had been part of a segregated people who were beaten down whenever you succeeded? Where would you be if the dream of desegregation actually led to poorer conditions for you and yours? Where would you be if your friends and family were jailed at four times the rate as other people for the same offenses? Or your voting rights were constantly being attacked?

  Before you blame someone for their condition take a look at how they got there. 

  There are so many more things I'd like to say about this. So many. I'll add some links in a bit so you can read more if you'd care to. 

  Remember how I was saying John reminds me so much of me? It's because he's made of the same star stuff as all of us. 

  As Red Green says, "Keep your sticks on the ice. I'm pullin' for ya."

  All of ya. 

  Peace




   




Thursday, November 26, 2015

Dust in the Wind


  I don't know what made me think of it the other day. Maybe I was looking for something to watch on television. Perhaps it was while I was streaming Netflix. Coulda been listening to some story on NPR. Who knows? Anyway, I realized I hadn't watched anything on Public Television in a very long time. I mean, nothing. No cooking shows. No Antiques Roadshow. Name one. Name a show you might like on PBS. Go ahead. Nope, haven't seen it. I don't know why exactly. I used to watch it all the time.

  Way back when, oh some forty years ago now, I used to watch Monty Python on Public Television. My mother always had the wrong idea about me watching that show. The first time she saw me watching there happened to be a woman on the screen. I don't remember exactly the scene, or which of the Pythons was in it. I do remember that there was a woman behind some shop counter, and that most of if not all of her breasts were exposed. I might be wrong, but I'm pretty sure I got that right. Now I mention that only because every other time my mother connected me with Monty Python she thought I watched simply because it was risque. Whenever she heard mention of that show she'd get this mischievous twinkle in her eye and remind me how much I use to enjoy watching it. She never stuck around long enough to realize that there was so much more to it than that. That even to my twelve year old self the naughty bits were incidental. These guys were like nothing I'd ever seen before. Like so many people had never seen. To me they were brave to be doing outlandish, and sometimes stupid things for laughs. Well, they were British too. That was pretty cool. They certainly shaped how I came to behave in my teens. Even if I eventually became more of a "wild and crazy guy ". That's getting a bit far afield though. I grew up just assuming that everybody got it and loved it the way I did. It was quite a surprise the first time I heard someone say they just didn't like Monty Python.

  There were of course others. Other Brit comedies from around that time that made their way to me through PBS. Who remembers The Goodies, or Doctor in the House? Are You Being Served? Fawlty Towers maybe? I know there are a few that I'm just not remembering right this minute.

  There are more still through the years. Chef, The Vicar of Dibly, and Blackadder are simply brilliant. Who can forget the social climbing Hyacinth Bucket - that's Bouquet! - in Keeping Up Appearances? Or how about Dame Judy Dench in As Time Goes By?

    Of course it's hasn't been all fun and games with British shows on PBS has it? Did you ever spend a Sunday night with Alistair Cooke and Masterpiece Theatre? Do you remember what a big deal Upstairs, Downstairs was? Ever heard of House of Cards? Yup, that was originally a BBC production. Then there was I, Claudius. How great was Derek Jacoby in that? Today's incarnation of Masterpiece Theatre, Masterpiece, has given us Downton Abbey. I could go on and on.

  Now one or two of you have probably noticed a gaping hole in this British TV on PBS thing I've got going on here. I guess it's time to ask the big question.

  Did you watch Dr Who?

  Sadly, I am not a true Whovian. I didn't watch the Doctor back then. To the shock of many I'm sure I just didn't like it. I didn't get it. I tried. I really did! It was just too hokey to me I guess. I tried watching Tom Baker as the fourth Doctor. His tenure from '74 - '81 stands as the longest of any other Doctor. I even tried to watch the fifth Doctor, Peter Davison. Though he played the Doctor, I remember him more fondly as Tristan Farnon in All Creatures Great and Small. 

  I've had a change of heart though. 

  I started watching the reboot of Dr Who on BBC America. It's got such a different feel to it now. It got me hooked. 

  And then...

   A funny thing happened last Thanksgiving. Just before actually. I got laid off. No, you're right. Not full of levity that. It happened just before Thanksgiving and I figured that was an excellent excuse to take the week off. Which lead me pretty much right into Christmas. And then of course the New Year. That brought me right round to feeling bad about being such a depressed slacker.

  So... I watched a lot of TV. Binged a few series on Netflix and whatnot. BBC America even showed a Dr Who marathon. I sat for hours at a time watching this new sparkly Dr Who series. Through all of that though I kept pondering why I didn't like the original. Was it really as bad as I remembered? Maybe I just wasn't ready for it at the time. I had to find out. I honestly don't remember if someone told me the good Dr was on Netflix, or I took a chance and did a search, but there it was. There was one hundred some odd episodes dating all the way back to the very first Dr! I was determined to watch them all. I was going to witness the show's evolution. I was going to figure out what I'd missed. I was going to become a true fan. I watched every episode available. 

  *Sigh*

  I still didn't like the early Dr. 

  It was then that I remembered an old Facebook post from my college roommate about watching an episode of the reboot. I had to ask him if he remembered what he had said. He was nice enough to provide me the very post to read. It said:

  "Just watched Dr. Who - I love the themes of loyalty, continuity, and connectedness. Loyalty across space and time." 

  That! That is what I really wanted to share with you. As surely as I sit here trying to figure out how to join all of this together I can assure you of one thing. We are all connected. We are all here to both teach and learn from each other. The kind words you give have such a greater effect than you'll ever know. Just as the harsh things. Each has the power to affect one person, then another, and another until we are all nothing but dust in the wind. The world seems so lost at times. Suppose thoughthat we could all help fix it. What if next time you believed for a moment that how you treat another person could eventually shake this planet to its core? You know. Instead of rushing to be first in line you let someone go ahead of you. Instead of scolding a kid for doing a childish thing, be an example of what you want from that child. Maybe there's a reason someone has been on your mind lately. Look them up. Make contact if you haven't seen them in a while. You never know. You might be just what they need. One act of kindness could change everything. 

  Don't forget what Red says; I'm pullin' for ya.

 

Thursday, April 11, 2013

Over the Rainbow

  This is the hardest part for me lately it seems.  Yeah, this part.  The beginning of it.  In fact I've had the idea for this post bouncing around since last November.



  Best just to get to it I guess.



  For the longest time I'd spoil myself on Saturdays listening to NPR.  It started years and years ago when I first started listening to A Prairie Home Companion on Saturday nights.  Wow, a real live radio show.  How cool.  I gave that up though.  Fell out of the habit.  Then in the car one afternoon I stumbled across This American Life with Ira Glass.  What an experience that show is.  I find they tell stories in such profoundly moving ways.  In fact I remember telling someone once that I'd like to write the way that show makes me feel.  And there's always Car Talk of course.  I guess people either love that show or hate it.  I find it highly amusing.  There's a fairly new show on called Snap Judgement too.  It's tag is "Story telling with a beat."  There are loads more that have filled the void through the years.  Quiz shows, story shows, news shows.  They were all entertaining in their way.  They all get my brain going.



  It was when I was listening to a show late one Saturday afternoon called Studio 360 that things changed a bit for me.  The show was all about The Wizard of Oz.  I was going to tell you all about the show.  How Salmon Rushdie saw it numerous times when he was younger.  All sorts of stuff.  Instead I'll give you the link here so you can listen for yourself if you'd like.  I will hit a highlight or two though.  You know, things in keeping with what we usually talk about here.   I guess you could call that a spoiler alert of sorts if you do plan on listening to the story on Studio 360.



  So, I gotta ask, what message do you remember when you think of The Wizard of Oz?  There's no place like home maybe?  That'd be my top guess.  I can hear Dorothy saying that phrase as clearly as if she were standing next to me.  Maybe you think of Over the Rainbow.  You know, where blue birds fly.  Dorothy pines for escape.  There's always the Tin Man, Scarecrow, and Lion wanting to feel better about themselves.  I have a friend I used to work with that always whistled, or hummed maybe, If I Only had a Brain. That was usually as we were trying to figure something out.  I continue that tradition.



  Salmon Rushdie read from his book about The Wizard of Oz on Radio 360. He opines in that book about home, Our birthplace.  How it isn't a destination to get back to, it's a launch pad.



  Singing Over the Rainbow Dorothy yearns to get away.  To start an adventure.  To see something besides Kansas.  To leave home.  Boy, does she ever.  And, yes, she goes home again.  Did you know though that she leaves again?  Yup.  She  packs up Auntie Em and Uncle Henry and goes back to Oz.



  Now, why on earth would she do that?



  Well, besides the fact that the farm in Kansas was facing foreclosure, I think good ol' Dorothy might've learned a thing or two.



  I think Dorothy learned to live life as an adventure.  She came to know that just because something is safe and familiar that doesn't mean that it's the best  thing since sliced bread.  She realized that life can be exciting.  She didn't have to settle for the farm.  Yearning for something better is  ok.



  Well, I suppose you know where all of this is going.  All this talk of launch pads, and adventure, and yearning must be going somewhere, right?



  Oh, you know me by now.



  It's ok to dream.  It's ok to want something more than what you have.  It's what we humans do.



  You hold the key though dear reader.  You must set things in motion.  You have to do the work.  You have to find that thing that's missing and work toward it.  It's all up to you.



  No one is going to do it for you.



  Keep your sticks on the ice









    


Friday, March 1, 2013

The Space Between

  Ok, ok! 





  Yes.  





  I use a dating site.





  There.  Happy?






  I've been on and off of one site in particular a bunch of times.  I've had conversations with a few people.  Even went on a first date with a couple of women.  The very first one, well, didn't come as advertised.  Just sayin'.  The second was dinner and done.





 Those of you well versed in the ins and outs of these sites, fear not; I won't go on too long about it.  The married people should know a little of what they're missing though.  Shouldn't they?





  It's a funny place, this dating ether.  





  Say you see a picture of someone you might be interested in.  You have gathered as much information as their witty, (or artsy, or serious) profile allows you to.  You decide to take a chance and send a message.  Something has caught your eye.  Something they said or some movie they mentioned.  A favorite band maybe.  Something to get you going and mention in an introductory note to show you've paid some attention to what they bothered to write.





  Sometimes you get the cold shoulder.  Maybe you get the, "good luck in your search" response.  Other times you get an actual, honest to goodness, response.  One that may even prompt you to write back.





  I mostly find it a wasteland.     





  Good thing I'm in no real hurry.





  Although.





  Although there is one person.  One person with whom I've had a couple of really great conversations.





  See, she got me to thinkin'.  My favorite pastime.  In fact I posted on Face Book the other day that sometimes I think I think too much.  





  Getting to know each, other she asked me why I like being involved in theater.  Why I liked it and how it made me feel.  





  Geez.  Hadn't really thought that hard about it.  It's just something I do.  I like to show the audience a possible new perspective on life.  That's the line I usually use.  This was a chance though to turn it over in my hands a couple of times and look at it.  



  No one had ever asked how it made me feel before.



  I guess the shortest distance between a and b would be that it makes me feel alive.



  The longer distance?  This woman I am chatting with is a blogger too.  (SWEET!)  She offered me her blog address, you know, blogger to blogger.  I came across one post in particular that made me think even more deeply about the theater thing.  The post is called Possibility and starts like this,



  "I'm addicted to the moment immediately preceding a kiss, that place where time stands still, lips poised for the blessed contact.  I'm a sucker for the first kiss in movies, on TV, because it signals a shift in dynamic, a moment of pure truth and honesty of feeling."  



  Shhh.  Used that bit without permission.  Hopefully she'll forgive me this once.



  Think about that moment she speaks of though.  That moment in eternity between action and inaction.  That pause in the universe where absolutely anything is possible. There are limitless possibilities in the space between.



  It is in those moment that we are truly connected with everything.  Everything.  Everybody.  The universe.  Each other.



  Theater is full of those moments for me.  The easiest one to relate I suppose is standing in the wings waiting for my cue to go on.  I think probably every actor prepares differently as they wait.  Some do voice exercises in a quiet area to loosen up and pass the time.  Others bend feverishly over their scripts trying to finally get that one line.  That one section.  But then there's that few minutes.  The space between waiting to go on, and being on.  I stand there shaking my hands as though I could shed my nerves like drops of water.  But then I walk out, and it's all ok.  I manage not to trip on anything.  I seemingly remember my lines and where I'm supposed to be in a timely manner.  Then it's over.



  Oh, yes, I love to act.  I love to direct.  I love it all.  But it's those moments in between that let you know you're alive.  Let you know that anything is possible.     



  There are countless moments like that in a day though.  I mean, right?



  It could be anything.  Do I drive the same way to work today?  Why don't I try that new place for lunch?  I could go on I suppose, but I'm sure you get the drift.



  You have to be mindful though.  You gotta have to want to participate in your life.  In the Universe.  Life is pretty spectacular as it is, imagine if you lived it in the space between.  If you were mindful that any moment in your life could be magic.  



  "The space between... is where you'll find me hiding, waiting for you."  Dave Matthews Band



  Hey, don't forget, I'm pullin' for ya.



  Peace 











  


  







Monday, January 21, 2013

A Change is Gonna Come

  Yup. I definitely started this post a long time ago. Well, you know, relatively. Not time like cosmically speaking, but long enough.  This was originally going to be my Mayan Prophecy End of the World Extravaganza Post to End All Posts.  I started it and then Blogger didn't save half of it when I asked it to.  I've had that happen before.  I gotta tell ya, that was a bummer.  Instead of changing sites as often say I should, I kinda went on strike. 



  So here I am with the Mayans and a few other things crowding my brain.  Let's see what happens.  To be honest some of this was written somewhere around 12/22/12. 


  So, I gotta ask.  Were you worried at all?  Or did you start the day like any other?  





  I know you had to have at least given it a passing thought.  The fate of the world hung in the balance after all.  I mean it had been building for so long how could you not?  





  Yes, yes, you probably guessed already.  Of course I'm referring to the whole calendar deal.  Mayan by the way.  Not Gregorian, or Julian, or any other you might come up with.





  I know a lot of you can remember a time before.  Before cell phones say.  Before basic cable, email, GPS, globalization.  Maybe even before men landed on the moon.  Probably not a time when we started to lose contact with nature and the earth though.  Probably.





  The Mayans were smart people.  You gotta give them that.  They were extraordinary mathematicians.  They came up with the concept of zero independent of any other influence.  Pretty heady stuff for the math geeks.



  They were also astronomers.  Hence The Calendar, right?  A familiar question to some would be why.  Why would the Mayans be so interested in the night sky?  Were they indeed awaiting the return of some other worldly visitor a la Ancient Aliens? 



  Mmm...  



  Could be.  



  More likely it was the fact that they were more closely tied to the earth, the very universe, than few of us today could begin to imagine.  And of course there's always, you know, boredom.  What else did they have to do at night?  If you had no light pollution and time on your hands most nights, I bet even you dear reader would become a decent amateur astronomer. 



  That's great an' all for the Mayans, but I really wanted to talk about what it all meant to us.  I mean this particular end of the world was big.  And we had a lot of time to mull it over.  Some people had plans.  Just in case.  Some people had parties.  Just because.  There might've been more than a few people who were quietly relieved that it wasn't really judgement day or anything after all.  



  Did you hear many predictions about what would happen that day?  I'd heard every thing from the appearance of flying saucers to drastic pole shifts.  That was one camp anyway.  Doom sayers.  There was another camp however.  A lot of people believed that the Mayans simply meant to mark the date of a new Age.  A time to change.  A time where there will be more and better understanding between fellow human beings.  



  Truth to tell I don't think the Mayans were really trying to predict anything.  



  Things do need to change though.  Not a big huge all at once change.  A one day at a time change I guess.  And it starts with you.  And me.  There is no special date.  It could be today.  Or tomorrow.    



  We need to make ripples in our lives that will better others.  Better the world around us.  It won't happen through the government.  Aliens will not be landing to enlighten us any time soon.  It can't be because the Mayans circled a date on the calendar.  



  Every day should be circled.  Every day is judgement day.  Every day you have the chance to change someone's life.  Every day.  Moment to moment.



  Ok.  I guess I'm outta here.



  I'm pullin' for ya.



  The song is simply for MLK










              



    





    





       

Sunday, December 16, 2012

Teach Your Children

  I won't bore you with the usual apologies for not posting in a while.  We're probably both a little bored with that.  I just haven't written in a while.  Stuff's been going on.  I guess foremost would be that I'm re-employed after almost nine months.  Still haven't figured out a good schedule for writing yet.  I'm up too early and home too late it seems.  And, well, to be honest I just haven't felt like it I guess.  Either that, or it's just another manifestation of this self-destructive tendency I have.  That's a post of a different color though.



  Friday around these parts was not a good day.



  No. no, let's start that over.



  Children were murdered Friday.  Some of their teachers, people who would be role models in one way or another for the rest of their lives; were killed protecting children.  I understand that most, if not all, of you reading this have already heard all about it.  I won't glorify the killers name here.  I won't wonder about his meds or his problems.  I won't recount any of the ongoing investigation.  I won't try and make you feel sad.  I won't even give out an address where to send cards or whatever.



  If the simple fact of what happened that day hasn't affected you in some way, no words I can come up with will change that one bit.




  I would like to ask you a question though.  Has this instance of violence against innocent kids changed you more than say, umm, a school bus being blown up by terrorists in Israel?  Maybe that's too remote to care about.  Maybe you're sick of the whole Middle East.  OK.  How about U.S. drone strikes that miss their target and kill children?  I know, I know.  Sorry.  Probably too distant again.  



  Now, I'm not trying to take anything away from what anybody is feeling about last Friday.  I am trying to urge you to remember whatever you're feeling the next time you hear  of children paying the price for adult problems.  Whether it's child labor, sex trafficking, or plain ol' parental abuse; no child should be ruined by the world before they have a chance to change it.  Every child has the potential to be better than you.  Better than me.  Better than the greatest person you could think of.  It's the kids who see the world fresh and new.  The kids who see  things in ways we don't.  Every child is a treasure waiting to shine for the world.



  There's something else I have to mention here too.  I remember a time when people used to say that those of us in the U.S. were so lucky not to live in a place where war and terrorism are daily struggles.  Where no one had to walk around wondering what could happen next.  Truth be told, we don't need terrorists to come here and wreak havoc.  As Walt Kelly said in his comic strip Pogo, "We have met the enemy and he is us."



  I always marvel how people are able to come together in the worst of times.  To really see the connection between us all and embrace it.  I am always left wondering why though.  Why can't we be mindful of that all the time?  Why is it only in the tough times?  When I was younger I'd always hear people wanting to feel the Christmas spirit all year 'round.  Well... Why not?  Why can't we remember all the time?



  Hey!  Wait! I know!



  I bet you could!



  Well, we could together.



  I betcha if we really put our thinking caps on we could change the world one person at a time.



  You know the old drill.  Wave to the person in the car that you think did you wrong.  Other people have to get to places just like you do.  We're all in a hurry.  Make a point of holding the door for the next person.  Yes, even if you have to wait a few seconds for the person to catch up to you.  Pay something forward if you have the funds.  Can you imagine how you'd feel finding out your meal was paid for by someone you'll never see?  There are a ton of things.  I bet you could think of something that you wouldn't mind committing to.  Something small.  You'll feel good about it.  Really.  More importantly someone else will too.



Short and sweet tonight I guess.  Something to get me back in the swing of this blogging thing.



I have to warn you about the video that follows.  There are pictures associated with it.  Some not for the squeamish.  Oh, yeah, and it's not meant as a political statement either.  Oh, you'll see.



In the words of Red Green, "I'm pullin' for ya.  We're all in this together."



Peace



 


Wednesday, October 10, 2012

Get Up, Stand Up

  I don't even know where to start.  Really.  So I'll just start peckin' away at the keys and see what happens.



  Ok? 



  Something is going to happen.  Something bad.  I don't what yet, but it's gonna happen.  It's not a matter of if.  It's a matter of when.  Can you feel it in the air? Through the ether?



  The thing is, I don't even know exactly what it is I'm talking about.  The problem I guess is that there are too many things to choose from.



  Wondering what the heck I'm talking about?



  Well, let's look at some of the choices shall we?



  First there's the economy.  The world economy.  How long can we spend money that doesn't physically exist except when more is printed?  Quantitative Easing.  Pfff.  Government buying its own debt only leads to inflation.  Doesn't it?  Elected politicians use billions of dollars to bail out the institutions and people who caused the housing market driven "recession" while ignoring the middle class people who have to end up paying for it.  Even though there has been an uptick in home sales because of drastically low interest rates there are still so many houses in foreclosure it will take years and years and years to clean all that up.  Banks are allowing people to basically squat in their properties, paying only property taxes in order to alleviate some of the workload on foreclosures.  Plus they don't want an inventory of houses.  We will probably see even more foreclosures if the jobs market doesn't pick up soon.  Oh, yes the latest numbers look all rosy and whatnot, but numbers can be manipulated to mean anything. The latest I had heard is that most of the jobs are actually government jobs.  Most of the jobs left in the economy as it sits are low wage positions that can in no way support a household in a way we can recognize.  The combination of Government and private debt is soon to cause a major change in the U.S. economy.  Some countries in the E.U. would likely quit the Union rather than take part in "austerity measures."  And why not?  In Greece unemployment is up 24%.  There has been organized looting.  People feeling like they have no choice but to steal food to support their families.   I'm sure some of the other countries would leave the E.U. rather than prop up countries they believe to be fiscally unsound.  



  Then there's the whole Iran/MIddle East thing.  The U.S. agenda of hegemony in that area can only portend more deficit spending leading to more deaths of American G.I.s.   Well, that and more money for a few privileged corporations while the middle class tries to pay for it all.  Why are we so interested in Iran anyway?  Nuclear proliferation?  Possibly.  Protecting Israel?  Mmm... Maybe.  How about ensuring that the Strait of Hormuz remains open to the people and business our government wishes.  Why have we allowed innocent people in Syria to die without lifting a finger?  There is nothing there that our government values.  Ask our one time ally Moammar Gadhafi what happens when we want something badly enough.  Now Turkey is exchanging missiles with Syria.  Oh yeah, and North Korea has just announced they have missiles that can reach American soil.



  Then there's more trouble right here too.  The National Defense Authorization Act, which is voted on every year right, now includes language that strike the right of habeas corpus and the right of due process for American citizens.  With every shooting tragedy there is talk of taking guns away from U.S. citizens.  Wow.  Are you willing to give up your rights like that?  Are you willing to be scared by your government into giving up what this country was founded on?    



  Not to sound too over the top here, but in this new world of constant surveillance we live in; my phone and all the cameras dotted across this landscape always know where I am, drones will be filling our skies before you know it - in Texas they're trying to hang RFID chips around school kids' necks for "attendance purposes", I must say for the record that I am in good health and am not depressed enough to do myself harm.  My car is running pretty well too.  I know full well that's pretty paranoid.   Just had to say it though.  


  All of that stuff is of our own making too.  People forget that we are animals living on a planet floating through space.  I mean think about it for a second.  What happens when the good ol' sun sends an electromagnetic pulse our way big enough to shut our power off.  And it will happen sooner or later.  Our power infrastructure is in no way capable of handling a large pulse.  For a few measly billion dollars we could do a little preventative maintenance and ensure the grid's stability.  It won't happen though.  That's way too much money to spend on such nonsense.  And what about asteroids buzzing around all over the place.  Wasn't it just last February that we had a fairly close fly by of an asteroid?  If I remember correctly our space observers didn't even see it until it was on top of us.  Did you know that Yellowstone National Park is a super volcano?  What the heck is gonna happen if that thing ever blows again?  And global warming?  Is it a natural cycle, man made, or a combination of both?  Does it even exist?  If it does, hope you don't live near the coast when the sea levels rise enough to change local geography.



  I won't even bother to go into the Mayans, or the Book of Revelation, or the Mark of the Beast or any like that.  Although, did you know when Social Security was first started and the government started handing out all these numbers; people protested on the grounds that it was too much like the Mark of the Beast. 



  Wow.  I don't know about you, but I'm kinda bummed out all of a sudden.  There's a ton of stuff that could happen.  Who could possibly prepare for all of that?  Start buying those canned goods now.  Geez.


  So what do we have left?  If we're all not just gonna to walk around with our hands in our pockets lookin' down at our shoes waitin', what do we do? 




  Well, there's a lot we can do.  How about not watching the same news all the time?  You know, expand your world and see what else is being said out there.  Then how about getting involved in what's going on in some way.  Write your congressman, your senator.  Let 'em know how you feel.  If enough people do that it might make a difference.  Of course there's always voting in the first place.  Vote somebody out.  Vote somebody in.  Stand up for your rights.  Don't be scared into not making a change.



  How about thinking about what you'll do if the lights do go out.  Having some food and water stored away for an emergency is never a bad idea.  You don't have to wait for a  hurricane or nor'easter to be on its way.



  Ultimately the only thing that's really going to matter is how we treat each other.  Never lose sight of the fact that we are all connected on this planet.  How about Olga Korbut.  Remember her?  A little girl showed the world that we're all the same all over the world no matter the circumstances of our national origin. She actually visited the White House and President Nixon.  He said something like she had done more for the relations between the U.S and the Soviet Union than any of our leaders could.  Remember any of the feelings emanating from NYC after 9/11?  All the people on the street saying how it brought everybody together?  



  Why wait for that briefest of moments to remember?  Why wait?  The sooner we can all come together and realize that at deepest core of everything we all just want the same thing the better off we'll all be.



Keep your stick on the ice.








       
 


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