I am examining the fracturing, that foreboding feeling once more upsetting the bile of serenity. I am watching truth and lies, good and bad have its way with us and the dedication and commitment to our ideals fold away easily in the excitement of the moments. I hear keep your eyes on the prize and wonder if we even will recognize the prize as something to be wanted at all?
This division in the country coming from every angle against every wall of justice and freedom we have is heart wrenching. I care for my country deeply, I care for the people of it with equal passion. I do not care if you hold a different view or a different religion, I do not care if you are for me or against me, I am Pro-People. If you are in need, I will do my best to help you. If you are in danger, I will do my best to protect you. We are free, we care for those freedoms, those rules of law and those sanctuaries that protect and hopefully if we are wise… nurture.
Politics in itself requires some numbness to life out here in the real economy, with the real world problems. You simply cannot do it all no matter how hard you try. Your empathy and compassion get pulled at very strongly at almost everything. Yet to accomplish anything takes one dedicated focus, and a commitment to seeing it all the way through. You honestly do your best and fall short, like many things in life out here in the real world even political life is life on life’s terms… Which means no terms.
We the people have been micromanaged into subdivisions by our own fears and passions. Out marketed, pandered to and simply substantiated enough of our self righteousness . The wholesale warehouse of humanity, some things can only be purchased in bulk. There is a saying that goes if you take someone else’s inventory of what their problems are etc… Then when you are done, cross out their name and write your own in its place. You are only seeing what you are able to, not necessarily the truth, or the real story. There are many truths that don’t need to be seen. They do not need to be heard or written down because they are feelings and connections to greater things, events and points of history that have context beyond our affluent problems, and our self serving natures.
I have heard the calls to the fronts of many issues, an almost yearning for a messiah figure; What is our biggest problem? What are the questions we should be asking? Healthcare will be the undoing… If I were a betting man in this kind of cosmic Casino we call Socio-political aspects of this, I wouldn’t put my money down. I would keep in in my pocket because this is a crazy game and I am not even sure I know what the rules are, if any?… First of all I am not looking for a messiah, I am not looking for the biggest problem… I am trying to figure out if any of the rules matter anymore; Life on life’s terms.
Getting back to those things that connect us and prove to me in my heart of hearts I am right I simply need raise a few events. The Assassinations of the 1960’s, America v USSR in Hockey, The Challenger Disaster, 9/11, The rescued Chilean Miners, Katrina////et al, The Tsunamis of Asia. The Refugee Crisis, The wonders of our mighty bots on Mars… Images of Pluto, Saturn, Jupiter as never seen before.
That is but a minor collection, pieces of time when most of this animal we call us Humans knew there was something more than ourselves and a connection to a greater empathy, and compassion. Some would call it a spiritual or religious feeling, yet my best atheist and agnostic friends felt it too. Yes, when that flag of ours with it’s stars and stripes goes up, this grown man cries. For it takes all of me to remember all of you and all of the sacrifices, justices and injustices along the way. Empowering the people again with a dedicated message of any kind of hope of uniting must come from one place; Our common good.
We have a keen eye for differences, we thrive on drama and sense of shame and guilt. We build ourselves up on the psyches of the people we can manipulate and succumb to, those we need close like frenemies who bring us the newspapers for free. We have our egos and our pride, our sensibilities and as far as the rest of the world is concerned it all starts with us, ourselves.
Yet in some of those times listed above, we were definitely more than the parts of our sum; We were whole, we were strengthened and broken and rebuilt again all at the same time, we were either jubilant or dedicated, nauseated or wishing and hoping that there would be one more life saved, one more child safely on shore. In those moments, in that resolve we felt the American and Human experiences with all our beings. We knew what it meant to belong to something so intimately close and yet so vastly encompassing as the air we breathe; Life
I do not know if there will enter a grand leader, or a historic event to remind us once more these very basic principles. That we are all Americans and we live and breathe and eats as she does. We are all affected and effected by the ripples of policy and the social stigmatas of the day. Yet we are, if anybody hasn’t yet noticed that statuesque lady in the harbor, hope. It seems to me that holding that beacon aloft in any way shape or form, is worth the effort, worth self sacrifice that we must relearn – again. There are plans in the minds of everyone, there is a passion for this or that cause or a few of them. There is a blanket belief against all things “wrong” with everything from both* sides. What the hell do you want people? There is the entire freaking menu and nobody can pick one thing to to make into the main dish? Well I make it hope, I make it the sum of our parts and not the other way around. I want to see this cohesive ability to bootstrap ourselves over this gawdawful menace to society and his cronies. There are ways that don’t even involve the politicians you either cannot trust or want to replace. Hope, give it back.
Now this is just my idea, but at least I am putting it out there. People who want to run for progressive platforms donate 50% of their donations to a non-profit. It would be a NP that is truly and honestly kept non-partisan, yet the benefiting charities would be primarily those being targeted by this administration. Fund Planned Parenthood, fund immigrant assistance classes and housing. Hire a thousand unemployed plumbers to go to Flint, Michigan and fund the water service needs. Yes, I have seen the coffers, I know how much they are taking in… Seems to me that this would impact a lot more voters than a dang TV ad during a rerun of the Big Bang Theory. I would rather have marketers that bring water to peacefully licenced protests, and energy bars for those who run out of gas. I would like to see the problems that arise in our country by the people who live here first hand. If that is going back in time so be it, I am keeping pace with the current administration I hope.
Because to counter government the people must rise up to make the levels of justice even. To rise up peacefully and unite is to do this together, and lead by example. Nothing short of that example will be enough to unite us past the parts of our sum.