2016

So the year 2016 has finally come to an end. There are many people who are cheering at this awful year is drawing to a close. While I am in agreement with some of them and much of what they say, I don't want to forget the good things that happened.  2016 will be a year when we realized how important democracy is, as we watch it being battled both financial and political fronts.  We've learned new political terms-such as white working-class, alt-right, post truth, fake news, and drain the swamp.  We have been able to see reflection of our national image as a result of antics at the 2016 Summer Olympics. We have seen how privilege and prestige play such an important role in our society.

But, we've also seen the new rising of coalitions, dedicated to a quality for all.  World so seeing an increase in sensitivity to our nations impact on global politics and how how are prevailing attitude results in drastic changes around the world.  We're announcing Syrian refugees and our very own unique form of "otherism" being used in other countries for nefarious reasons.  New forms of ethnic cleansing, purges and shameless blaming of nonwhite peoples around the globe for misery resulting from the campus ending greed.  We are witness to a world that is changing for me, sometimes, but mostly surely a daily basis.

Thankful thoughts

Not so much has changed in a year. Instead of Minneapolis and Jamar Clark it is Standing Rock. Rights seem to be very fluid in terms of what it actually means. When "they" have abrogated everyone else's "rights" and they come to take yours, will it matter any more?

Yesterday we were momentarily and partially unified in love for each other. Will we simply return to the vitriol and awful divisiveness or can we begin to see each other as human brothers and sisters?

Since the election I have heard so much "us" vs "them" talk. I have listened to the toddler-like rantings of people who claim that this was done to him/her, so whatever he/she does in response is/should be acceptable. We post memes of people lobbing sociopolitical bombs at who they perceive to be a nemesis.

Ask and answer a few questions for me, if you will.

How did East and West Germany mend the fence and tear down the wall?

Do we want to live in constant fear of threats?

If you have religious or spiritual beliefs, are you selectively ignoring the kindness and passion of your practice?

Do you know how much energy it takes to "hate"?

Do you remember when your parents told you to simply work it out? Why is it different today that it was then?

If you spent the day yesterday talking about being grateful, what has changed since that offering or prayer?

The Pin Issue

I've been thinking for a while about the issue of the safety pin.  People are taking up issues with potential allies who decide to wear a pin.  Instead of focusing on the opposition, the vitriol, hatred, racism, sexism, homophobia, rabid nationalism, and anti-immigrant bias, we begin to cannibalize each other.  Booker T. Washington and  W. E. B. Dubois have opposing views on how blacks could more effectively become members of our society. Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X also had vastly different views as to the way towards progress.  Wear a pin, and be active and engaged in fighting oppression.  Let's not mistake the symbol for the actions and behaviors of champions and allies and advocates for change.  Don't be distracted by your tormentors. Don't listen to the divisive rhetoric of haters. Don't let myopia become a friend of your enemy.

If you choose not to wear a pin, don't let your preconceived notions as to the way forward get in the way of someone who may be making a first step towards justice.  Let's build coalitions instead of obstacles towards that justice.

The Pin Issue

I've been thinking for a while about the issue of the safety pin.  People are taking up issues with potential allies who decide to wear a pin.  Instead of focusing on the opposition, the vitriol, hatred, racism, sexism, homophobia, rabid nationalism, and anti-immigrant bias, we begin to cannibalize each other.  Booker T. Washington and  W. E. B. Dubois have opposing views on how blacks could more effectively become members of our society. Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X also had vastly different views as to the way towards progress.  Wear a pin, and be active and engaged in fighting oppression.  Let's not mistake the symbol for the actions and behaviors of champions and allies and advocates for change.  Don't be distracted by your tormentors. Don't listen to the divisive rhetoric of haters. Don't let myopia become a friend of your enemy.

If you choose not to wear a pin, don't let your preconceived notions as to the way forward get in the way of someone who may be making a first step towards justice.  Let's build coalitions instead of obstacles towards that justice.

Creativity

i write I fits and spurts. Sometimes quite regularly; other times there are gaps in the entries. I was busy and did not make time for the writing. Sometimes I was to unsure how to strat after a break. Sometimes the emotions are too raw.  Sometimes I don't want to face the harsh reality of what was going on. Death, relationships, work, and family were where I put my energy.

Today feels like the first brisk and crisp autumn morning. The dogs and Milan and I have already been out. I am looking at a new-to-me car today and then spending some time in the studio.  It should be a good day. Ducks are all in a row and I am feeling comfortable. Let's hope the Muses and I find each other today.

Water is Safe

Just when you begin to think that all is well in so many areas of your life, something BIG happens.  Yesterday, I was becoming comfortable with less work than I am accustomed to.  Less work and less pay, to be honest.  I made some phone calls about PT work and looked at some photography gigs and trying to figure out when the mediation training will be available.  I listen to the news and avoid political discussion with people that seem blind and ignorant to me.

My heart aches a bit for the pain in the world.  The middle east is a total mess and instead of blaming Democrats or Republicans, I think I can say that out Middle Eastern foreign policy has not been adequate.  As a successful democracy we were arrogant to think that we could take two diametrically opposed theocratic entities and quickly reach accord.

Our spies and intelligence gathering is complicated by agencies that spew false and misleading information.  Politics has become an albatross in our existence.  Partisan politics has made what was already challenging into a swamp.  I guess the lies we have told ourselves and others are coming back to us.  Democrats and Republicans blame each other, but really, it is just Machiavellian manipulation of the masses in order to have momentary control of the purse string to further one wacky agenda or another.

In the US, death surrounds us.  Destruction and and disregard for fellow people abounds.  Money means everything.  It is the medium by whiich we judge success.  It is reason we pursue objectives.  It is currency of much more than the land.  We have turned it into the currency of legitimacy.  No money means no value, no worth, no competence.

#DAPL and the multinational corporations bully the little people of our nation.  Gas and oil are more important than clean water, when you get your drinking water from some where else.

Kids struggle as they see their parents and the adults in their lives with making do...food, housing, entertainment, and social life overwhelm families. Kids search for love and belongingness - we too often fail them.  We have left them indebtedness, falling wages, anti-science education, depression and relationship issues.  If they are our future, we are surely doomed.

But the sun will rise today and we have a chance to do better.  We can be better neighbors.  We can be better parents, partners, workers, friends and citizens.  I am going to do my part.

Swoosh

Swoosh is the sound of our lives rushing by.  It is also part of the Nike estate.   We can associate this sound with success.   This nation has had it share of "October Surprises".  We are awash in the debris of a contentious political season, a quiet devolution, in the midst of multiple sinister plots to "restore" us to something that we were never, in reality.

Some of us lived away from the squalor and disenfranchisement that affected "others", and now that the information is out - prejudice and discrimination, unfair labor practices, special status for some...we can barely stomach the putrid truth of it all.  If I were not living on the fringe of those most impacted by the abolition of our unions, the subtle misogyny, the growing "re-whitening" of America, it would be enough for me to become an isolationist or to simply stick my head in the sand, again.

We look at the Eastern bloc countries and see their revolution.  We look in the mirror and we see unreasonable dissent and discord.  We see rabble rousers and interfering ingrates who "can't" function in our oh-so-great capitalist society.

What will history write about the US?  Will anyone believe it?

Petty Offices

I am tired of the pettiness of the political debate here in the US.   I am not sure who thinks he or she is infallible or perfect.  I know that I am different today than I was yesterday or a year ago.

Are you the same person you were twenty or more years ago? Have you committed acts that you view in a different light today? Have you learned from those transgressions? Is it possible that this was part of your journey to who you are now? Let's not evaluate the potential candidates only by who they were historically. I can't tell you how far into an individual's history we have to look. We have all botched decisions. We have each erred in ways that we regret. People tell you who are they today by the words they choose and their behaviors today. Let's use that information to choose the right people for the job. Ignore the sensationalism of this campaign and the bombast and seek the kernel of truth in the messages you hear and see.

Alone, Again

Something happened along the way.  One of the last conversations I can recall is that she could not imagine life without me being a part of it.  Just a few days later, though, I was told it felt like we were entering the friend zone.  I have no knowledge of the friend zone, so I spoke with some people who tried to help me understand.  It didn't work. I am still no more clear about this than I was the day before I entered this place.  Another similarity is that this all happened either on the phone or through a text message.  I have not seen her since.  She has suggested that she would still like to see me from time to time, but can't give me a clue about what might happened when the divorce is final.

Part of me wants to fight and other parts of me want to walk away.  It hurts!

Drones

So many of us are creatures of comfort and habit.  Life has become uncomfortable for me, lately.  Too many unexplainable deaths.  It seems as if the many governments that we pay taxes to to provide safety for us have turned on the proletariat.  It is as if the aristocracy has become the master of the many police and military forces.  Some see it as a black - and - white issue.  I think it goes beyond that.  Our minority populations have always been the at-will collateral damage loss leader in our social struggles, but this is different.  It reminds me of The Star Chamber.  Special people deciding without due process how the minions live (and die).  There are many screeches that it's not me (and parenthetically, not my responsibility) and I am going to defend my status quo (lest it be taken away from me for collusion with the less fortunate).

We are a nation of people who have watched while atrocities happened in other communities.  We have feared (not revered nor respected) our government.  We laugh at the Tea Party faction of the conservative movement with the rantings about our guns being taken away from us.  We laugh at the John Bircher types who try to distance themselves from the WRETCHED.  We have ignore the plight of the Native Americans.  We have shut our hearts to the Dreamers.  We chastise the rioters and looters in poor underserved, but still taxed neighborhoods.  We hold off the werewolf of our nightmares by siding with the ruling elite.  But we are all running out of time.  Time for us to stand up to the oligarchs and tell them we will not be their drones.

Letting Go of My Past

Rather than adding to a list of not-likely-to-achieve events, I am choosing to let go of some of the hurtful periods in my past.  As I was having my morning coffee and driving off to the dog unleashed area, I decided to take a detour.  Dasher and I went to a park near a house I used to live in many years ago.  When we arrived I heard running water. The park staff were already laying down a new coat of water to achieve that glassy surface for skating and hockey.  It was not even 7:00 a.m. but the staff person was there.  Lots of events happen behind the curtain so that life can just go on.

Dasher and I walked around this little park; me shivering and wondering how long my hands would be warm and dreading that moment when he pooped and I would have to remove my glove to scoop up that steaming pile of poop.  Fortunately for me, it was near the end of our walk and we headed right back to the car.

It was in that moment that I understood that sometimes we let our own history get in the way.  We allow the ghosts of people and events from our past tamper with our present.  I think there are a few more locales I may have to visit to simply say goodbye and express my thanks for what good I was able to take from that experience.  Since we are all the sum total of our experiences and can't change what experiences we have had, it is important for me to acknowledge my past.  Holding on to the failures or the perception of failure does not do any good.  Learning from the experience is another matter.  You can still let it go, though when you have taken from it what you needed.

A couple of the places don't even exist anymore, except in my memory.  That is a strong hold.  One down, a few more to find.