It beats you up. The relentless barrage of news coverage with graphic representation of man’s apparent endless supply of inhumanity towards his fellow man. The Draconian notion that somehow one demographic is superior to all the rest, that supremacy is handed down through DNA to one group having fairer skin tones than the others. Sadly, this is nothing new. Since the dawn of man we have decided that territorial boundaries are worthy of fighting for. Geo-political squabbles have been in non-stop play since we first discovered the striking power of sticks and stones.
Yes, we have come a long way, eschewing the wood and granite for contemporary weapons of destruction like chemicals, computers and tomahawk missiles. Yet it is still man vs man. You are different therefore you will need controlling.
I bring this up today not so much because it needs additional commentary but because I seek an alternative coping strategy. I truly feel that silence is complicity. If I Zen out at the top of a mountain far from the battles raging on our soil, I am running from my responsibility. In their complex narrative, The Cultural Creatives, Rey and Anderson suggest that we, my generation, The Boomers, have done exactly that, run from responsibility, mostly because we were/are so deeply opposed to the body politic of corruption. So we dropped out, again. We ushered in a new era, stopped an atrocity of a war, removed a president of crimes so heinous he resigned from office, started solar power, recycling, green-earth protecting programs, shared with each other and wanted nothing more than three days of peace, love and music, knowing that if we could pull THAT off, the future would indeed be bright.
It was’t. It became dark as hell and gets darker by the day.
So I am here to speak up because I am no use to anyone if I refuse to call attention to the evil that grows around us like juiced-up bacteria. I will not sit idly by and watch the greedy corruption that is today’s Republican Party destroy both our values and our dignities, to say nothing of our health, happiness and spiritual growth.
It is imperative that we find a way to reel in those creatives who once chose the alternative, apolitical route as a counter-cultural tactic. We need you. I understand your evolution. I did the same thing.
One morning I woke up hungry, tired and poor. I decided I probably should correct that situation by getting a real job so I could eat and sleep. Once I learned how to play the game - the more value I brought to the table the more I could buy - that became the new game, no longer just trusting in the cosmos to multiply loaves and fishes for my benefit. Then a funny thing happened. I began to see everyone NOT taking that road as lost. My new map was rapidly moving from left to right. I was more interested in making money than making music. If I could contribute to my self, my family and my community why did I need to get political about it?
One word: Empathy.
Without it we are back in the stone age fighting for a share of the carcass. If we cannot muster the humanity to see our neighbors, and this has nothing to do with geography, as ourselves, worthy of respect, assistance and support, we have decided that the world stops here. I have mine, you get yours, and beware the man who looks, thinks, prays or acts in differentiation. The current administration is completely devoid of empathy. And these are your leaders.
Come back cultural creatives, this is an SOS. We are all in this boat together, regardless that the captain is bellowing otherwise.
That wave gathering momentum on a collision course with our little dinghy needs to be blue.
No comments:
Post a Comment