A Random Act or the beginning of a movement?
Advent coming... I have an idea. Let's decide Advent is a kind of Lent II and give stuff up, like we give up ho-hos for Lent. We're all too fat anyway. And now that we're losing – again, Cuz They Don't Want Us There – let's give up war for Advent. Oblimey will lead the way, abiding by the agreement W signed back in the early days of the the pre emptive strike meme, and have troops out of Iraq by end of year. Whoop-de-do. One Less War. Course it's likely all those troops will eventually wend their way to the border of Pakistan, but carpe diem! Let's celebrate the superficial end of one war anyway. Certainly some troops' families will rejoice their folks got home in one piece. Course all those Friends of Boosch and Cheney contractors and weapons salesmen will hang in, supplying the next oppressors, rebuilding what we bombed, making money hand over fist. Why here's one now...
I'd like to sound more cheerful, but I just don't have it in me. Not that anyone cares. But hey, it's my blog. I'm in a city with the highest population of homeless in the state. There isn't one single job opening posted on a local college website. Not much on craigslist either, and if you have no computer, SOL, guy. The library PCs are packed with desperate folks. Everyday some guy, usually black, wanders by punching the air and raving (and I don't mean that gay kind of rave) about his plight, or about how fucked up it is that you're sitting on a porch and he's looking to make five bucks cleaning up your yard or mowing the lawn so he can eat. And every single time it happens I want to ask the guy, "How did you get here? What happened? What is your story?"
I recalled yesterday that during the Great Depression this happened all the time. Men stopping at a back door, asking for work, will work for food. Not junkies. Just hungry despairing people. None of them are fat or lazy. They walk for miles and all look like decent people, but their very presence shames those they approach for help, Including me. And I'm not sure from what I've seen that Americans are ready to really deal with them, to share one on one like folks did during the Depression. And the numbers will only grow. Why did I not offer yesterday's guy some of my hog jowls and mustard greens? I had plenty.
I know I feel ashamed I didn't give whatever I could because I was afraid. Of what? His fury at having been left out, deceived by the american dream. And why not believe if you work hard you'll be rewarded fairly in the richest country in the world? It's only fair. The growing sense that nothing's fair anymore fills the Occupy camps all over the country. They've awoken to the unfairness of it all, not just unfair but rigged against them, workers, people who will never inherit anything, who must work to eat, a growing majority of americans who want work with dignity but who are more likely to die anyway because their odds of bad health are five times that of the One Percent. It's a bummer when you believe lies because you're hopeful, bet everything you've got on the wrong horse. Then find yourself standing there, gape- mouthed, flat broke, in debt, wondering how you could be so stupid when your faith and heart and hard work was so huge. And you, a grown up too. Really....
Just goes to show. Like Chakha sez: this world's fulla liars...
Ever wonder about a connection between the war machine and Hollywood ? Here are Chris Hedges, Oliver Stone, and Michael Moore to tell us all about it. Again, Kudos to AlJazeera for this series.
And here's a little ditty about the amazing expanse of top secret military government work (from the Washington Post) that is so vast it's almost too much to take in. click on 'need help' to play guide video. Your tax dollars at work.
I plan on giving up my suicidal tendencies for Lent if I can manage to live that long. If I can't manage that, no one will wonder who's to blame. They'll know.
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