The Bus Seems to be Low on Fuel

There is a lot of good and bad crap being spewed into the universal compost heap. Some of the gasses that are being created by this deluge can be very useful in keeping the Bus motoring toward a vast vacation spot that is large enough to allow all of us to bask in the Sun of Enlightenment and swim in the Sea of Equality. But as is always the case, some of the gasses just stink like a dead skunk in the middle of the road.

The divisions in this world are not insurmountable by nature. They are merely bumps in the road. But too many riders want the journey to be accommodating to a view of comfort that is myopic and self-centered. Many of us have been bathed in this manner so many times and for so many generations that we can't see anything changing. But it must! The bus is running out of fuel quickly. The old fuel, while propelling the bus for millennium, has fouled the air, the water, the land, and our hearts and minds.

Somehow, if we are to survive ourselves, we need a new fuel for the Bus. Or maybe a truer statement would be an old fuel that has been ignored. EQUALITY ANYONE?

The ease with which oppression of someone else is justified in our minds will be the downfall of civilization. Doing what is right is not easy most of the time. The short term comforts of taking the easy way out benefit so few that they cannot last as we all want to bask in the Sun.

I know, I know. Some will say " It has been this way since the dawn of time!!". I agree. Things have gone so well, why change? Right? But, as I look out my window, watch the news, dream of smelling the Roses, I wonder when the Bus will run out of fuel and we will be forced to walk in the dead skunk gasses...or perish.

I WANT TO BASK AND SWIM...WITH OTHERS...DAMMIT!

WOODSTOCK!!!!!!!!!WE ARE STARDUST!

In 1969 I was a 15 year old heavily invested in the Hippie-counterculture-revolution. Much to the embarrassment of my conservative Republican parents. I mean I was smart, visible, and vocal. At the time, in my small Up-state N.Y. town, that made me a member of a rather small, somewhat ostracized group. Even among the kids I went to school with. But that all changed after Woodstock.

Let's see. 1969. Moon landing, Woodstock, Viet Nam, civil rights marches, aftermath of RFK shooting, Nixon, SDS, Weathermen, uderground comics and newspapers, rallies, Beatles, Moody Blues, Stepppenwolf, Cream, Pink Floyd, Ginsberg, Leary, bell bottom jeans, Tie-dye, fighting for the 18 year old's right to vote, moratorium, co-ed dorms, pot, hash, acid, speed, etc., etc.. Yup, things were burnin' for sure!

Playing in a band at the time put us in constant danger. Being a vocal leader was even more dangerous. The school board would not let us play at the school unless they had final aproval of our play list. So we became officers of a local youth group and covinced them to start a Friday and Saturday night coffeehouse for kids, mostly so we had a place to jam.

After Woodstock, most of the then powers-that-be saw that there was no stopping the changes that were coming. But mistakes were made by all sides.

Wild Child

Well, I've come back against my intentions. After jetting around the blogs for a while now, I have come to the realization that my kind of wild is not appreciated in the on-line landscape much. I mean my poetry is tolerated but not embraced. If I go to an intelligent academic site my lack of degrees leaves me out of the loop. And the sicko sites have no idea how far 3000 light years from home really is. Besides, my brand of sickatude is far too reaching for the normal kind of incrustitude to fathom. I mean come on, nasty language and sex talk is so junior-high.

To me being wild meant no stones unturned. From quantum mechanics to drinking games. From spiritual manifestations to Frisbee. From the beach to the mountain tops. From a broken down Econoline to a DeLorean. Ragweed to Clinical LSD 25. No stone unturned indeed.

So here I am. 2009 and the world still in the chaotic throws of self delusion. The global economy is showing the signs of rot brought to us by our own greedy behaviors. Oppression seems to be the only mantra the weak in wisdom can imagine to get the upper berth on the train. Worse yet, no one really knows where the train is going, or cares it seems. All most want is the top bunk for the ride and to ride with as little self effort as they can. This attitude would be almost tolerable if it were not for the fact that for some to ride in the top bunk, others must be banished from the train entirely.

This dog is tired. I need a soft, dry place in the woods to sleep, forget for a while, eat some fresh fruit, and try again tomorrow. I am still wild but no longer a child!

Days , like chordwood, burn and keep me warm, untill there is no more in the pile. Then the fire goes out.

Watching the wheels of the world go round and round I see my pile of wood diminish relentlessly. Sometimes I think I have found someone to share fires with but I am wrong. It seems to always end because of me. I am just not the kind of person others want. Ce la vi, I guess.

The US. stimulus bill goes into effect amid the usual party lines. The hypocrisy on all sides gives me pause. Civilization is doing what it has always done. Flying blind. Billions of dollars are being gambled at the least, our lives, and our children's lives, at the most. No new thinking from anywhere. This flaw in civilization might be rectified by enlisting and listening to voices of people traditionally kept out of the loop of power.

The use of the death of someone as a reminder of that person may serve a useful purpose, it may not. Not my call. But all to often I see a death used in an effort to rally people's emotions for or against a cause. This too may be a good thing, but many times it is used in a cold, calculated way to get us in a frenzy. Making decisions when all worked up may not be the best way to see and act upon the truth. Mob mentality is why we have the rule of law, in most cases anyway. Yes, there must be times when the rule of law is wrong or misapplied. A good reason not to have a death penalty, don't ya think?

Staying on the path is not easy

Being of a mind that equality belongs to all it behooves me to listen. But listening is only half the journey I have in mind. Speaking out about injustice can be met with intolerance. Though I fully believe in the feminist cause, sometimes I find myself in a no win position. A critical examination of things sometimes reveals flaws. The passion people bring to a subject can cause them to be defensive or intolerant. In most cases this kind of behavior can be understood by looking for the cause. In the case of women's rights it is easy to see why. For millennium men have enforced a stereotypical, male-centered order in the world. IMHO, this view was always far short of the truth.
The sometimes radical posture of change can morph into a single-minded pursuit and leave behind objective reasoning. "I'm always right" is false, no matter the person or the cause.
The ability to flow, to change, to be flexible seems all too often what we want from others, but pride ourselves in not being so. I'm not saying one should not stand up to injustice, I'm saying one should ALWAYS stand up to it. This would include when it flows from ourselves.
Telling ourselves that we have the right to treat others as bad as they treat us breeds a battle that no one wins.
In other words, lead don't push. If some don't follow, examine your path. Be your own harshest judge, not the most lax. If your path is true, leave the non-followers to catch up when they wake up. And remember, "This above all, to thine own self be true. Then it must follow, as the night the day, thou cans't not be false to anyone." Or some such wisdom. Tell yourself the truth always. Self interest is not always the truth. Revenge or retaliation seldom is.
Be strong but fair in all things if that is how you wish to be treated.

Have you ever seen the rain coming down on a sunny day?

As the days of a new administration tick into the past we see a lot of bickering in D.C.. It seems nobody is right cause eveybody's wrong.
Over at Dissenting Justice the posts and comments, although civil, represent the huge divide that exists. Dissent is a good thing as long as it acknowledges that, it to, may be wrong. Or maybe incomplete in the evaluations and conclusions employed.
The intellectual approach to politics is a somewhat novel facet in the world. The human need for power trumps most attempts to do the right thing. People equate being wrong with a position of lesser power, and thereby are reluctant to compromise. Of course, the battle for control is nothing new.
Dems, Repubs, Green, Libertarian, et al, vie for control not real justice.
Moving around The Netz, one sees, if one cares to look beyond the end of one's nose, the schism that has flourished since the dawn of humanity given it's loudest voice to date. The use of ubiquitous communication is a window into our souls much as language is but farther reaching, and at first glance, more anonymous.

Can't we all just get along

Gaza article here The global feuding is continuing to thrust civilization backwards. No one is willing to lay down their arms first. The main argument is always the same."We are just protecting ourselves!" "They will kill us if we put our weapons down first!" What? I guess it is better to die for war than to die for peace. In my book, your still dead. Has anyone ever heard of passive resistance? What does it matter if one dies fighting or dies refusing too cooperate? Just limiting your losses by killing does not do much in the long run but eventually give the enemy resolve. I know, moving into the LIGHT is scary after one's eyes have grown accustomed to the dark. But in the light there is less of a chance I will trip over something, fall in a hole, bump my head, or something. Demonstrations for all sides...debates at The U.N.. Planes, rockets, blocking aid, pictures of injured children! Yet no one sees the folly!

Meet the Press

Today was not much different than my Sunday mornings for the last 35 years or so. Breakfast, coffee, wash up, and Sunday morning TV. This almost always includes Meet the Press. The talk of political ideology and specific candidates was refreshing. It was minimal. The PE (Obama) was mentioned, but more as an articulater of the people and good-message role model rather than a Mister Fix-it or Messiah. The statistics of who has been the beneficiary of the increase in wealth in this country, and most others, and who and what has been short changed are dismal for we average citizens. 90 percent of the total value of pay raises over the last 25 years has gone to the wealthiest 10 percent. Of that, 1 percent got 60 percent of the increase. 1/10 of 1 sspercent got 35 percent of the most increase in wealth! Meanwhile our bridges and roads crumble, our schools lack proper funding, etc.. Bill Cosby brought up a statistic that sums up the kinds of change that needs to occur in our mind-set, of which BO is just a paid spokesman. Undereducation leads to crime. If it takes $8000 dollars to educate someone, $42,000 to keep them in jail. It would seem a better investment to fund education than prisons.
This statistical conversation went on to include parenting, reponsibility, and host of vital topics that raise the bar for political shows. Well done Mr. Gregory et al!

WORDS are important, but so is INTENT!

NO ONE SHOULD BE SUBJECTED TO ANY BEHAVIORS OR LAWS THAT IMPEDE THEIR SURVIVAL FOR ANY REASON, PERIOD. I know the WORDS stated here will be dissected, analyzed, and/or dismissed. But the intent is clear!

The Change Dilemma

The dilemma of change seems to be "you're damned if you do and damned if you don't." When someone brings up something someone said last year, or 5 years ago, or 15 years ago, and ignores what they are saying today, a fatal flaw is exposed. Not in the person being trashed for past missteps, rather in the person doing the trashing. When this happens to me (and for sure it does), all I can say is I have changed, evolved since then, have you?
Being of a fixed mind has mixed results as does being too pliable. I guess wisdom is knowing when to be which.