Friday, July 21, 2006

THINK - WHILE IT'S STILL LEGAL!


Every day now, when I awaken, I wonder what new unspeakable act
will violate my conscious awareness. In the last four years, the
country of my birth has committed criminal acts that I can only
describe as
ABHORRENT
OBSCENE
MORALLY REPUGNANT
ATROCIOUS
DESPICABLE
HEINOUS
LOATHSOME
VILE

Very very few human beings want to face it, talk about it, complain, protest
or in particular.... THINK ABOUT IT. Yesterday I watched a young woman
on TV who was stopped by a reporter. When asked what she 'THINKS" about
the overall situation in the middle east, she responded "I don't". She went
on to say, more or less, that she blocks it out and pretends it is not happening.
From a psychological perspective, this is called "denial". Most people of ALL
ages are choosing the easy way out.
Pretend it did not happen.
Pretend it does not happen.
Pretend it isn't happening NOW - TODAY - TOMORROW!
Repress it.
Deny it.
Bury it.
Cover it up.
Justify it.
Rationalize it.

The irony lies in the fact that all of these defense mechanisms
constitute thinking of the worst kind. There is in fact a "choice"
involved in this type of behavior or response. Choosing denial
and choosing to remain in oblivion is in fact a CHOICE. This
amounts to a form of thinking BY DEFAULT. These are the thoughts
of the cowardly and the weak - who of course - are completely
entitled to their cowardice and their weakness.

As the unspeakable acts of aggression, cruelty and murder continue
in the middle east and in other locations on the planet, here "at
home" we lose more and more of our "perceived" freedom. We
are silent. We are passive. We allow ALL OF IT. WE CHOOSE TO
ALLOW ALL OF IT.

THINK - WHILE IT'S STILL LEGAL TO DO SO.

Tuesday, July 04, 2006

Independence


Settling down after watching fireworks on the beach.
I had the day off from work. It's a national holiday.
The celebration of the day of independence.

I take a look in the dictionary and I read:
Main Entry: independence
Part of Speech: noun
Definition: freedom
1: freedom from control or influence of another or others.

The irony is almost impossible to express.
The people of the United States of America take this
day to celebrate...

freedom?

Our 'perceived' freedom is nothing more than a
falsehood, say I.

To say that we are free from the control
or the influence of others is to believe in
fairy tales.

We ARE controlled.
We are very controlled.
We are VERY MUCH influenced.
We are lied to daily.
Lied to by our allegedly 'elected' political leaders.
Lied to by the 'voluntary' members of the armed forces.
Lied to by the mainstream 'free' press.
Lied to by the corporations that employ us.
Layers upon layers of lies, so cunningly
wrapped around each other in a gigantic
tapestry of deceit and betrayal.

I sat there on the sand, looking up at the sky
and watching the explosive colored lights.
Wondering what it must be like to live in
Iraq, or Palestine, or any of the other numerous
planetary locations where bombs and missiles
light up the sky.

Do the children in these places scream with
excitement and glee when they see and
hear the bombs? Of course not.

These 'other' children are living a nightmarish
reality which manifests from the lies we so
willingly swallow.

I can't help but wonder what it must have been like
in days of old...

before we succumbed to the outcomes of
our choices. The time before the discovery
of electrical power and 'artificial light'. The
time when dawn and the arrival of sunlight
was a natural occurence of nature. The time
when people looked up at the night sky and
rested their eyes upon the infinity of the stars.

Oh uni - verse where we have written
words of blasphemy and irreverence,

Oh parchment where I lay my blood
stained instrument,

may the lessons be quick and forgiving,
for I am weary and I have learned.