YES WE SURE AS HELL CAN

“There do exist enquiring minds, which long for the truth of the heart, seek it, strive to solve the problems set by life, try to penetrate to the essence of things and phenomena and to penetrate into themselves. If a man reasons and thinks soundly, no matter which path he follows in solving these problems, he must inevitably arrive back at himself, and begin with the solution of the problem of what he is himself and what his place is in the world around him.”

~ G. I. Gurdjieff

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU GOD and all those people that got off their asses and voted for something better than what we've been handed these past eight years. Did you hear the collective GLOBAL sigh of relief the first time the words "President Elect, Barack Obama" rolled off the jaded lips of the news media? I imagine winning the lottery would feel much the same as the elation that title elicited.

I will finally look forward to hearing articulate, educated, intelligent speeches from the White House again. (Christ, that alone might be reason enough for me to pay for TV service now!) I will no longer DREAD every news report on what's up in Washington DC. It feels so good to say I'm an American citizen again and not have my soul wince in pain.

I know he will do things I don't agree with, and I know there are those that think this was the wrong choice, but it's the energy and enthusiasm our drained country needs to regain its feet in our own hearts, as well as that of the world. I truly believe that.

In the words of Alfred Pennyworth, "Why do we fall, sir? So that we might better learn to pick ourselves up."

Rock The Vote

It’s no secret that I will vote for Obama. Not because I’m some kind of tried and true Democrat - in fact, back in college, I was registered with the Young Republicans thanks to one of my friends who was actually in school to learn something. Somewhere between invading the Sigma Nu house and my roommate’s “How to make a beer can bong” lessons, my good friend slapped me upside the head and said "Hey! Pay attention! This shit is important to more than my Poly Sci degree!" Don’t worry, we finally returned the favor by corrupting her with alcohol, but it wasn’t easy.

I was a registered Repub right up until BushCo started wiping its crack with our planet. After a couple years of peering through increasingly polluted waters, I decided swimming to the other side was the only splash I could make to show my disapproval of where the Republican party was headed, so even tho I don’t agree with ALL of the Democratic platform, that’s what I choose for now.

If the truth be known, I think wisdom for our country lies somewhere in the harmony of the two parties – but since our nation dearly loves to “create sides” and uphold them, voting down the middle often renders your voice mute. Seeing both sides from a center position, however, gives great perspective in my opinion. Obama has some experience at being in the middle of opposing views (examples: Muslim vs. Christianity, black vs. white) so I think he will do more good than harm not only for our nation, but for the Globe.

Did you know George Washington is the only elected President we’ve had that was not affiliated with a political party? In fact, most of our founding fathers were opposed to political parties and never intended for them to be part of our government. But I digress.

Recently, a copy of John F. Kennedy’s book Profiles in Courage came into my hands. I thought it might be worth something on eBay since it’s older than me, but turns out it’s not. Instead of selling it, I started reading it. I am amazed at how relevant the words still are, especially in these last couple months leading up to Our Big Election. Check this out:

This is a book about that most admirable of human virtues – courage. “Grace under pressure,” Ernest Hemingway defined it. …

A nation which has forgotten the quality of courage which in the past has been brought to public life is not as likely to insist upon or reward that quality in its chosen leaders today – and in fact we have forgotten. We may remember how John Quincy Adams became President through the political schemes of Henry Clay, but we have forgotten how, as a young man, he gave up a promising Senatorial career to stand by the nation. We may remember Daniel Webster for his subservience to the National Bank throughout much of his career, but we have forgotten his sacrifice for the national good at the close of that career. We do not remember, and possibly we do not care.

“People don’t give a damn,” a syndicated columnist told millions of readers not so many years ago, “what the average Senator or Congressman says. The reason they don’t care is that they know what you hear in Congress is 99% tripe, ignorance and demagoguery and not to be relied upon…”

Earlier a member of the Cabinet had recorded in his diary:

While I am reluctant to believe in the total depravity of the Senate, I place but little dependence on the honesty and truthfulness of a large portion of the Senators. A majority of them are small lights, mentally weak, and wholly unfit to be Senators. Some are vulgar demagogues… some are men of wealth who have purchased their position… [some are] men of narrow intellect, limited comprehension, and low partisan prejudice…”

And still earlier a member of the Senate itself told his colleagues that “the confidence of the people is departing from us, owing to our unreasonable delays.”

The Senate knows that many Americans today share these sentiments. Senators, we hear, must be politicians – and politicians must be concerned only with winning votes, not with statesmanship or courage. Mothers may still want their favorite sons to grow up to be President, but, according to a famous Gallup poll of some years ago, they do not want them to become politicians in the process.

Does this current rash of criticism and disrespect mean the quality of the Senate has declined? Certainly not. For all the three statements quoted above, the first was made in the twentieth century, the second in the nineteenth century, and the third in the eighteenth (when the first Senate, barely underway, was debating where the Capitol should be located).

The first copyright listed in the front of the book is 1955. Are these paragraphs still completely relevant to today’s political arena, in yet another century? You bet they are. On the next page, JFK asks, “Does it mean then, that the Senate can no longer boast of men of courage?”

My answer up until last year may have been different, but now I’d say we are down, but don’t count us out just yet.

I don’t think Barack is the next JFK (and if he’s elected, I REALLY hope he’s not!). However, my intuition says he has some admirable core character qualities that shine through the bullshit of politics. He is probably going to make policies I don’t agree with during his term, and perhaps there will even be a point when I think "I can't believe I voted for this." However, OVERALL I believe he is a man of courage; grace under pressure; FINALLY A BAD ASS PRESIDENT. And I pray we are NOT a nation that has forgotten the quality of courage because God knows we need it now more than ever.

Make sure you get yourself to the polls today and vote. People died so you could have that right. Don't waste it. And never assume it's already wrapped up just because Obama is ahead in the polls. As Yogi Berra said, "It ain't over til it's over!"

Be Kind, Unwind

Sometimes I feel like the most magnificent failure ever as a parent. My daughter recently went to McDonald’s (EWWW!) to obtain some bit of chemical swill they pass for food (she refuses to eat healthy no matter what example I set or how much I hound her about the crap she puts in her body and the effect it will have eventually – youth is wasted on the young - can I have my AARP card now?) and when she returned, she told me a Mexican guy came up to her car and persistently begged for money while she was in the drive-thru. Her story was not narrated in a compassionate “I wish I could’ve helped him” tone, this was told in a completely indignant, angry “Why the hell are there so many illegals here and WTF business do they have accosting ME?!” Princess tone. :sigh: Who raised this kid?

I have to admit, I’m not wild about the thought of so many foreigners coming into our country and not playing by the same rules everyone else has to, but still having some benefit from our system. I also don’t agree with how they pop out babies one after the other when they can’t even feed the first one they had (although that happens plenty right here at home too). It’s certainly a drain on our nation.

However, when I expand my awareness beyond the details, these are still PEOPLE – they’re HUMAN. They get hungry and scared and need shelter and love just like the rest of us. Most are just trying to make a better life for themselves and their families. And how awful must it be where they come from that they’re willing to risk that kind of journey, and stoop to begging for food, because it’s better than where they were. Think about that. A lifestyle we avoid at all costs, the one viewed as bottom of the barrel – THAT is a step up from where these people lived.

Is that lazy? Is that contemptible? Is that not a shining example of hope, and the ultimate faith that the Universe will provide for you? Isn't it possible we could learn something from that?

Sure, I know the stereotype, and it becomes a stereotype for a reason. But it’s not everyone. And you have to give some benefit of the doubt at some point. Again, these are still HUMANS. There are always going to be those who fit the worst description our imaginations conjure, and then there are those that are truly trying to make a difference in their lives. How do you know which is which in the ten second interaction that takes place when someone asks you for a handout? You don’t. So give the benefit of the doubt. And even if you can’t offer anything more than a prayer for that person to have a better day tomorrow, BE KIND. That's all I wanted my daughter to be.

So I heard Katy’s story, and in the moment I felt like I failed to pass on any compassion at all to her. I argued with her that these are still people, and on paper we’re not that far removed from the dude at her window when I’m down to $10 cash and don’t get paid for a week. She didn’t seem to care, and stubbornly stuck to her disgust. Ego – Open All Night! AAGGGHHH. Somehow I don’t feel I can write that off as naiveté as easily as the eating habits, and I’m not sure how to correct it now. I feel like I failed to impress upon her that yes, there may be cases where righteous indignation is appropriate (witness 8 years of Emperor Rove... I mean Bush... I mean Cheney), but that still doesn’t make it okay to treat someone less fortunate like dirt. Perhaps if more people felt this way, there would be less crime and poverty and bullshit going on in the world.

You know, in the past few days I’ve been worried I don’t have enough compassion. I’m often opinionated and come across cold or elitist about certain subjects. I’ve told my share of racial jokes (but I like to think I pick on everyone equally, like Carlos Mencia who touts himself as an "Equal Opportunity Offender"), and surely I feel like everyone should be pulling their own weight and/or cleaning up their own messes no matter what walk of life they come from. But under those cold, opinionated, ego-filled comments and diatribes, there is still Love. And sometimes people need a little help. None of us can exist completely alone because we are all intertwined - part of a Whole.

The good thing that came from her tale is my own gratitude. I look around my house and see there is food in the pantry, and electricity in my walls, and a clean bathroom, and an awesome bed to sleep in tonight, a computer connected to the internet, and so many things I don’t even look at every day because I don’t need them, and I’m like geez, even when I’m down to pennies in my bank account with creditors breathing down my neck, I’m a WORLD away from that guy. That guy would give anything to have my problems. And maybe I’m not the one to change his fortune, but I’m thankful he exists, and I'm even thankful he chose my daughter to bother (since it was harmless!), because it makes me grateful to be where I am. I just hope someday Katy sees the Light too.

Bat Joke

I was talking with a friend on IM tonight and the subject of bats came up. I said, "Oh man, my most favorite joke is about bats." He wanted me to tell it to him but it was long to type so I went looking for it online, and doncha know I found it. God bless the infinite information on the Internet. Here it is:

A vampire bat came flapping in from the night covered in fresh blood and parked himself on the roof of the cave to get some sleep.

Pretty soon all the other bats smelled the blood and began hassling him about where he got it.

He told them to piss off and let him get some sleep, but they persisted until finally he gave in.

"OK, follow me," he said and flew out of the cave with hundreds of bats behind him.

Down through the valley they went, across a river and into a forest full of trees.

Finally he slowed down and all the other bats excitedly milled around him.

"Now, do you see that tree over there?" he asked.

"Yes, Yes, Yes!" the bats all screamed in a frenzy.

"Good," said the bat, "because I sure as hell didn't!"

Excellent Point

"... the wide dissemination of once sacred and hard-to-obtain knowledge has also given rise to the smug presumption that we know it all; that we are farther along in our spiritual quest than we really are; that we do not need to undergo the difficult and lifelong trial of spiritual transformation. The late Ch'gyam Trungpa said it well:

Our vast collections of knowledge and experience are just part of ego's display, part of the grandiose quality of ego. We display them to the world and, in doing so, reassure ourselves that we exist, safe and secure, as "spiritual" people. But we have simply created a shop, an antique shop."

The entire article I was reading can be found here.

Knowledge and experience are all Ego. Makes sense because what need does the spirit have of such things when it is All There Is to begin with?

Yup yup.