I remember the Bi-Centennial celebration on July 4th 1976.. as if it were just the other day........I was living in NY/Long Island... There were ships of all nations docked into NY Harbor, fireworks galore, feasts, barbecue’s and there was extreme pride... in what we had accomplished as a Country... in the 200 years since the original 13 colonies, signed their Declaration of Independence, proclaiming that there comes a time in Human history, when you must break the bonds of tyranny....... Establishing the underpinnings...of their own United States of America.... a land of immigrant souls, slaves and Native Americans.
The basic tenets of our newly formed society were to create a place on earth to live a decent life...but with intention of laying foundations for a government... committed... to the common welfare and well being of every American.
Over the course of time however, the common welfare, has become so diluted. The word has been thinned out by judgment...that people in need... have been de-valued, are blamed for their circumstance and labeled as worthless leeches.
Evidence of this... resides in the word we now commonly recognize as “welfare” in our American vocabulary. We have flipped flopped its true meaning to become indicative... of people who are poverty stricken and on the “dole” (an old British word), and dependent on a government handout.
What once was a noble ideal, that there is a greater good... and to have compassion for our brethren...is now the folly of Senators, whose only commitment is to their own greater good...achieve their own political ambitions and feast on their own fortune, while they idly watch their brethren fry.....
I’m sure that over this weekend National holiday... there will be a host of Congressional bbq’s in and around Washington DC... where they will be sipping mint juleps and eating fancy food....
I hope that they can take a moment... as the pass by the BBQ pit.... pause and realize that there are fellow Americans who are hungry and frying out there, just like the wiener they are about to consume....rayray
Friday, July 2, 2010
Sunday, June 27, 2010
"When the cupboard is bare...morality won't matter"
Desperate people... with no resources... will take desperate actions...and... as humans, there are some basics... which we all need...in order to survive....Food, water, shelter and money.But when money runs out.... and when people can’t afford those essentials...there won’t be many choices left.
When the cupboard is bare, you might as well toss morality out the window. It won’t matter one iota. Law... as we know it... will be suspended.
This is the environment we have created in our country and we are getting dangerously close to a brink of some very serious situations.
You can look at the Great depression and more recently, at the city of New Orleans... just after Hurricane Katrina.... to see that it doesn’t take long for any human being to do what is necessary to survive...including resorting to theft and violence.
When people are left on rooftops, hungry, thirsty, sick, cold and broke...What would you expect?
Here’s a look from Americas rooftop as a much fiercer, mega tsunami approaches....
20-30 Million unemployed Americans... many millions of them will be running out of unemployment benefits shortly.
Cities and States will be cutting back on government funded “Medicaid” type benefits for its beneficiaries.
Cities and States will be doing massive layoffs as they cut back on non-essential and some essential services, including fire and police and teachers.
Our esteemed 100 person Senate, the hallmark of our American Democracy... is divided along political platforms and filibustering all attempts to help continue these crucial flows of funds, while they politically position themselves for re-elections...
Their intent is clear. That is.. to solidify the positions of the rich and powerful in our country...and let everyone else wither and die...
However....What they are underestimating is that they are playing with fire...and they just don’t see it...They are ignoring the potential consequence of these decisions.
I am afraid to even utter it, but I see theft, violence and urban warfare becoming commonplace...with our country becoming its own battleground. Humans will do whatever it takes to survive; morality will be disregarded in short shrift.
Not surprisingly... I predict... that much of this violent reaction will be directed at the wealthier Americans. The gap has gotten so wide between the haves and have not’s. It is estimated that less that 1% of People have more than 90% of the rest combined!
In the depression, bank robbery was commonplace...and many Bonnie and Clyde’s... popped up all over the country.
Don’t be surprised now...we may see some new folk hero’s emerge...Robinhood’s in every town.
If things continue as they are.... people with money will not be safe...no matter who they are or where they live.
Personal, armed security guards and attack dogs will become the new house guests...Don’t carry cash.
Electronic hacking into bank accounts will continue to rise as technological theft becomes commonplace as well.
Kidnapping of children and the elderly may become targets.
Gated communities will not offer protection.
When you combine all of this with diminishing police protection from municipalities strapped for cash...this is not a pretty picture.
While the rich and powerful can manipulate the military and the government...there is power in numbers that even the powerful can’t withstand....
I wish that all of this was just the fodder for a Stephen King novel, but it’s not ...it’s what happens when you put a human being under this type of stress ...when the cupboard is bare and morality doesn’t matter anymore....rayray
When the cupboard is bare, you might as well toss morality out the window. It won’t matter one iota. Law... as we know it... will be suspended.
This is the environment we have created in our country and we are getting dangerously close to a brink of some very serious situations.
You can look at the Great depression and more recently, at the city of New Orleans... just after Hurricane Katrina.... to see that it doesn’t take long for any human being to do what is necessary to survive...including resorting to theft and violence.
When people are left on rooftops, hungry, thirsty, sick, cold and broke...What would you expect?
Here’s a look from Americas rooftop as a much fiercer, mega tsunami approaches....
20-30 Million unemployed Americans... many millions of them will be running out of unemployment benefits shortly.
Cities and States will be cutting back on government funded “Medicaid” type benefits for its beneficiaries.
Cities and States will be doing massive layoffs as they cut back on non-essential and some essential services, including fire and police and teachers.
Our esteemed 100 person Senate, the hallmark of our American Democracy... is divided along political platforms and filibustering all attempts to help continue these crucial flows of funds, while they politically position themselves for re-elections...
Their intent is clear. That is.. to solidify the positions of the rich and powerful in our country...and let everyone else wither and die...
However....What they are underestimating is that they are playing with fire...and they just don’t see it...They are ignoring the potential consequence of these decisions.
I am afraid to even utter it, but I see theft, violence and urban warfare becoming commonplace...with our country becoming its own battleground. Humans will do whatever it takes to survive; morality will be disregarded in short shrift.
Not surprisingly... I predict... that much of this violent reaction will be directed at the wealthier Americans. The gap has gotten so wide between the haves and have not’s. It is estimated that less that 1% of People have more than 90% of the rest combined!
In the depression, bank robbery was commonplace...and many Bonnie and Clyde’s... popped up all over the country.
Don’t be surprised now...we may see some new folk hero’s emerge...Robinhood’s in every town.
If things continue as they are.... people with money will not be safe...no matter who they are or where they live.
Personal, armed security guards and attack dogs will become the new house guests...Don’t carry cash.
Electronic hacking into bank accounts will continue to rise as technological theft becomes commonplace as well.
Kidnapping of children and the elderly may become targets.
Gated communities will not offer protection.
When you combine all of this with diminishing police protection from municipalities strapped for cash...this is not a pretty picture.
While the rich and powerful can manipulate the military and the government...there is power in numbers that even the powerful can’t withstand....
I wish that all of this was just the fodder for a Stephen King novel, but it’s not ...it’s what happens when you put a human being under this type of stress ...when the cupboard is bare and morality doesn’t matter anymore....rayray
Friday, June 25, 2010
For the love of Country and the "Beautiful game"
For those of you... who happened to be watching the miraculous “extra time” victory this past Wednesday... by Our United States Men’s National Soccer team, which kept them alive in the World cup...and if.. you had tears in your eyes for the first time ever watching a Soccer game, then guess what...... you felt that same vibration that’s runs so deep in other countries around the world...who love the “beautiful game” as it is called.. You were infected...
This wasn’t The Lakers, or The Saints, or The RedSox....that represent a particular city or state, this was OUR Team representing OUR country.
That overwhelming feeling of joy that welled up in your throat and came to your eyes...... and may have overcome you... probably came from a place deep inside of you that had been lost or buried for so long, as we have gotten so entrenched in our personal lives, that we forgot how to feel that joy and release of pure emotion that comes from a Healthy spirit of nationalism ... which has been lost over the years because of economic, political and environmental strife or from a loss of faith in the direction you may feel our country has taken..
This was a moment to forget all the trash and enjoy the gift our Team gave us.....It was one of those cleansing moments....when we were at peace...and Soccer was the vessel to get us there.
President Clinton, who has become an ambassador for bringing the World Cup back to The US, in either 2018 or 2022, was so overwhelmed with joy that he couldn’t leave the Team locker room for 45 minutes after the game.... and had to drink hot lemon tea, just to recapture his voice.
I couldn’t return a text message nor answer a phone for an hour..
It was a special moment for me, and rivaled the feeling that many of us had... 30 years ago...when OUR USA hockey team, performed the Miracle on ice, against the Russians... at the Lake Placid Olympics, in 1980.
Saturday’s game against Ghana, promises to be more of the same...
How fitting... that this African nation, which has had so many deep roots to our National history, should be our opponent... and stand in our way.....rayray
This wasn’t The Lakers, or The Saints, or The RedSox....that represent a particular city or state, this was OUR Team representing OUR country.
That overwhelming feeling of joy that welled up in your throat and came to your eyes...... and may have overcome you... probably came from a place deep inside of you that had been lost or buried for so long, as we have gotten so entrenched in our personal lives, that we forgot how to feel that joy and release of pure emotion that comes from a Healthy spirit of nationalism ... which has been lost over the years because of economic, political and environmental strife or from a loss of faith in the direction you may feel our country has taken..
This was a moment to forget all the trash and enjoy the gift our Team gave us.....It was one of those cleansing moments....when we were at peace...and Soccer was the vessel to get us there.
President Clinton, who has become an ambassador for bringing the World Cup back to The US, in either 2018 or 2022, was so overwhelmed with joy that he couldn’t leave the Team locker room for 45 minutes after the game.... and had to drink hot lemon tea, just to recapture his voice.
I couldn’t return a text message nor answer a phone for an hour..
It was a special moment for me, and rivaled the feeling that many of us had... 30 years ago...when OUR USA hockey team, performed the Miracle on ice, against the Russians... at the Lake Placid Olympics, in 1980.
Saturday’s game against Ghana, promises to be more of the same...
How fitting... that this African nation, which has had so many deep roots to our National history, should be our opponent... and stand in our way.....rayray
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Ego-senatorism..
Good morning....I’m taking a breather from my excitement of the World Cup, as the United States Team prepares to play a crucial match later this morning against Algeria, in their quest to advance into the next stage of the tournament, so I could continue to comment, on the issue of our United States Senate and their doggedness, to put obstacles in the way of temporarily resolving the unemployment extensions. I just can’t let this issue go.....because I believe it’s more important than oil spills, drilling and even World Cups......and I hope the issue at hand will attach to each dissenting Senator.... like a pit bull around their ankles. Did I read right?..that now they are considering Drug Testing as part of the bill? Wow...how egotistical....now that they also believe that these 20-30 million unemployed lazy fucks are drug addicts to?
Gee..... I wonder what we would find if we drug tested the Senate and the House of Representatives? These underlying beliefs... that they are better and smarter than the rest is becoming more obvious everyday....I wrote a piece a couple of months ago...and it seems more relevant today.... than it did when I wrote it....rayray
Ego and the Solar System
Some 2,300 years ago.... a Greek philosopher/ Scholar, named Aristarchus... theorized that... the Sun was actually at the center of the Solar system.... His theory was called Heliocentrism...from the Greek... Helios... or Sun and.... kentros...center....
While this seems so obvious to us now... and is what we and our children have learned in school, as a proven fact of nature.... this truth now, was only a theory then... and it took nearly 2000 years for it to be proven mathematically and to be accepted... Copernicus, Keppler and Galileo helped provide this proof....
But...During those 2000 years...in between... it was believed and widely accepted as truth..... That the Earth was the center of the Solar system... this was known as Geocentrism... again...from the Greek..Geo...for...Earth
So.... for 2,000 years...we firmly believed that the Solar System revolved around us... on Earth. We built personal belief and religions structures which supported this... and we built systems to explain how things worked. But in my view, the largest consequence of all of this... was to foster a belief.. just how special we must be, as earthlings... to be at the center of it all.
As I look at the word, Geocentric, the GEO...pops out at me as EGO....This is very interesting to me.. I see this word... as Egocentric... ego...for self... or self center.
So... just as societies took a geocentric view....that the earth was at the center of the Solar System... by extension on a personal level.. I believe we developed an egocentric view... where we also believe that we are at the center of our own universe...
The egocentric view...sees the self as... so self important.... that the world revolves around them...that their life is somehow so much more special than anyone else’s...that others just don’t know better...and....that they are smarter than the rest... and that the world is there to serve them..
This is a serious flaw in the human character and is built on the same misinformed theory that persisted for 2,000 years that the earth was at the center of the Solar system.
Just as we adopted a world view... which was later proven to be erroneous...self-centeredness is equally erroneous...
Will it take us another 2000 years to realize that egocentrism is equally flawed?Sadly....one can dissect this same philosophy and apply it at any level you wish.....Ego-racism, Ego-statehood, Ego-country, ego-religion, ego-political party. It’s all the same......
Whenever we have a belief that places ourselves at the center of any universe....you choose.... and on any level, we are fighting nature and missing the essence of life....that we are all equal....and represent only a small piece of a very large puzzle...
I don’t say this.... to demean or minimize the awesomeness of the individual, because I do believe that we as individuals are immeasurably important...and it is our life to live... and it’s all we have...
However, when we are able to look ourselves in the mirror and see ourselves in the proper perspective within our own solar system.... we should tip our hat to Aristarchus, letting him know...that the 2000 year wait... for enlightenment was not in vain
Gee..... I wonder what we would find if we drug tested the Senate and the House of Representatives? These underlying beliefs... that they are better and smarter than the rest is becoming more obvious everyday....I wrote a piece a couple of months ago...and it seems more relevant today.... than it did when I wrote it....rayray
Ego and the Solar System
Some 2,300 years ago.... a Greek philosopher/ Scholar, named Aristarchus... theorized that... the Sun was actually at the center of the Solar system.... His theory was called Heliocentrism...from the Greek... Helios... or Sun and.... kentros...center....
While this seems so obvious to us now... and is what we and our children have learned in school, as a proven fact of nature.... this truth now, was only a theory then... and it took nearly 2000 years for it to be proven mathematically and to be accepted... Copernicus, Keppler and Galileo helped provide this proof....
But...During those 2000 years...in between... it was believed and widely accepted as truth..... That the Earth was the center of the Solar system... this was known as Geocentrism... again...from the Greek..Geo...for...Earth
So.... for 2,000 years...we firmly believed that the Solar System revolved around us... on Earth. We built personal belief and religions structures which supported this... and we built systems to explain how things worked. But in my view, the largest consequence of all of this... was to foster a belief.. just how special we must be, as earthlings... to be at the center of it all.
As I look at the word, Geocentric, the GEO...pops out at me as EGO....This is very interesting to me.. I see this word... as Egocentric... ego...for self... or self center.
So... just as societies took a geocentric view....that the earth was at the center of the Solar System... by extension on a personal level.. I believe we developed an egocentric view... where we also believe that we are at the center of our own universe...
The egocentric view...sees the self as... so self important.... that the world revolves around them...that their life is somehow so much more special than anyone else’s...that others just don’t know better...and....that they are smarter than the rest... and that the world is there to serve them..
This is a serious flaw in the human character and is built on the same misinformed theory that persisted for 2,000 years that the earth was at the center of the Solar system.
Just as we adopted a world view... which was later proven to be erroneous...self-centeredness is equally erroneous...
Will it take us another 2000 years to realize that egocentrism is equally flawed?Sadly....one can dissect this same philosophy and apply it at any level you wish.....Ego-racism, Ego-statehood, Ego-country, ego-religion, ego-political party. It’s all the same......
Whenever we have a belief that places ourselves at the center of any universe....you choose.... and on any level, we are fighting nature and missing the essence of life....that we are all equal....and represent only a small piece of a very large puzzle...
I don’t say this.... to demean or minimize the awesomeness of the individual, because I do believe that we as individuals are immeasurably important...and it is our life to live... and it’s all we have...
However, when we are able to look ourselves in the mirror and see ourselves in the proper perspective within our own solar system.... we should tip our hat to Aristarchus, letting him know...that the 2000 year wait... for enlightenment was not in vain
Thursday, June 17, 2010
"Let them eat cake"
It appears... that the latest June 2010 unemployment statistics indicate... that new unemployment claims, across the country, have continued to rise....obviously.... more individuals and families will be rapidly feeling the affects of losing an income....This unemployment trend is not going away... and stemming it’s tide....has to become as much of a National priority, as dealing with the affects of the Gulf Oil Spill.
While this spill is quite serious...and...unfortunately... will probably add more unemployment claims in the near future ....right now....... Someone who could lose their home, car, or have enough food on the table to feed their family... won’t give a rat’s ass about BP or the Gulf of Mexico.
Meanwhile... yesterday, our Senate continued to take aim at those currently affected, by rejecting legislation, geared to extending those unemployment benefits...while we deal with our country’s “over spending”...
So...I don’t see much change in attitude in our United States Senate. We continue to bean count... But, I believe that, underneath it all, lies an attitude which seeks to lay blame on “those lazy fucks” who are scamming the system and gives them a disincentive...to work.....so I thought I would repost my piece. “Let them eat cake”...rayray
Arrogance...and unemployment... “let them eat cake”
Lately, I have been troubled by recent events taking place in the United States Senate, by senators, who are purposefully delaying the passage of, much needed, continuation of unemployment benefits...While they haggle over where it fits on the balance sheet of this nation... Have we become bean counters? Is that what this is all about; having a perfect United States balance sheet? Our country’s balance sheet is not one to write home about..
If Senator Bunning’s house was ablaze, would he want a debate down at the fire house, that we haven’t accounted for the water, needed to put out the flames ?...
Or, what about if Senator Alexander needed an emergency appendectomy, would he want the hospital to consult the accounting department while he lay dying on the table?
While these Senators may not think the loss of unemployment benefits, constitutes an emergency, because their life is secure financially, for many Americans this week has been an absolute emergency week from hell... with significant stress and uncertainty...and fear for their family’s livelihood...or their own.
Are they so completely out of touch with the principles that make our country great?....It is a democracy for the people...
And.. while accounting is vital to a fiscally sound America...it isn’t the bottom line.... that counts right now....we have to extend ourselves further..., to our citizens who need it most...not corporations nor countries..We should be supporting the unemployed while we reconcile the balance sheet, instead of withholding the funds until we reconcile...
That is simply as arrogant.... as the Old expression from the pre-revolutionary French...and associated ...with Marie Antoinette....“Let them eat cake....or in French.. “qu’ils sont mangent le brioche”
The French people were poverty stricken and hungry for their staple food...... bread ...so how could they possibly afford cake? ..or... brioche.. The aristocracy was callous and completely out of touch with the people...and it ultimately became there undoing...through revolution, shortly after our own......American revolution.....
This is not an accounting issue at all; it smells of the same arrogance....
Arrogance comes from Latin ...by definition:
An attitude of superiority manifested in an overbearing manner or in presumptuous claims or assumptions....
It’s also very Arrogant..
Exaggerating or disposed to exaggerate one's own worth or importance often by an overbearing manner
Both of these Senators have become intoxicated with their own self importance...Imagine that...one man can hold up an entire process in our Country....look at me... Atlas holding up the world.....Their arrogance will not be forgotten at the polls either...We will remember you, Senators’....you are the ones who chose arrogance over decency...
If they were really in the trenches with the average American they would easily see that not only is it morally, proper to release these emergency funds, but to take stock and completely re-focus our entire efforts to support job creation and put our own people back to work. And get on with rebuilding our own country...and restore our own confidence in our own elected leadership..
Leadership should have nothing to do with arrogance, or power... but everything to do with greater understanding and being able to effectively get results....
Leaders are in touch with issues; regarding people...leaders can see the bigger picture...
Leaders don’t allow power to influence decisions, but duty...
Leaders don’t consider themselves superior to others; they believe that they are equals, who embody the greater good for all, not just for their own glory...
Our leadership bailed out major institutions, banks and financial companies, while we fight wars in far away places..One day AIG is closing its doors, the next year they are realizing billion dollar profits from sales of its entities....
It's time to put our money where are people are..
And if they insist of placing these funds... on the balance sheet...then put it in... Amongst one of.... the thousand other footnotes..... on our United States balance sheet...
*** label it...... for us.....
While this spill is quite serious...and...unfortunately... will probably add more unemployment claims in the near future ....right now....... Someone who could lose their home, car, or have enough food on the table to feed their family... won’t give a rat’s ass about BP or the Gulf of Mexico.
Meanwhile... yesterday, our Senate continued to take aim at those currently affected, by rejecting legislation, geared to extending those unemployment benefits...while we deal with our country’s “over spending”...
So...I don’t see much change in attitude in our United States Senate. We continue to bean count... But, I believe that, underneath it all, lies an attitude which seeks to lay blame on “those lazy fucks” who are scamming the system and gives them a disincentive...to work.....so I thought I would repost my piece. “Let them eat cake”...rayray
Arrogance...and unemployment... “let them eat cake”
Lately, I have been troubled by recent events taking place in the United States Senate, by senators, who are purposefully delaying the passage of, much needed, continuation of unemployment benefits...While they haggle over where it fits on the balance sheet of this nation... Have we become bean counters? Is that what this is all about; having a perfect United States balance sheet? Our country’s balance sheet is not one to write home about..
If Senator Bunning’s house was ablaze, would he want a debate down at the fire house, that we haven’t accounted for the water, needed to put out the flames ?...
Or, what about if Senator Alexander needed an emergency appendectomy, would he want the hospital to consult the accounting department while he lay dying on the table?
While these Senators may not think the loss of unemployment benefits, constitutes an emergency, because their life is secure financially, for many Americans this week has been an absolute emergency week from hell... with significant stress and uncertainty...and fear for their family’s livelihood...or their own.
Are they so completely out of touch with the principles that make our country great?....It is a democracy for the people...
And.. while accounting is vital to a fiscally sound America...it isn’t the bottom line.... that counts right now....we have to extend ourselves further..., to our citizens who need it most...not corporations nor countries..We should be supporting the unemployed while we reconcile the balance sheet, instead of withholding the funds until we reconcile...
That is simply as arrogant.... as the Old expression from the pre-revolutionary French...and associated ...with Marie Antoinette....“Let them eat cake....or in French.. “qu’ils sont mangent le brioche”
The French people were poverty stricken and hungry for their staple food...... bread ...so how could they possibly afford cake? ..or... brioche.. The aristocracy was callous and completely out of touch with the people...and it ultimately became there undoing...through revolution, shortly after our own......American revolution.....
This is not an accounting issue at all; it smells of the same arrogance....
Arrogance comes from Latin ...by definition:
An attitude of superiority manifested in an overbearing manner or in presumptuous claims or assumptions....
It’s also very Arrogant..
Exaggerating or disposed to exaggerate one's own worth or importance often by an overbearing manner
Both of these Senators have become intoxicated with their own self importance...Imagine that...one man can hold up an entire process in our Country....look at me... Atlas holding up the world.....Their arrogance will not be forgotten at the polls either...We will remember you, Senators’....you are the ones who chose arrogance over decency...
If they were really in the trenches with the average American they would easily see that not only is it morally, proper to release these emergency funds, but to take stock and completely re-focus our entire efforts to support job creation and put our own people back to work. And get on with rebuilding our own country...and restore our own confidence in our own elected leadership..
Leadership should have nothing to do with arrogance, or power... but everything to do with greater understanding and being able to effectively get results....
Leaders are in touch with issues; regarding people...leaders can see the bigger picture...
Leaders don’t allow power to influence decisions, but duty...
Leaders don’t consider themselves superior to others; they believe that they are equals, who embody the greater good for all, not just for their own glory...
Our leadership bailed out major institutions, banks and financial companies, while we fight wars in far away places..One day AIG is closing its doors, the next year they are realizing billion dollar profits from sales of its entities....
It's time to put our money where are people are..
And if they insist of placing these funds... on the balance sheet...then put it in... Amongst one of.... the thousand other footnotes..... on our United States balance sheet...
*** label it...... for us.....
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
“You want the Man in charge.... or the Women who knows what’s going on?”
It appears that the Women did very well in yesterday’s primary elections around the country. Take note of this shift in the wind....
Since my Internet signal was so weak this morning... I couldn’t get much deeper into it....in order to get into any names or specifics from the news reports. However, instead, I went offline to write some initial impressions, which came to me in the shower.....Somehow...when warm water hits me in the head... it tends to clarify things for me.
Perhaps the time has come to seriously listen to the Female perspective on the issues that affect our country, at this most crucial time in our history...the female voice has, for the most part been played down, while most decisions continue to be made in our society by men in charge.
In my opinion, the timing couldn’t be better......we are drowning in debt as a nation, confidence in our incumbents are strained, at best.....our teachers will be losing jobs all over the country... our children are at risk professionally.. as many have acquired college degrees... with no place to go...Unemployment is on the rise and could go off the scale.... oil is spilling into our oceans...regional military conflicts are sucking capital out of our country with no end in sight.. We have very little hard industry left within our shores. This status quo is dangerously unacceptable...and most of the decisions in our recent history as a nation...have been made by men in charge.
I have a feeling that, as a society, we have grossly devalued the balancing affect that females have on situations. Where male instincts appear to want to fight and dominate, the female instinct is to nurture, and provide more equilibrium in families, schools, communities...so why not at the highest levels of civil service and Government?
In the limited reading I have done about Matriarchal societies in history...it became clear to me, that community decisions were driven by equality...and balance... and not based on female domination.
Yesterday’s showing in these primaries by Women... bodes well for us all, even though we may not see it just yet....give it some time...we have waited this long....to start to see the shift.... Change is what we need at this juncture...and it’s high time we took our medicine...like mom always told us...
Since my Internet signal was so weak this morning... I couldn’t get much deeper into it....in order to get into any names or specifics from the news reports. However, instead, I went offline to write some initial impressions, which came to me in the shower.....Somehow...when warm water hits me in the head... it tends to clarify things for me.
Perhaps the time has come to seriously listen to the Female perspective on the issues that affect our country, at this most crucial time in our history...the female voice has, for the most part been played down, while most decisions continue to be made in our society by men in charge.
In my opinion, the timing couldn’t be better......we are drowning in debt as a nation, confidence in our incumbents are strained, at best.....our teachers will be losing jobs all over the country... our children are at risk professionally.. as many have acquired college degrees... with no place to go...Unemployment is on the rise and could go off the scale.... oil is spilling into our oceans...regional military conflicts are sucking capital out of our country with no end in sight.. We have very little hard industry left within our shores. This status quo is dangerously unacceptable...and most of the decisions in our recent history as a nation...have been made by men in charge.
I have a feeling that, as a society, we have grossly devalued the balancing affect that females have on situations. Where male instincts appear to want to fight and dominate, the female instinct is to nurture, and provide more equilibrium in families, schools, communities...so why not at the highest levels of civil service and Government?
In the limited reading I have done about Matriarchal societies in history...it became clear to me, that community decisions were driven by equality...and balance... and not based on female domination.
Yesterday’s showing in these primaries by Women... bodes well for us all, even though we may not see it just yet....give it some time...we have waited this long....to start to see the shift.... Change is what we need at this juncture...and it’s high time we took our medicine...like mom always told us...
Monday, June 7, 2010
"Ah Ha" moments
During these past few days on "Facebook"..I've noticed many of my rediscovered friends have become grandparents..or will shortly... so a month ago or so ago I wrote a piece which may ring true ....enjoy the ride...
One of the more gratifying moments I think we all have in life... are... what I refer to ...as .. “Ah ha!!” moments....
So... I started to wonder.... first about ...what it is...and then ...what is it about an... “ah ha” moment..... that separates it from other moments which...while inspiring to us in other ways.... don’t seem to rise up to that level..... one which resonates so deeply within us.... that it can literally stop us in our tracks...and give us such clarity ... that it’s indescribable.....
They seem to come to us at different points in our life... and... when they do become apparent, it always takes us by surprise, since it was never planned....a rare moment...where.... all of a sudden something makes sense, it seems to make things fit together....and while we look at it...and think we knew it all along...its just never really fit the same....some describe this as an epiphany or a revelation..
“epiphany”..... From... Greek/Latin/Anglo Saxon... “To show itself”... and... revelation.... from Anglo/English/ French... “To reveal”....
While the definitions are varied...they all point to a... sudden realization of a larger meaning of something.... that a greater reality has been revealed to us ...some describe this as a... magical moment.
They are unpredictable...and the spacing of these moments, somehow, are mysteriously built in to the fabric of what we are as humans... We can’t anticipate when they will occur nor can we think our way into having them happen...it can not be forced nor made to happen because you believe it will...
But I have noticed that... as we grow.... they generally come to us in moments when we are wide open and are able to let go of beliefs we once may have thought....
“Ah-ha!” moments are meant to free us from ourselves... free us from the beliefs we have held and embraced for a long time...which have helped us cope with life.
The exhilaration/shock we feel when this happens... in that momentary extraordinary discovery we experience....are evidence that we have freed ourselves from the bondage of the beliefs we once held ...that we are no longer captors and a new, forever changed, self has emerged... with a much higher level of understanding.
Normally... “Ah- ha” moments.... have little to do...with neither... material things we acquire nor the success we achieve...but point us in a direction of understanding our true purpose and where we fit in a larger scheme of things. They are life connectors....connecting the dots.
I had such a moment, yesterday, when my family.... or a good part of it met for a dinner... at my mother’s home....to celebrate my brother and my nieces visiting from out of town..... all of us being together...and my son’s imminent move in April... to Colorado...
My mother... had prepared for my son, an incredible family photo album to take with him on his journey.
as we... the three of us.... me, my son, and my mother ....3 generations... ages 27, 57, 87 ... thumbed through the pages...My son turned to me and said... “Look at you...dad...you were so young”... at that very moment I was viewing a picture of my mother...and thinking silently.... “Look a you mom...you were so young”... perhaps she was looking at her own mother too...and thinking the same?
It was a sudden overwhelming magical moment... when the child sees the parent as a child and in that instant... all the pain, and sorrow and joy that happened in our family.... just melted away into forgiveness and a realization that life is a connected circle.... and that we have an indelible purpose for each other...
To be open wide, love that we just are, and not be a slave to our harmful selfish thoughts that divide us, but to recognize and find ways that will bind us...with glue so strong that nothing can possibly break that bond...
One of the more gratifying moments I think we all have in life... are... what I refer to ...as .. “Ah ha!!” moments....
So... I started to wonder.... first about ...what it is...and then ...what is it about an... “ah ha” moment..... that separates it from other moments which...while inspiring to us in other ways.... don’t seem to rise up to that level..... one which resonates so deeply within us.... that it can literally stop us in our tracks...and give us such clarity ... that it’s indescribable.....
They seem to come to us at different points in our life... and... when they do become apparent, it always takes us by surprise, since it was never planned....a rare moment...where.... all of a sudden something makes sense, it seems to make things fit together....and while we look at it...and think we knew it all along...its just never really fit the same....some describe this as an epiphany or a revelation..
“epiphany”..... From... Greek/Latin/Anglo Saxon... “To show itself”... and... revelation.... from Anglo/English/ French... “To reveal”....
While the definitions are varied...they all point to a... sudden realization of a larger meaning of something.... that a greater reality has been revealed to us ...some describe this as a... magical moment.
They are unpredictable...and the spacing of these moments, somehow, are mysteriously built in to the fabric of what we are as humans... We can’t anticipate when they will occur nor can we think our way into having them happen...it can not be forced nor made to happen because you believe it will...
But I have noticed that... as we grow.... they generally come to us in moments when we are wide open and are able to let go of beliefs we once may have thought....
“Ah-ha!” moments are meant to free us from ourselves... free us from the beliefs we have held and embraced for a long time...which have helped us cope with life.
The exhilaration/shock we feel when this happens... in that momentary extraordinary discovery we experience....are evidence that we have freed ourselves from the bondage of the beliefs we once held ...that we are no longer captors and a new, forever changed, self has emerged... with a much higher level of understanding.
Normally... “Ah- ha” moments.... have little to do...with neither... material things we acquire nor the success we achieve...but point us in a direction of understanding our true purpose and where we fit in a larger scheme of things. They are life connectors....connecting the dots.
I had such a moment, yesterday, when my family.... or a good part of it met for a dinner... at my mother’s home....to celebrate my brother and my nieces visiting from out of town..... all of us being together...and my son’s imminent move in April... to Colorado...
My mother... had prepared for my son, an incredible family photo album to take with him on his journey.
as we... the three of us.... me, my son, and my mother ....3 generations... ages 27, 57, 87 ... thumbed through the pages...My son turned to me and said... “Look at you...dad...you were so young”... at that very moment I was viewing a picture of my mother...and thinking silently.... “Look a you mom...you were so young”... perhaps she was looking at her own mother too...and thinking the same?
It was a sudden overwhelming magical moment... when the child sees the parent as a child and in that instant... all the pain, and sorrow and joy that happened in our family.... just melted away into forgiveness and a realization that life is a connected circle.... and that we have an indelible purpose for each other...
To be open wide, love that we just are, and not be a slave to our harmful selfish thoughts that divide us, but to recognize and find ways that will bind us...with glue so strong that nothing can possibly break that bond...
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