I know it’s hard to keep a positive mental outlook with all that is going on around us. The media keeps pounding us with their apocalyptic messages of doom. The Republicans and the Democrats are acting like they’ve fallen down the rabbit hole with Alice. Watching them question the medical elite, financial whiz kids, and corporate big boys is like watching a cross between the Mad Tea Party and the trial to find out who stole the Queen of Heart’s tarts. If it wasn’t so sad, it would be quite funny. The King and Queen of Hearts, the Knave, the White Rabbit, the Mad Hatter, the Cheshire Cat, the Dormouse—they’re all there, on parade for the whole world to see. And as far as nonsensical riddles and stories that make absolutely no sense—yeah, these people have Lewis Carroll beat hands down.
And, the answers to the questions—well, they haven’t changed. No one seems to know who is responsible or what really happened to get us into the mess in which we now find ourselves, and absolutely no one seems to know how to get us out of it. But a mess it is, so someone must pay. Shouts of “off with their heads” now ring through the hallowed halls of Congress. Of course, these empty threats scare no one—well, except maybe you and me. The medical elite, financial whiz kids, and corporate big boys have lined the right pockets and hired the right PACs. They know they’re safe. And, not only are they safe—they’re getting richer at the taxpayers’ expense. As for me, I’m with Alice—this is the stupidest tea party I’ve ever been to.
In my opinion, we need to stop and really think about what is going on around us. Fear is a powerful manipulator. Fear whispered in the ears of brave citizens and convinced them to give up their inalienable rights. It shouted beware and silenced the voices of those who would question its power as it led a nation into a war based on lies and false assumptions. And now fear sings a song of justification—a song a highly moral people must make their own if they are to turn a blind eye to the suffering of the masses—those without healthcare, those without jobs, those without homes.
Fear tells us these problems can never be solved. Fear says the poor and marginalized will be with us always. Fear says it is the way of the world. Fear encourages us to concentrate our efforts on guarding what is ours. Fear says hunker down, maintain. Courage, on the other hand, says it's time to re-examine what we once thought was true. Courage says yes, these are tough issues, and the battles will be hard fought; but your humanity requires that you fight nonetheless. Courage says stand to your feet and fight.
Unfortunately, instead of fighting these battles head on, many of our esteemed representatives have become fear mongers. They tell us, no, we don’t need health care reform—at least not the kind the other side wants. They and their media harpies warn of euthanasia and death camps. They argue over abortion rights and gay rights—any rights really that are not their own. They have even gone so far as to liken our president to Adolph Hitler. Odd since they seem to be utilizing this heinous dictator’s highly honed tools of rhetoric. Sadly, their goal really is no different than Hitler's was. Like him, they want to enslave a people. Like him, they are using fear to accomplish their goal.
They tell us we need a free market if we are to succeed as a nation. I would remind them that freedom demands responsibility—not only of we the people, but also of the corporate big boys, media moguls, medical elite, financial whiz kids, and yes, you too, my esteemed legislators.
We, as a people, have had fear, in one form or another, shoved down our throats for so long that we barely realize that it’s choking us. Isn’t it time we stood to our feet and said enough? Are we going to allow ourselves to be drug down another rabbit hole? We willingly handed over our money to the Kings and Queens of Hearts. Do I really need to remind you that they were the ones who stole the damned tarts in the first place? And I’m not just talking about the corporate big boys. I’m talking about the Federal Reserve and Wall Street. They built the house of cards, and their greed caused it to topple.
And let’s not forget the other players in this duplicitous high stakes game of craps. What about the individual credit card users and homebuyers who took on massive amounts of debt? While it is true that some may have known they could not afford this debt; others did not. Let’s be honest here, the supposed free market and it’s marketing handmaidens did a pretty good job of keeping most of us in the dark about what was really going on. While accountability cannot be one sided; in this case, it does appear to be blind—especially since the Kings and Queens of Hearts have now strapped on massive interest rate hikes to the debt they know these people will never be able to pay off.
Does any of this make sense to you? Seriously, didn’t these already debt-burdened taxpayers bail the Queens and Kings’ royal asses out? And what thanks did these citizens get? What thanks did any of us get? Oh, yeah, that’s right. We didn’t get any thanks. The Queens and Kings made billions in profits—profits they are right now, even as I write this, doling out to their rich friends. Of course, according to the Kings and Queens, most of these individuals worked very hard to get us out of the mess THEY GOT US INTO—the mess WE GAVE THEM THE MONEY to get us out of.
No offense to these great and mighty lords and ladies, but, in my opinion, not one of them is worth the amount of money he/she currently rakes in. Seriously, think about it. Do their jobs have more intrinsic value than say teaching? To be perfectly honest, I think our children’s teachers deserve those hefty bonuses. It really is quite twisted when you think about it. We pay our corporate executives millions while our teachers are barely scraping by. Without our teachers, there would be no corporate executives. Where is our respect? Have we lost our minds or just been duped? Are we just deluded, or are we afraid?
These landed elite, these Queens and Kings, have to keep us frightened if they are to keep us in the state of confusion that is required for them to maintain control. Here’s the down-and-dirty. We lent these people money at an interest rate that was so low that we might as well have just given it to them free and clear. They then turned around and charged us upwards of twenty-five percent on the money that they loaned us in the form of credit cards—which, by the way, they knew we could never pay off. I won’t even go into the immoral mortgage schemes they cooked up to entrap unsuspecting homebuyers.
I am one of the lucky ones. Far more are not. I saw what they were up to years ago and paid off all my credit card debt. It took my husband and me over ten years, but we did it; and may I say that the interest rates we paid on that money bought the noble elite several strikingly beautiful crowns. Lesson learned!
Now, it would be nice if we could just convict the Knave of Hearts and get it over with, but it ain’t gonna happen. Here’s the truth of the matter. We are all one. There is no you and me or us and them. There is only WE—We the People. We have allowed ourselves to be deluded into believing that greed is good; that shopping cures everything, to include attacks on the homeland (GW said it, not me!); that we deserve to have only the best. So what if you’ve got a beer pocket book and champagne appetite. Go for the gold baby. Tomorrow may never come. Well, guess what? It did come. And, we are all going to have to pay the piper—whether we got to dance or not. We were duped pure and simple, and we have no recourse in the matter. And it isn’t right, and isn’t fair.
But this isn’t about fair. It’s about facing the truth and doing what is right not just for us but for our children and our children’s children. It’s time for us to expand our concepts concerning our spheres of influence. We need to carefully consider our decisions and weigh all outcomes based on their impact on the next seven generations. By doing so, we will be able to stay focused on the circle of life and our place in it. Seven generation thinking will help us to remember the far-reaching ramifications of every decision we make. It will keep us from making rash and selfish decisions, and it will empower us to step out of the fear and to do what we know is right.
Fear kills the mind and numbs the spirit. It enslaves its captives and demands total acquiescence—not so courage. Courage emboldens. It expands the mind and enlivens the spirit. Fear tells us it’s us against them; that we’re too stupid and too weak to fix the problem; that we just need to shut up and give up. Courage, on the other hand, tells us that there really is nothing to fear but fear itself. It tells us that if we work together we can fix this; but to do so, we must be willing to be open and honest and accept responsibility for our own actions. Only then can we see the problem for what it truly is.
Like Alice in Lewis Carroll’s novel Alice in Wonderland, we are all growing into our full size. Remember, Alice shrunk down when she went down the rabbit hole. When her journey was complete, she grew back into her full size. Like Alice, we will have our fits and starts. True, she did have shrinking elixir, cake, and shrooms to help her get through, but we don’t need any of that. We are spiritual beings having a human experience. Things might look bad, but, hey, we are the embodiment of the divine. Surely, we can step out of our fear long enough, to come up with a creative solution to this mess. We are bigger than all of our problems. We’ve just allowed the fear of the situation to shrink us down a bit. Isn’t it time that we stopped being afraid and grew up into our full potential? Isn’t it time we remembered where we came from and why we’re here.
Before Words Were Spoken
By Shaykh Fattaah of Debu
Remember before things were broken,
Remember before words were spoken.
Remember when there was One;
Before time itself had begun.
Remember from whence you came,
Remember Truth, it’s never changed,
Remember.
Remember when this voyage began,
Before the moonlight on the desert sands.
Remember before day or night,
Remember before blindness and sight.
Remember before you started to roam,
Before you wandered so far from home,
Remember.
Remember long before you were thought of,
Remember before there was Love,
Remember before there was Light,
Their Source is One and there was no night.
Remember what you have forgotten,
Remember the One never begotten,
Remember.
Remember the stillness and peace,
Before there was any morning breeze.
Remember before the light of sun,
Remember before there was anyone.
Remember from where you started,
Remember the home you departed,
Remember.
Nuff said . . .
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