Speaking to a fellow Cuban Democrat today he stopped and
said I can’t talk about politics, my family is Republican and its useless and
they get very angry. I wondered to myself since when do Democrats have a
gag-order placed upon their mouths? Since when did intelligent debate become a bad thing?
Our country was founded upon democratic principles from
ancient Greece where the beauty of debate at the Agora was a revered expression of
intelligence and catalyst for progress. To debate calmly and intelligently
using facts, only served to progress a society. False assumptions can be
dispelled, incorrect facts can be clarified as lies. When we stop debating we
cage our ideas however right or wrong, inside our minds and Democracy is as a
result, degraded. When we don’t speak up they win, when we don’t call them out
on their lies they win in rewriting reality to fit their version of it. So the
next time a Republican starts to huff and puff and spew their lies forcing you
to roll your eyes into acquiescence, stand up to their rants, debate
intelligently (www.factcheck.org is a good place to start) and calmly no matter how
loud they scream out their fabrications. The fact of the matter is, they and
their policies have never been so wrong in our country’s history. Their party
irresponsibly dug us into this huge deficit, trickle-down economics don’t work
and never have, deregulation of Wall Street and getting us into two expensive
wars we should’ve never gotten into caused this great recession, they are NOT
fiscally conservative especially when it comes to military spending, our
country was founded by separation of Church and State, gay rights are human
rights, banning abortion doesn’t stop abortions any more than prohibition
stopped alcohol use, ignoring the need for universal health care only adds to
our deficit by requiring coverage of uninsured through Medicare and bankrupts
our citizens, we cannot continue to ignore the 12 million undocumented workers
living in this country, nor can we deport them all.
Our president elect has been incredibly effective, more
effective than any other president in my adult life. He stopped us from falling
into a “depression” that by all accounts we were inevitably crashing into. Our
recovery is happening and however shaky, things are better, even though the
obstructionists have tried their hardest for him to fail. If you don’t believe
it, look at Europe which is still reeling from and falling back into a
recession.
It should never be just about Democrat or Republican, it
should be about who has the best ideas and most intelligent vision of moving
our country forward and right now, it happens to be a Democrat. When our
country wins, we all win. If we are not united in that goal we all fail. So the
next time a Republican tries to bully you into silence, stand up and say
"You really don't have a leg to stand on, you voted for George Bush
twice!"
It’s no longer about two different ways of dealing with our
country’s issues, it’s about whether or not we move forward or go back to the
same old ways that weren’t working and were definitely unsustainable.
And for the Cubans in Miami still loyal to the Republican
party because of the Bay Of Pigs fracas, please move on..it was a long time ago
and it was never America’s responsibility to free Cuba! The Republican led
embargo has done absolutely nothing to foment change for over 50 years and it’s
high time for a “change” on how we look at Cuba. The “change” we need in this
country is not going to come from any one leader as much as the “change” in how
active we are with the state of our affairs.
In the words of President Obama- "Change will not come
if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we've been
waiting for. We are the change that we seek."
I
am shattered...These last several years of a recession have stripped me of all
the things I thought I needed to be safe. A secure job, health insurance,
income properties, 401K retirement fund, a loving partner- all gone in an instant. The dust has
settled and I'm bare as the day I was born. I say goodbye to the world I thought I lived in, finally ready to shapeshift into a
better, newer version of me. The next battle will be fought with my wits about
me and in a battleground of my choice...no longer a banal corporate drone, I
will pick a career not for a big paycheck or benefits but for a cause
-something, anything that means more than just pushing-papers. My credit may be
destroyed but like the honey badger I don't give a shit. The Credit Rating
system is just another mechanism to control the masses and maintain debt slavery.
I will do like the Germans and save and buy when I have the money on hand, if I don't have it, I won't. I'm at a crossroads but don't know which road to take to begin my
"second act". I chose a secure job for the good salary and to feel secure,
never able to be daring enough to be a starving artist, giving up all
materialistic comforts to reach my true dream. I'm now ready to deal with that
fear of not knowing where my next paycheck will come from and replacing it with
knowing that I will create my own sense of security and "inner
wealth". On this Doomsday year, I stand ready and waiting to
welcome the new world -for whatever it will be will be more true to me than the
last one. A paradigm shift is happening before our eyes. The old ways are
crumbling from the weight of their own unsustainability.
The American Dream has AIDS and
it's in urgent need of a blood transfusion, new ideas to revive its potential again.
Adversity forces analysis of how one conducts their
life and how one can do more with less. Necessity is the mother of invention- I
will learn to do more with less. Living on a salary that is now 1/3 of my
previous one means more eating in. My bicycle, pool and running outdoors = my
new gym. Who needs health insurance when I can manage my own health. Meditation
is free and more of it = no need for antidepressants. My talents brought
to fruit will be my retirement fund. I will harbor no fear of being poor or not
achieving the American Dream, for I already had it and I still wasn't happy. It
was never enough. The new American Dream will be "My American Dream",
custom fit to fill my needs, my definition of success. Who needs the Wizard of
Oz, I will find my own yellow brick road to happiness. I will be own savior, my
own wing-man.
The Hopi indians believed you should not chase
after happiness and success but to have the awareness that you are already happy
and successful. To them it’s a state of mind, not a balance in a checking
account. The Hopi saw the world alive and full of purpose.
Instead of dwelling on my limitations or
imperfections I will focus on the powers at my disposition to make a better
world around me. My success will be measured by the number of smiles I can
bring to others, and the happiness I share with my loved ones. I
will channel my inner Buddha and guide myself on how true I stay to my inner
"right or wrong" while staying true to my mission. I will be my own
best friend first and second to my closest family and friends. My legacy will
be how others remember me. What I will have are the good memories instilled in
others which will live on with their spirit- for eternity.
It's time to start asking ourselves what will our "after-life" be
like? Fuck retirement -I'm planning out which planets and undiscovered
galaxies I will travel to in my afterlife. Like Prince sang, it's time to go a little crazy because "there's something else, the afterworld".
Each one of us can be a
revolution...we can all be revolutionaries to shape our world in a better form.
When we give up, we relinquish that power.
Like the gay men fighting in an American mall earlier this year
after being called faggot, echoing the day the gays at the Stonewall
finally had enough of the police abuse and fought back. The masses
are awake and fighting back...no longer resigned for a savior that never came
and probably never will, the "second coming of Christ" is, I believe
the Christ or God consciousness inside each of us, the awareness that we have
the same power to fix things as a God, demigod or whatever you choose to call
it.
"Come to the edge, He said.
They said, We are afraid. Come to the edge, He said. They came. He pushed
them...and they flew." Apollinaire
We are being pushed to our edges globally in every
nation and we are not going to keep quiet anymore..."the hungry will only
stay hungry for so long". Occupy movement, Anonymous hacktivists, Susan
Komen uproar over cutting Planned Parenthood, self immolations in Tibet, mass
unprecedented protests in Russia, the Arab Spring; the examples are popping up
everywhere like mushrooms after a rainstorm. Activism and communication of
injustice is at an all-time high with many times, quick resolutions as fast as
the internet can carry them- ending the injustice, once revealed.
I choose now to be savior of
myself, to mirror God's potential as much as I can dare to believe. I will be my own personal hero, turning myself whatever I want to be. I am swimming in the infinite ocean of possibility,
lighter now, having shed my tattered carcass of humility. I serve no one by
lowering my head to others. I am proud, I am strong, this is my revelation.
The universe is a democracy a cooperative
commonwealth. What we are now witnessing and living is a
"pornocracy". Our leaders have sold themselves to the highest bidder
to hold on to their warped, greedy version of the American Dream. Greed is no
longer good.
I am one of millions who have finally been freed of
most of the trappings of capitalism that were wearing down our very essence.
Stressing every day to maintain it all was barring the masses from being in the
moment. Sure, we had the best toys and coulf afford vacations with healthy doses
of socializing amongst friends but our minds were always cheating on our true
selves, the secret, closeted heroic version of yourself that you keep in a
vault in your mind. That guy that would one day come out and kick life's ass,
and wear it's balls around his neck as a trophy! For too long, we've been racking our minds, balancing money and bills on a see-saw in our heads, feeding a false sense of getting close to the ever fleeting golden fleece of success. Stripped of all
of these capitalistic accessories, we are now forced to re-evaluate the concept
of "success" and how a person values himself in America of today. I
believe the old American Dream is being incinerated before our eyes. Glowing-red,
wispy embers from a forest fire falling softly to the ground. The embers of
the old America fertilizing a completely new, reconstructed, sustainable
American Dream, where humanity is paramount and finances are not.
Unemployment, not paying your bills, collectors
blowing up your phone, whatever it is your feeling that is keeping you down,
feeling innadequate, unloved, undervalued or underappreciated...just
"shake it out" and believe you are worth more than a paycheck, or
whatever assault to your self esteem from outside forces..shake it out...let it
roll off your shoulder, believe the revelations will come and you WILL find a
new way to live. You will find a new way to get "unstuck"...eventually. Savor the process.
"Break your heart no longer. Each
time you judge yourself, you break your own heart. You stop feeding on the
love, which is the wellspring of your vitality. The time has come. Your time.
To live. To celebrate, and to see the goodness that you are. Do not fight the
dark. Just turn on the light. Let go, and breathe." -Swami Kripalu
IF If you can keep your head when all about you Are losing theirs and blaming it on you; If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you, But make allowance for their doubting too: If you can wait and not be tired by waiting, Or, being lied about, don't deal in lies, Or being hated don't give way to hating, And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise; If you can dream---and not make dreams your master; If you can think---and not make thoughts your aim, If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster And treat those two impostors just the same:. If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools, Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken, And stoop and build'em up with worn-out tools; If you can make one heap of all your winnings And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss, And lose, and start again at your beginnings, And never breathe a word about your loss: If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew To serve your turn long after they are gone, And so hold on when there is nothing in you Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on!" If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue, Or walk with Kings---nor lose the common touch, If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you, If all men count with you, but none too much: If you can fill the unforgiving minute With sixty seconds' worth of distance run, Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it, And---which is more---you'll be a Man, my son! Rudyard Kipling
If you need help walking this new path alone-here's a great post to read.
