Peace, brothers & sisters
Planet Earth is Dying
So am I. I only have so many years to go before I join my dad in whatever place it is we go. My dad was diagnosed with cancer, at age 86. By age 87, he would soon be dead.
“I’ve had a good life,” he told me, as an explanation for why he wasn’t going to take any treatments for his cancer. He didn’t even need to explain. He had always been a good man; a decent man; a strong man.
Last photo of me and my dad
“Life is terminal,” he told me, and it’s true. We all die.
Planet Earth is dying, and we’re doing a lot of the killing. Hillary Clinton isn’t going to do enough about it. Neither would Bernie. Nor would Trump. The fact is, the polluters, and wasters are so deeply ingrained into our power structure, and those who would vote to support it, that we are in a whole lot of trouble.
There’s a chance we can save it, but there’s a chance we can’t. We can certainly try. I think I’ll try. I’m not walking around with plastic water bottles.
There’s Too Much Money in Politics
“How do you know ‘e’s a king?”
“’e doesn’t ‘ave shit all over ‘im.”
We all know it’s true. The rich have too much power. Have you ever thought about how much power the rich have had, historically speaking? Times are tough, my friends, but they have been much tougher. In Medieval times, the poor stood around at the bottom of castles, waiting for rotten garbage to come rolling down. Yum Yum!
In third world countries, despots live in luxury, and the poor die in the street. We’re making progress, and we can make more. There’s still more to do, and by God, we had better do it.
There’s Such a Thing as Perspective
We are Democrats. We aren’t perfect. We try to make this a better world, and some of us are selfless, wonderful people. And some of us care a bit too much about ourselves, and greed, and worldly things. I am in no position to judge. I am a mortgage banker. I have been a financial consultant. I have also been a waiter, a taxi driver, a maintenance man, and an unemployed drug addict, who would steal your last nickel to get high. I have my good days, and I have had my bad days. I give a damn about people. There have been times when I probably did not.
“We’ll be seen”
In the film, “Schindler’s List,” there’s a scene that I re-visit often. There’s a Jewish kid who wants to hide from the Nazis. He contemplates jumping into the foul, cold shitwater of the outhouse, and then does. We see his misery. What could be worse than floating in foul, cold shitwater? It boggles the mind. There are other kids hiding in the dark corners of that shitwater, and there is no place for him to hide. He is out in the open, in the light. If he stays there, they will all be discovered, and rounded up by the Nazis. So again, I ask, what could be worse than floating in foul, cold shitwater? Easy. NOT floating in foul cold shitwater. Perspective. Some people have it.
There is Anger in the Land of KOS
I don’t much care. We will get over it. Someone is lying. Someone else is lying. And someone else is telling the absolute God’s honest truth. We have always been like this, and we will always be like this, and it’s because we care. We who are politically minded. We who want a better nation. We who want a better world.
Hello from Washington DC
We will work together, and make this happen. After the arguments die down, maybe even before.
When I left my wife in 2014, one of the first things I did was take my German Shepherd, Santana, to see the White House. I don’t know if it’s the first thing many of you would have done, but I’ll be damned if I know why not. We didn’t get to meet the President. We waved at him, from our spot out front. I worked my ass off to help Barack Obama beat Hillary Clinton in the 2008 primary, in Fort Wayne, Indiana. I walked a lot of miles; dealt with a lot of heat; knocked on a lot of doors, and had working class Black Americans look me right in the eye and say, “ain’t no way a Black Man will ever be President.” I told them what Reverend Jessie Jackson told all of us. “Up with Hope. Down with Dope.” I didn’t literally tell them that, for God’s sake. They probably would’ve kicked my ass. I talked to them about hope, just like I’m talking to you right now.
Canvass. Phone bank. Donate. Volunteer. Be good little Kossacks. That’s why you’re here, isn’t it? People are going to lie. People are going to disappoint you. People are going to say shit you don’t like. Not me, but people.
I am here to tell you one small thing, and it’s a pretty big small thing.
Everything will be all right.
Read More
