Illusion: The Pilgrims and Indians were "friends".
Reality: The Pilgrims and their descendants took away the land, killed hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of their "friends" in order to create the foundation of the American Dream.
Illusion: Thomas Jefferson wrote in the Declaration of Independence that "all men are created equal".
Reality: Indians, Africans, and any other person of color was forced to become Anglicized, discriminated against in their homes, jobs and various other aspects of everyday living, humiliated and dehumanized for hundreds of years.
Illusion: Slavery ended with the victory of the Union over the Confederacy along with Lincoln's signing of the Emancipation Proclamation.
Reality: Slavery still exists in the United States. Slavery is a global epidemic. Slavery does not look like it use to-it has taken many forms so that it is unrecognizable for the willingly ignorant, sleeping majority. Slavery takes place in your home when you are being forced to pay outrages prices for your rent and mortgages. Slavery takes place when you are harassed on your job in addition to having to work outrages hours for a minimum pay that you have to turn around and pay your monthly expenses with. Slavery takes place when you are being bombarded left and right with advertisements to buy, buy, buy (mostly things that you don't need) which helps to make someone else's pockets richer. Slavery takes place when the 1% control the 99% and the 99% are the ones who allow for it to happen.
It's time to transform yourself from one of the willingly ignorant to willingly educated and proactive. It's time to shatter the illusions of yesterday and take a good look at the reality that's right in front of your eyes. Yes, the reality is harsh, more gritty, more...real. It's not as comforting as the illusion-and it's not suppose to be. The purpose of the illusion is to keep the 99% under control; to keep the 99% into feeding the illusion so that the 1% can remain in power. This needs to be flipped upside down and turned inside out!
It's time to realize that life is simple-it's the complexities that are created by man (the 1%) that make life more complicated and take away from the simple truths of life. There are certain truths that we should all be thankful for: the ability to breath, family, friends, purpose, help out our fellow man and protect our environment. These may sound so simple-cliché even, but it is these simple truths that some "civilized" civilizations are backing away from-even forgetting. This reality is becoming more and more an illusion when you think about it. When you read stories about how shoppers step over a dead body in order to continue their Black Friday shopping, you wonder. When you read stories about prominent, adult men sexually abusing little boys across the country for decades, you wonder. When you read stories about mothers or fathers kidnapping and killing their own children or other family members, you wonder. When you read stories about "reality" TV stars as if they are news and that their lives are more important than other, unheard stories of people who are starving, homeless, jobless, and abused, you wonder.
Or don't you?
I know I do.
Saturday, November 26, 2011
Sunday, November 13, 2011
Transferring Energy: the Problem with the 99%
Yes, I said it-there is a problem with the 99%. No, I take that back-the 99% are the problem. Yes, that's much better. That makes more sense. Everyone I hear and everything that I read discussing the financial problems of the 99% don't ever mention what the 99% were doing before their problems occurred. That's because they didn't have any. Yes, they may have had problems with getting a flat tire, missing the bus to get to school on time, or turing in a bill to their creditors late. But they were ok with these problems. They were ok with supporting the system that put them into debt. They were ok with contributing to a system that wanted to put them into debt. But now, the system has backfired on them. The system that they taught was so stable is collapsing on them.
Now they want to complain about it.
Now they want to march and protest.
Now they want to "occupy".
Where was all this enthusiasm before? Simple-it didn't exist. It didn't exist because they were ok with the status quo. But the status quo was flawed. It didn't just happen overnight. The status quo of overworking the lower class to support the bank account of the upper class. The status quo of abusing and ignoring the rights of the majority to support the whims of the minority. The status quo of marginalizing those who create the wealth to support those who will steal the income of the working class.
Well, when I put it that way, I hope you are asking the same questions that I have been asking myself: how can 1% lead 99%? How can the minority rule over the majority? How does that work?
The only answer I can come up with is that the 99% created the problem, not the 1%. The 1% can only take advantage of the 99% if they are allowed to. The 1% cannot be held responsible for the lack of action of the 99%. Who is really at fault here?
It's time to wake up to the truth of the matter: the 99% are responsible for the mess that the world exists in today. The 99% are the ones who don't take action until after they have been negatively affected. They are working hard while the 1% are working smarter. While the 99% are working, the 1% is plotting and scheming of ways to take advantage of the 99%. And the 99% are too busy caught up in things that really don't exist and as a result, they are not paying attention. The 1% do what they do because they are allowed to do it-they aren't stopped and they know this. They know that they will get away with their plotting and scheming because the average person, the 99%, is not going to stop them, and if they attempt to do so, it'll be too late.
It's time to to wake up and start a new routine. Now is the time to start transferring our energy and focus on what's real. Real things like positive relationships between men and women, parents and children, employee and employer. Real things like taking care of our health and our environment. Real things like nourishing our spirit and expanding our knowledge.
But maybe you'd rather continue to point fingers at what other people aren't doing. And maybe you're too afraid to look in the mirror to see what it is that you're not doing. Whatever the case may be, don't forget that you weren't told that you are apart of the problem and that you need to do something to become apart of the solution. Transfer your energy and become apart of the growing 1% of the people who are genuinely out there to help people and set things right. Transfer your energy from complaining and blaming into growing a backbone and taking action.
Now they want to complain about it.
Now they want to march and protest.
Now they want to "occupy".
Where was all this enthusiasm before? Simple-it didn't exist. It didn't exist because they were ok with the status quo. But the status quo was flawed. It didn't just happen overnight. The status quo of overworking the lower class to support the bank account of the upper class. The status quo of abusing and ignoring the rights of the majority to support the whims of the minority. The status quo of marginalizing those who create the wealth to support those who will steal the income of the working class.
Well, when I put it that way, I hope you are asking the same questions that I have been asking myself: how can 1% lead 99%? How can the minority rule over the majority? How does that work?
The only answer I can come up with is that the 99% created the problem, not the 1%. The 1% can only take advantage of the 99% if they are allowed to. The 1% cannot be held responsible for the lack of action of the 99%. Who is really at fault here?
It's time to wake up to the truth of the matter: the 99% are responsible for the mess that the world exists in today. The 99% are the ones who don't take action until after they have been negatively affected. They are working hard while the 1% are working smarter. While the 99% are working, the 1% is plotting and scheming of ways to take advantage of the 99%. And the 99% are too busy caught up in things that really don't exist and as a result, they are not paying attention. The 1% do what they do because they are allowed to do it-they aren't stopped and they know this. They know that they will get away with their plotting and scheming because the average person, the 99%, is not going to stop them, and if they attempt to do so, it'll be too late.
It's time to to wake up and start a new routine. Now is the time to start transferring our energy and focus on what's real. Real things like positive relationships between men and women, parents and children, employee and employer. Real things like taking care of our health and our environment. Real things like nourishing our spirit and expanding our knowledge.
But maybe you'd rather continue to point fingers at what other people aren't doing. And maybe you're too afraid to look in the mirror to see what it is that you're not doing. Whatever the case may be, don't forget that you weren't told that you are apart of the problem and that you need to do something to become apart of the solution. Transfer your energy and become apart of the growing 1% of the people who are genuinely out there to help people and set things right. Transfer your energy from complaining and blaming into growing a backbone and taking action.
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