(no subject)
I was thinking about the dire worldly straits that have beset the globe recently. It's particularly telling to me, as it's a global crisis, that no single person, party, or entity can be pointed to as "the cause". It's a confluence of events, with plenty of people having their oars in the waters. To blame it on the previous administration or current administration seems a bit oriented more out of making political hay out of the crisis than trying to find a solution.
I come from a soft generation. I know that sounds harsh or judgmental, and it is, to a point. From my observations, my generation never had a real trial of character or conscience to beset it. There has been no draft, no fuel crisis (I vaguely recall the crisis of the 70s, but certainly I was not at an age to pull identity from it}, we had brief and scary rattling of swords with the USSR on occasion, but nothing akin to the Cuban Missile crisis. We didn't have to live with the severing of segregation laws, forced zoning, or suffrage. There is some arguments about right to terminate pregnancy and gay marriage, but the struggle has been mostly limited to the courts. Perhaps I am naive, but I don't think the effect of being denied the right to be married is quite as vicious as being denied the right to get an education or the right to vote.
As I grew up, I watched many of my peers (as well as myself), cast around for an identity, a cause to stand for, a moment to take my rights and freedoms and forge them into a cause for the good and the just. The desire to band together and take arms against a sea of troubles and by opposing, end them. There was and is the desire to stand for something...to stand up for a cause all but lost, or stand up for a cause all but won...and be part of something, some change, some global good. However, trying band together, be part of something bigger, is tough when times are rich and plentiful. It's tough to convince people to risk the system to heal an injustice in times of wealth. However, in times of crisis, people can come together, because when you start losing your material possessions, the immaterial possessions, the ones you can't lose, become more important. You need to ensure your inner self {soul, spirit, conscience or whatever} is worth holding on to.
I have a few things on the burner, in hopes of helping my community...but the thing I think about the most is the people who will try to profit out of this. Whether it is fiscal profit through subversion of the system, or political profit by cutting at the people working in government. These people need to be shunned, pushed aside, ignored. I changed banks recently because I could not continue to bank with an agency who had acted so reprehensibly in the past decade. I have written to a certain Senator of mine, condemning her for her vicious undermining of the other party at the expense of constructive rebuilding. I will be asking for some more specifics from the agencies asking me for money to help the community...to give me some level of surety that they aren't just soaking the public. All these things, I will be doing from a quiet pulpit.
The reason I'm not naming names, is because that would be me making my own political hay. This is a judgment I have to make for myself, and, I believe, it is the responsibility for each citizen to do the same. To discretely examine the effect of an entity and act accordingly, this is my plan, and what I believe to be the responsibility of each citizen.
It's not something done in a weekend, unfortunately. This will require a prolonged effort, and I'll probably slip up countless times. However, I guess that what it means to me, to act as an adult.
Come gather round people wherever you roam
And admit that the waters around you have grown
And accept it that soon you'll be drenched to the bone
If your time to you is worth saving
Then you'd better start swimming or you'll sink like a stone
For the times, they are a changing
Come writers and critics who prophesize with your pens
And keep your eyes open, the chance won't come again
And don't speak too soon, the wheel's still in spin
And there's no telling who that it's naming
Oh the loser will be later to win
For the times, they are a changing
Come senators, congressmen, please head the call
Don't stand in the doorway, don't block up the hall
For he that gets hurt will be her that has stalled
The battle outside ragging will soon shake your windows
And rattle your hall
For the times, they are a changing
Come mothers and fathers all over this land
And don't criticize what you can't understand
Your sons and your daughter are beyond your command
Your old role is rapidly aging
Please get out of the new one if you can't lend a hand
For the times they are a changing
The line, it is drawn, the curse, it is cast
The slow one will later be fast
And the present now will soon be the past
The order is rapidly fading
The first one now will later be last
For the times, they are a changing
I come from a soft generation. I know that sounds harsh or judgmental, and it is, to a point. From my observations, my generation never had a real trial of character or conscience to beset it. There has been no draft, no fuel crisis (I vaguely recall the crisis of the 70s, but certainly I was not at an age to pull identity from it}, we had brief and scary rattling of swords with the USSR on occasion, but nothing akin to the Cuban Missile crisis. We didn't have to live with the severing of segregation laws, forced zoning, or suffrage. There is some arguments about right to terminate pregnancy and gay marriage, but the struggle has been mostly limited to the courts. Perhaps I am naive, but I don't think the effect of being denied the right to be married is quite as vicious as being denied the right to get an education or the right to vote.
As I grew up, I watched many of my peers (as well as myself), cast around for an identity, a cause to stand for, a moment to take my rights and freedoms and forge them into a cause for the good and the just. The desire to band together and take arms against a sea of troubles and by opposing, end them. There was and is the desire to stand for something...to stand up for a cause all but lost, or stand up for a cause all but won...and be part of something, some change, some global good. However, trying band together, be part of something bigger, is tough when times are rich and plentiful. It's tough to convince people to risk the system to heal an injustice in times of wealth. However, in times of crisis, people can come together, because when you start losing your material possessions, the immaterial possessions, the ones you can't lose, become more important. You need to ensure your inner self {soul, spirit, conscience or whatever} is worth holding on to.
I have a few things on the burner, in hopes of helping my community...but the thing I think about the most is the people who will try to profit out of this. Whether it is fiscal profit through subversion of the system, or political profit by cutting at the people working in government. These people need to be shunned, pushed aside, ignored. I changed banks recently because I could not continue to bank with an agency who had acted so reprehensibly in the past decade. I have written to a certain Senator of mine, condemning her for her vicious undermining of the other party at the expense of constructive rebuilding. I will be asking for some more specifics from the agencies asking me for money to help the community...to give me some level of surety that they aren't just soaking the public. All these things, I will be doing from a quiet pulpit.
The reason I'm not naming names, is because that would be me making my own political hay. This is a judgment I have to make for myself, and, I believe, it is the responsibility for each citizen to do the same. To discretely examine the effect of an entity and act accordingly, this is my plan, and what I believe to be the responsibility of each citizen.
It's not something done in a weekend, unfortunately. This will require a prolonged effort, and I'll probably slip up countless times. However, I guess that what it means to me, to act as an adult.
Come gather round people wherever you roam
And admit that the waters around you have grown
And accept it that soon you'll be drenched to the bone
If your time to you is worth saving
Then you'd better start swimming or you'll sink like a stone
For the times, they are a changing
Come writers and critics who prophesize with your pens
And keep your eyes open, the chance won't come again
And don't speak too soon, the wheel's still in spin
And there's no telling who that it's naming
Oh the loser will be later to win
For the times, they are a changing
Come senators, congressmen, please head the call
Don't stand in the doorway, don't block up the hall
For he that gets hurt will be her that has stalled
The battle outside ragging will soon shake your windows
And rattle your hall
For the times, they are a changing
Come mothers and fathers all over this land
And don't criticize what you can't understand
Your sons and your daughter are beyond your command
Your old role is rapidly aging
Please get out of the new one if you can't lend a hand
For the times they are a changing
The line, it is drawn, the curse, it is cast
The slow one will later be fast
And the present now will soon be the past
The order is rapidly fading
The first one now will later be last
For the times, they are a changing