April 04, 2022

01

Money is in charge.
Politics is the handmaiden of money.
It is a story as old as money.
And we aren't going to fix it 
in my lifetime.

Or yours.

We have to negotiate our terms
as best we can 
and settle for less that we would like,
or deserve.

This is what Jesus had in mind
when he said,
"The poor will be with you always."
He might as well have said,
"We will be poor always."
Relatively poor,
in comparison with the really wealthy.

India's caste system is an official,
state-sponsored form
of an economic and social pecking order,
but something similar
works its way into the way 
all cultures are run.

Equality,
racial,
sexual,
financial,
is more of a dream
than a reality--
and we come to terms with that
as we are able
over the course of our life.

How we work it out
for ourselves and our life
is as much a matter of context
and circumstances
as it is of laws and charters.

It is a matter of chance
that we are where we are 
and not somewhere else instead.
Coming to terms with that,
making our peace with it,
and living the life that is ours to live
within the terms and conditions of our living
is the challenge we all face
upon dropping out of the womb.

Doing what we can with what we have to work with
is the lot of every human being.
It is the Sisyphean Task for us all
seeking to find our life and live it
within the time and place,
opportunities and limitations
of the times that are ours from birth to death.

It is everything vs. money.
It is democracy vs. money. 
Money is the autocracy behind authoritarianism. 
Cutting to the chase, 
dropping the pretense of a democratic government,
and having to buy all those politicians, 
and telling the people to go to hell. 
The people are the source of the money! 
Dry it up!
Buy only the things we need
to do what needs to be done!
Cut out the frivolity,
and get down to business!

The business of being who we are,
doing what needs us to do it,
when and where it needs to be done,
the way it needs to be done,
and let that be that.

We will have enough money
to live the life
that needs us to live it
throughout the time left for living!

–0–

02

Ukraine is at least two generations away
from regaining what Russia has destroyed
just because it could,
and "Why not?"

Russia is a resplendent example 
of who not to be--
of how not to do it.
And there are people high up
in the government of the United States
who want to do it the way Russia is doing it.

Doing it the way Ukraine is doing it
is the way to do it.
With heart and soul!
With compassion and kindness!
With generosity and grace!

Fascism has nothing to do with 
any of the right things.
The power to force its way on the world
is all fascism cares about.
Its way is death and decay
and the heavy odor of rot and filth.

Fascism rolls around in the rot and filth,
singing, "Look at me! Look at me!
Oh, look, look, look at me!!!"

If only it were capable of seeing itself!
Of knowing what's what!
And becoming who Ukraine is!

–0–