Gayle's Joy in Life

I am more disgusted with government than I have ever been and that is saying a lot.

I have listened to the Sec'y of the Treasury, Henry Paulson, Jr. explain why we need to bail out the financial industry, which I support. But, I have also heard him say that there will be no constraints on earnings for CEOs. And I am left to wonder how that make sense.

Paulson is right when he says we don't have a lot of time to figure this out. But, I wonder why he and the rest of the Republicans kept telling us everything was okay, this past year. Don't worry about the price of oil, don't worry about the downward slide of the market, don't worry about the mortgage markets, it'll all be fine. Don't worry, be happy?

I predict that if we maintain the status quo (the conservative dog-eat-dog-I-got-mine-tough-shit-if-you-didn't-get-any policies of the past 30 years), those who made millions off of the predatory lending practices (and I am including credit cards in this) and extraordinary gas profits (another cause of our current state) will likely continue to prosper while the average American will see her taxes increase enormously and her standard of living fall.

The concentration of wealth in this country has been squeezing the middle class and poor for so long that I think most people think this is how it should be. And, as long as we could be kept happy, with that new house and new car and new debt, we were willing to go along. Well, that is our shame. But, who bears/bares the shame for laying the table full of nothing but dessert and pretending it's a nutritious meal? Yes, we ate the eclairs but veggies were never really an option when the government made all its decisions based on protecting and advancing the interests of the wealthy.

Today, there is a lot of outrage and, on the part of the financial leaders who have robbed us for so long, a huge sense of fear. Save us, they cry, or Life as we know will fall apart. And, most interesting is that the American people are being asked to share the burden.

TO SHARE THE BURDEN!! But these same people cried foul when asked to create programs that would share wealth with the poor or the middle class; they believed we should cut back on funding education, public hospitals and social programs. Now, they want us to share and will we?
We will, because we are so afraid that the little we have will become far less if we don't.

I believe that more than any other mental construct, this is our national shame. Not that we serve our self-interest but, that we so narrowly define our self-interest. We have never really believed that we are deeply interconnected. Even though we attend church services and drop our dollars into the collection plate, we still don't believe. Like Cain, we ask "Am I my brother's keeper?" And shamefully we believe the answer to be no.

Our shame is that we are willing to throw our homeless in jail to get them off the street rather than pay additional taxes to support changing their lives positively and for the long term. Our shame is that we look at our failing neighbor and assume he or she is solely responsible for their lot in Life; unwilling to make the societal changes needed to fundamentaly change his/her condition. Our shame is that we would vote an inexperienced and unqualified woman into office rather than tackle the real and difficult problems of women in poverty (Information on women in poverty).

Our real shame is that we are willing to be coldhearted, calloused and even violent when it comes to anyone we consider to be outside our circle. We saw it shortly after 911 (and continue to see it) when anyone looking remotely like a Muslim was subject to attack. We see it when the subject of welfare mothers is raised (and I am not in favor of long term or generational subsistence policies). The entire world saw it when the global climate change realities (created by consumption patterns that kept the middle class feeling falsely secure and made the rich much richer) hit the poor of New Orleans.

Here, in my town, we have a large group of people on the north end who want to separate from the rest of the city and create a new one. Their reasoning is that they shouldn't have to fund public schools, hospitals and other infrastructure for the poor. Why should we have to pay taxes to support a school system when our kids go to private school, or pay for hospital services for people who can't afford them, they ask. Why, indeed.

The why, in my mind is obvious, because we are all connected, one mass of humanity struggling to survive on a damaged planet. You cannot ignore the needs and realities of your brother or sister and expect to have a healthy family. It is not possible.

But, until that question can be answered positively and resoundingly, by the majority of this nation; until we can stand for the least of us as quickly as we will jump to bailout the financial elite, we will continue to bear the consequences of our narrowly defined self-interest.

I know many of my fellow US citizens are thinking seriously about how to vote in this election. There has been talk of elitism and a disconnect from the everyday man and woman on the part of Senator Obama. I'd like to ask you to consider the following:

The challenges we face are far too complex to be managed by an everyday guy or gal. This is the time when you want the smartest, the most level-headed, the least prone to snap decisions, the most thoughtful leader you can find. Now is the time to move away from the legacy of fear and narrow self-interest within which we have been spinning. Now is the time for each of us and all of us to change, deeply; to reconsider our knee-jerk responses to crises and conflict, to move away from the panic button and be thoughtful about our approach to the future.

What we have done in the past 30 years has brought us to this time. Let's face it squarely with strength of heart and truth.

I'm voting for Barack Obama in November because the world as I know it is in trouble and I don't trust the creators of that trouble to help me find my way out.

I am voting for Barack Obama because I believe he can help us become better than we have been.

I am voting for Barack Obama because the answer always shows itself and it seems clear that Obama is part of the answer.

Take good care, one and all...

I flirted with the idea of moving my space about 7 months ago, but let it pass. I think it's time. biglifedance.blogspot.com

I hope you will come and visit, leave comments at the new place and keep connecting.

I have Loved your words and will keep stopping by your spaces to say hello.

Be very, very well.

Gayle

 

I was a little eight year-old Negro girl when Dr. Martin Luther King was assassinated. I remember crying in the living room with my parents and my brother. Of course, we’d been through this before with John Kennedy and Malcolm X, two other men who gave us hope, as a people. But, while Malcolm was certainly articulate and sent a message of power and self-reliance, Martin spoke the words that resonated with Christians (which most Africans converted to as a matter of survival generations before); words of peace, Love and reconciliation.

During the 60’s we sang, marched and hoped for equality in the eyes and laws of white Americans. That Negro children might be educated in schools with the same quality of supplies (desks, textbooks, building infrastructure, and access to $ resources) giving them a possibility of Life beyond servitude was the deep desire of Negro parents and grand parents. Martin exemplified and amplified that hope.

With his powerful persona - poised, articulate and often the center of media attention - Martin was able to project the image of the ‘Negro Man’ that we knew lived in our people, out into the world. His presence commanded respect and we shared in that respect, believing it might be possible for us, as well.

Today, 42 years later, I continue to hold fast to the ideas that we can treat one another with Love, respect, Peace and reconciliation. And though many would say we have come far, I hold a different opinion. It is true that we can now work side by side in the bee hives we call offices and that in small segments of most American cities you can even find us living in the same communities. But, for the most part, we are still separate. Separated by class, opportunity, image and earnings, we have learned to pretend that we are equal.

My neighborhood is filled with African Americans who live the American dream; Mercedes Benz in the garage, children in private school and a 4-bedroom house in which to live. That is a good thing. My city as a whole however, is filled with children whose families live well below the poverty level. Their schools, while improving, are staffed and funded at the bare minimum. The services provided by the city are far less than those provided to wealthier communities. Less frequent bus service (though the poor use the service more frequently), more expensive supermarkets with inferior goods and substandard housing at above market pricing are all markers of poverty in America. Today, the average black woman earns 68 cents for every dollar earned by her white male counterpart. Hispanic women earn 57 cents. As a single, African American Mom I am intimately aware of the impact of this reality on my own Life and that of my child.

A Congressional Committee organized to investigate the Life Options of Young African American Males heard the following testimony in 2005:

• About one-third of male youth of color (primarily African-American and Latino) fall into what the Department of Labor describes as the “disconnected youth” category: young people who are isolated and have limited to no participation in the labor force.
• Almost two-thirds of the US prison population are persons of color, predominantly African-American and Latino, and predominantly male.
• Ten percent of black males between the ages of 25 and 29 were in prison in 2001, compared to 2.9% of Latino males and 1.2% of white males in the same age group.
• The Sentencing Project estimates that in some jurisdictions one in three African-American men between the ages of 20 and 29 are under correctional supervision.
• In the 100 largest US cities, 58% or more of the ninth-grade students in high-minority schools do not graduate four years later, and African-American drop-outs are eight times more likely to be in state or federal prison than are white drop-outs.
• Nationwide, African-American students are three times as likely as white students to be labeled mentally retarded and twice as likely to be labeled as having emotional disturbances.

None of these statistics take away personal responsibility for Life choices. But, if you don’t think a stacked deck makes it harder to make good choices then you are either naïve or heartless.

This brings me back to Martin, whose message was one of justice and equity. How far have we come, really? Do we embrace one another or continue to exclude and exploit? In 50 years will we still be waging war with anyone who pisses up off or will we focus on reconciliation, justice and peace? What will it take to shift our focus from consumerism to citizenship?

I don’t know the answer to these questions, but I’d like to hear your thoughts.

Until then, be well…

p.s. to read Dr. Martin Luther King’s Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech (which is worth reading again and again) Just click on his name.