Wednesday, November 30, 2016

The Last Dance...


It’s sort of odd to
hear a Disco song
of a bygone era
rattling through ones
mind on a milestone day
that is also about to become
part of a bygone era.

Disco and my Thirties
are over.  Disco has been
dead for a long time,
and it died in my lifetime,
which is interesting in and
of itself. I lived with Disco?
There’s still a few songs I guiltily enjoy.

My Thirties however, I’m glad
they’re ending.  They have been
exceedingly rambunctious, annoying,
terrifying, depressing, joyful, hilarious,
embarrassing, disappointing, mournful,
melancholy, morose, anxiety ridden, and
at times, even a little sexy.

Just like Disco.
With a lot less drugs.
Or Gold Lame pants.

My Thirties, at times, did have
a pretty good beat, something you
could dance to, but I think it was more
about learning the dance steps than it
was about the dancing.
And, I like dancing.
But I like learning more.

So Donna Summer, you go ahead and
play your song in my head, I can take it:
“So let's dance, the last dance
Let's dance, the last dance
Let's dance this last dance tonight…”
Groovy.   

Monday, November 28, 2016

Ranking


I’m a novice at this getting
older thing. It’s the first time
I’ve had to do it so I hope
everyone can bear with me.
It’s always new.

I’m an amateur at aging.
I’m nowhere near a
professional at it.
It’s just what I’m doing
every single day.

Year by year a new milestone
is struck. A new age bracket to
explore without ever believing
I’d make it this far.
Never had a blueprint or road-map.

I’ve just had to make it up as I
went along; Highs, lows, loves,
broken hearts, lies, truths, failures,
successes and never really knowing
if it was right, wrong or just what it was.

 Always a new issue, crisis, conflict,
grumbling, grousing, and to go through,
always a new lesson, always an education,
always a time and a place for a new time and
place.

I’m still an apprentice at living,
I’m still a beginner at being.
I don’t know where I’m going,
but I have seen where I’ve been,
and I suppose that’s where credentials come from.

I’m facing a new decade of numbers,
a chance to move up in the
rankings of life to Semi-Pro and
if I’m lucky, loved and liked,
I might turn Pro. 

Monday, November 21, 2016

Getting my Thanks on


I’m thankful for Art.
I’m thankful for free expression.
I’m thankful for imagination.
I’m thankful for the dreamers.

To see an empty canvass,
an empty page,
a blank music sheet
or pile of rusty metal,

and think…
that could be something,
that will be something,
I will make it something.

I’m thankful for the painters,
the poets, the writers, the
musicians, the sculptors, the
outside visionaries.

I’m thankful for the thinkers.
I’m thankful for those that see
pain, love, lust, suffering, joy, and
loss, and they give it shape.

Cutting away the stone,
mixing the paint,
banging piano keys,
typing the same word over and over.

I’m thankful we have the ability to
get the abstract, and see the shades of all
our churning thoughts and states
into a simple representation of all of us.

I’m thankful we have Art.
I’m thankful we have free expression.
I’m thankful we have imagination.
I’m thankful we have dreams. 

Tuesday, November 15, 2016

Mr. Golden and His Rule


I’m not sure how hard
this is.
I don’t get why it’s so
tough.
There’s always been a way
to behave.
I can’t help wonder where
it went.

Treat others as
you
would
like
to
be
treated.

It’s pretty simple.
I can’t imagine a simpler
message.
It’s just… so simple.

We teach it to children
and they grasp it.
Wide eyed and believing
and they get it.

We wrestle with it.
We resist it.
We think we’re better.
We think we know better.

I’m not sure how it got
so hard.
I’m not clear on when it
changed.
I’m unsure about the
evolution.
I think I miss my name. 

Wednesday, November 9, 2016

Someone Has to Get Coffee


                This has been a very difficult overnight and morning for me. I’m a passionate liberal with dreams of a Star Trek type future. A future where the accumulation of wealth is no longer the driving force in the culture, where race, creed, religion, sex, are no longer on anyone’s minds or even an issue. People are only interested in the advancement of humanity as a whole and exploring our infinite potential. So in light of our recent election, I’m a little bummed out.

                This election and its results are indeed different than the ones in the past. This is the first time I can recall that I’m genuinely afraid for people I know and people I love. In the past it’s been disagreements about rhetoric and some minor domestic policies, but I always thought the candidate had what they felt was the best interests of the people at heart.  This time, I’m not so sure.  

                I’m not sure because for the first time I feel like the country has elected a person who wants to put his own ideals ahead of the American ideals. The people have elected a person whose own greed and lust for power have overshadowed any humanitarian or altruistic virtues I’ve come to associate with the office of the President.   Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness are at the core of the American value system. We’ve almost always looked to Presidents that reflect those values and help to attain those lofty goals, by moving us forward into better times, domestically or economically.

                But then, is this President-Elect a reflection of America?  Is it possible that this shining light on the hill has devolved into a xenophobic right wing white men’s Christian conservative values country? Is the Election of Donald Trump a true reflection of this country’s underlying distrust of women, of homosexuals, of immigrants, of persons of color? Is it underlying any longer? I’m afraid that it is no longer underlying. I’m afraid we liberals were complacent and blind. I’m afraid we were arrogant in our expectation that people in this country are generally good and want equality and liberty for all.

                I’m angry that the election of this man happened. I’m angry that I have to be fearful for my friends and family. I’m angry at the people who voted for a TV celebrity rather than for progress. I’m angry at broadcast television for never providing any in-depth political reporting about anything, leaving a gap in information. I’m angry at Cable News for constantly focusing on the wrong issues and talking about them to death.  I’m angry at the failure of newspapers. I’m angry at the amount of disinformation that has been allowed to seep into American culture. I’m angry that somehow, facts aren’t facts anymore because of how they make you “feel”.  I’m angry that someone’s opinion matters more than the facts.  I’m angry because I just don’t think going backwards is anyway to move forward.

                I think social progress is essential to healthy National growth. Fear has never been good for social progress or social justice. Historically, fear has led to Pogroms, isolationism, extremism and divisions so deep that it takes generations to finally heal.  A populace that is terrified of their shadow will do just about anything to protect itself from any perceived threat, real or imagined.  The President Elect played those fears like a harp from hell and the people, uninformed, disenfranchised, and isolated heard music.

                I had a few lines from the movie Gladiator go through my head this morning as I listened to Donald Trump’s speech. “I think he [Commodus] knows what Rome is. Rome is the mob. Conjure magic for them and they'll be distracted. Take away their freedom and still they'll roar. The beating heart of Rome is not the marble of the Senate; it's the sand of the Coliseum. He'll bring them death...and they will love him for it.”    In this case, the Coliseum was the Media, the debates, the constant onslaught of “news” stories and a man fanning the flames of fear against a woman with ideals of hope and courage.  

                Right now, I’m still upset though. I’m deeply disappointed by the voters. I feel as if the hopeful America I believe in; the one for progress, inclusion, possibility and equality has taken a step backwards toward tyranny, religious extremism, and the extremes of conservatism.   

                Yet, I should stop there. I should stop and be reminded that this is a wake-up call. This is a klaxon call for us to open our eyes to the troubles within our deeply divided nation and really start to work to fix those problems.  We must not flee in despair but plant our feet firmly in the ground and use our woken voice to do what we can to fight any policy or legislation that threatens the freedoms of any American. A crime against one is a crime against us all and we must be resolved to resist any attempts to limit our liberties, our lives or the pursuit of our happiness’s.  
              

Tuesday, November 8, 2016

Voting is Cool


On this most Auspicious and
American of Days, I want to
encourage everyone to get out
and vote. It is a right so many
have sacrificed for and some don’t have.

Using the collective voices of
this Republic we can indeed
create the sort of country we
want. We are the destiny makers,
we are, “The dreamers of the Dream”.

Republican or Democrat, independent
or Green, it’s important to know that
participating in the process is just as
important as your person winning.
The power to vote is essential to the American
Experiment.

The Founder’s, I like to think, hoped this
American Experience would encourage
free thinking and encourage boldness in the
face of tyranny and oppression. They hoped
to create a Nation with Liberty and Justice for all.

They weren’t perfect. They missed the slavery
issue completely. They were not Gods, but men.
They were flawed and men of their time and era.
Yet, they had foresight, they knew this country
wasn’t for them. It was for us. Now. Here.

So make sure you’re voting today,
make sure you’re thinking about what’s
best for everyone and not just yourself,
because we are all in this together
and for generations of future Americans. 

Monday, November 7, 2016

Picking Battles and Choosing Fights


It’s great to be a principled
person.
It’s good to know that your
morality is superior.
It’s nice to feel that everything
can be explained.

But not everyone feels that way.
Some people are immovable as
mountains. Uncompromising as
the seas and as disrespectful
as age is to dignity.

To want a reason,
an explanation, insight into
why someone does something terrible
is perfectly normal and it’s good you
want to know.

I have found however, and still find,
that the answer isn’t usually very good.
It’s unsatisfying. It’s empty.   Meaningless,
and baffling to the rational person.
Some folks are just bad.

There are those types, those people,
that’ll knock a man down just because they
can, who’ll attempt to assert control over others
in a vain attempt to have control over their
own emptiness; their own moral vacancy.  

There is no reaching them in a casual conversation,
and no just or moral act will show them their
erroneous ways. Some folks are just pricks,
who actually enjoy being pricks due to the chemistry in
their faulty wired brain.

It is great to try and reach them,
it’s good to try and have them explain,
It’s nice to want an answer for how they can
justify themselves.

A leopard doesn’t change its spots
however, and a jerk is a jerk and no
punishment or application of moral
virtue will ever get through.
They feed on their chaos.

It’s best to starve them of
their chaos instead. To hold them at bay
in their pursuit of anarchy.
Passive resistance against a tide
of inhumanity.

Action moments must be
timed carefully with bullies, braggarts,
cowards and chickens.  Sometimes taking
an action against them, at the wrong time,
leaves them enraged and bitter without
having learned anything.

Kindness in the face of overwhelming adversity
can sometimes go further than a night in jail,
a punch in the face, a kick in the rump or even
a well thought out, coherent, logical, conversation.
Sometimes.  Not always.

Wisdom is knowing when to fight,
and when not to. Figuring out when to
apply it takes patience and courage, even
when the crowds are screaming for bloody
revenge.  

Sometimes all is failure and there is no
road to redemption. Then you write them
off and go on with your life,
knowing some souls are too damaged to
ever redeem.