MY HERO’S HAVE ALWAYS BEEN WORDSMITHS

OPEN LETTER TO WORDSMITHS

   

Only 3 more days left for the second annual Tweak Leslie’s Twat Day! Unfortunately it happens to fall on a Sunday so there’s some leeway for Batman (Jon Stewart), Capt. America (Stephen Colbert), Wonder Woman (Rachel Maddow) and the rest of you whose words can only be experienced Monday thru Friday. In those cases I expect you to rock me out of many panty liners either this week or early next.

For the print members of The Tribe like Bumble Bee, Green Lantern, and Green Arrow, you guys should know how I “like it” by now. If you need hints, check out Al’s column’s for the past few days. Many ticklers! And Joel, sorry, Green Arrow, has been doing a bang up job by accurately aiming at the absurdities and lies of Israel policies, both foreign and domestic. And ABC news has also been presenting interesting word energies that are “being the change we wish to see in the world.” Like Jake Tapper pointing out the White House hypocrisy on journalists or his colleagues bringing pink slime into our common lexicon! Talk about “Where’s the beef”

As for topics of interest, pick your poison, literally! As our collective nears planetary collapse because of greed and fear as a business model, your word energies are of the utmost importance to assist Humanity with their next stage or evolutionary leap from that of an ethnocentric society towards one that is Kosmocentric in nature.

Speaking of nature, Spaceship Earth might be an important starting point for this year’s competition! Utilize the concept of the elements: EARTH, WIND, FIRE, and WATER.  For instance, in regards to Earth and Water, you could be creative and develop gas fracking stories with titles like “Man can’t live on flaming water alone.”  Speaking of living…starving, how about this one – “Monsanto – the other lean beef.” I’m sure Sec. Vilsack will love that one!

Or a Fire and Wind essay’s on the insanity of Nuking ANY country - brings down all the surrounding ones, including Israel. Oop’s, spoiler alert! Duh! Btw: Wonder Woman, you’ve been doing a FABULOUS job on the Nuke topic. The Tribe owes you, big time.  

You get my drift, putting out words that energize The Tribe to change their worldview so they can take charge of their reality. Last year’s winner was Wonder Woman, no competition! So make me proud Wordsmiths. The Tribe is counting you to be a counter balance to the forces of evil!

Originally written 3-28-11

 

RACISM AND BIGOTRY

In the summer of 2012 I was having my hair done at a local Hair Cuttery. Most of the women working there were people of color who had immigrated here from war torn countries and hostile men.  On that day I asked my stylist what country she was from.  She stated Liberia via England. 

Having gotten my worldview of England from BBC America news and entertainment, it appeared to be an open society with many different cultures living in relative harmony (other than soccer thugs).  So why would she have left such a “lovely” country for America with its underlying racial animosity since President Obama had been elected.

Much to my surprise she responded “In England they let you know, in your face, that they don’t like us. Here, in America, they are sneaky about it. But my children have a better chance to make a life for themselves in America if they study and work hard. Young people here aren’t as closed minded as they are in England when it comes to race.”

I agreed with her last statement in regards to the youth of America. To me it was evident that shortly after President Obama was elected the GOP and Fox “News” org. started acting up. But what puzzled me was that Main Stream Media (MSM), beloved since my youth, wasn’t talking about their behavior. That’s when I began emailing them, not just about this behavior, but also in regards the lies being told by those in power, both politically and in business, that weren’t being countered by the wordsmith’s I had previously respected.

In 2011 I was watching Meredith Vieira one morning, interviewing some poll, who was blatantly lying about the subject at hand.  She just sat there, letting this man spew his untrue word energies without question! I was appalled because I KNOW that words are energy that either enhance and enlightens a society or drags it down to the pits of hell.  So I sent her an email. And began to do the same with other media wordsmiths.

During the 2012 presidential elections, the GOP neo-con right wing was really ramping up the “slurs” against President Obama, but these powerful MSM folks would only insinuate that these verbal assaults were “code”.  I kept asking them why they didn’t call out these people as the racist, bigoted, narrow minded pigs that they were.

One of them finally did.  In August of 2012 one Super Hero Wordsmith of The Tribe called them out. It was Chris Matthews of MSNBC when he appeared on Morning Joe with GOP Chairman Reince Priebus.  Chris out right called him and his party out with using the “race card” against President Obama on a multitude of issues.

Nothing saddens me more than to witness the behavior of a few “unenlightened” people that utilize such tactics for profit and personal gain, to the detriment of our society as a whole.  Those non members of The Tribe, as I call Humanity, appear to outnumber us because they are a small but well funded vocal group. For that I feel sorry for them as they can’t see the beauty of different cultures. They’re a dying breed for whom no tears will be shed with their passing. And rightly so.

Heed them no thought and remind people to live through their hearts as it never deceives the spirit of our individual and collective soul.

TEACHABLE MOMENTS

For an all too brief period in my life I was blessed with a magic kingdom. It was a local park of many acres and miles of paved and unpaved trails. I went there daily, soaking up the negative ions from several creeks that flowed freely and other energies from the various flora and fauna. What made this place even more precise were the other members of The Tribe. They were from all over the world – Asia, Africa, South and Central America, Russia and Central Asia. Weather permitting, I’d find 3 elderly Asian women doing tai chi along the creeks, or listen in on conversations in Spanish that I didn’t comprehend but got a hint of the possibilities after hearing their laughter and seeing their gestures.  

Then one spring day in 2011, as I walking back to “my spot”, I encountered a sweet looking elderly woman strolling toward me. As is my nature, I made a passing remark about the wonder and beauty of the day. Unfortunately the first words out of her mouth were about news of a Hispanic male raping elderly women in S. California. I mumbled something to the effect of “Sorry to hear that” then turned to walk away. She immediately called out “But I’m not a racist.”

You have to understand that I have zero tolerance nor understand how fellow Humans can despise an individual based solely on the color of their skin, religion, or other factors. So her comment stopped me in my tracks. As I watched and listened to the Hispanic families, cooking and playing with their children, I turned back around.

As I looked at this petite white haired, blue eyed grandma, I calmly replied “But yes you are. The first words out of your mouth to a total stranger were about horrible acts perpetrated by a person of color.” I went on to explain that at one point I had been married to a Peruvian, that his very large extended family were all hard working and devoted to their families and to America. In fact my ex brother in law and his cousin serve in the military and between the two of them have done several tours of duty to Iraq and Afghanistan.

As our conversation was coming to a close tears started to well in her eyes. I gave her a gentle kiss on her rosy cheek, smiled, and said “We’re never too old to learn something new or change our ways.”

When confronted with unenlightened points of view silence only serves to condone ugly, negative thoughts, emotions, and actions. By dealing with them head on, in an emotionally mature manner, all of us can win over hearts and move mountains.

“Be the change you wish to see in the world.” Gandhi.

RACISM AND BIGOTRY

Racism: a belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race, racial prejudice or discrimination

— rac·ist \-sist also -shist\noun or adjective

 Bigot: a person who is obstinately or intolerantly devoted to his or her own opinions and prejudices; especially: one who regards or treats the members of a group (as a racial or ethnic group) with hatred and intolerance

— big·ot·ed \-gə-təd\adjective

— big·ot·ed·lyadverb

I recently met a woman who emigrated from Sierra Leone to America by way of England. Having gotten my worldview of race relations in that country from BBC America, I had assumed that racism and bigotry were relatively non-existent. Unlike American television programming, British TV series tend to be more inclusive of all racial and ethnic backgrounds. She nipped that misconception in the bud with “The racists in England will tell you to your face. In America they a sneaky about their feelings.” After President Obama was elected her ex-husband called repeatedly, begging her to go back to England because of the hateful and nasty rhetoric being heard from across the pond. But she said no, her children were teenagers now and settled into the American culture.

Racism and bigotry have been a part of the American fabric since the first white men stepped onto North American soil. Initially their focus was on the members of The First Nation, deemed heathens and too ignorant to manage their lands, so they took them off their hands. Then it was the enslaved people from Africa, bought and sold as a commodity, because the color of their skin denoted little or no intelligence or potential of such.

Having come of age in the Detroit area during the 60’s and 70’s, with its civil rights movement and the war on poverty, I thought a new paradigm was unfolding. Not being a foolish person I knew it would take time to win over the hearts and minds of some of the strongest proponents of these types of behavior. Sadly, here we are, as a nation, ending the year 2011, with the vestiges of ignorance still firmly planted in the souls of America’s so-called leaders, whether they be members of Congress, titans of industry, or the religious right. This behavior can be felt, heard, and seen, simmering just below the surface of our society.

All of this came to the forefront when President Obama was elected by a vast majority of the country. Unfortunately, that election also brought us the 2008 The New Yorker cover, meant as satire, of President and First Lady Obama as Islamic terrorists. Or the Tea Party, spitting on black members of Congress and flashing racist posters of Obama.

The GOP in congress and their Tea Party puppet masters have attacked just about everything the President has proposed, from blocking critical appointments of ambassadors to judges. In many states they are attempting to sabotage voting rights, along with threatening the government safety net for millions of poor, elderly, and working poor.  Most of whom are people of color …. and Obama backers.

But it’s not just members of Congress. It’s been known for years the law enforcement and the judicial system ROUTINLY mete out “justice” heavy handedly to people of color verse those who are white. Remember, “everything is a business model” including the American prison system.

Businesses such as Koch Industries, whose owners back some of the harshest policies against the poor and working poor, primarily people of color. Or Lowes, pulling their advertising dollars from a program about Muslim Americans in Dearborn Michigan, because a small religious group complained.

Which brings me to those bible thumping, “Jesus is my Lord”, God fearing religious right Christians in America, including many GOP’ers, wanting to dismantle any and all government sponsored safety nets for the poor children, women, and elderly. Though I consider myself a “heathen”, I vaguely recall from my Catholic school days that Jesus was ALL about the have not’s and against the “money changers”, the biblical Wall Cheaters of their day. Call me crazy, but I think these “holy rollers” have missed His message of love for all and all for each other.

As I told the woman from Sierra Leone, they are a very small segment of American society, they just happen to have big mouths and even bigger wallets. So Tribe, it’s time to shut them up once and for all. Make a difference by boycotting any and all products produced by Koch Industries, Lowes, and other companies that pander to such low levels of baser thoughts, words, and emotions. That would be Fear, fear of your fellow children, women, and men, whether they be Muslim, Hindu, black or brown.

But I think more importantly, reach out to the Wordsmith of The Tribe. For far too long, many of American Main Stream Media, whether in print or on television, have turned a deaf ear and blind eye to what’s been happening. Ed Shultz, Rachel Maddow, and some writers at the Washington Post have recently spoken up about this unseemly behavior. I urge all of you reach out to the others to encourage a more mature and thoughtful discussion to finally end this unbecoming ugliness. Please ask your soul “If not now, when?”

I'd like to end this piece with a poem I found by James Patrick Kinney

THE COLD WITHIN

Six humans trapped in happenstance
In dark and bitter cold,
Each one possessed a stick of wood,
Or so the story's told.

Their dying fire in need of logs
The first woman held hers back,
For of the faces around the fire,
She noticed one was black.

The next man looking across the way
Saw not one of his church,
And couldn't bring himself to give
The fire his stick of birch.

The third one sat in tattered clothes
He gave his coat a hitch,
Why should his log be put to use,
To warm the idle rich?

The rich man just sat back and thought
Of the wealth he had in store,
And how to keep what he had earned,
From the lazy, shiftless poor.

The black man's face bespoke revenge
As the fire passed from sight,
For all he saw in his stick of wood
Was a chance to spite the white.

The last man of this forlorn group
Did naught except for gain,
Giving only to those who gave,
Was how he played the game.

The logs held tight in death's still hands
Was proof of human sin,
They didn't die from the cold without,
They died from the cold within.


THE ABOVE "WORDS" ARE NOT INTENDED TO BE FACTUAL STATEMENTS

(thank you Trevor!! Happy Holidays)