General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsOld Lion Wake
Rise like lions after slumber
In unvanquished number --
Shake your chains to earth, like dew
Which in sleep has fallen on you --
Ye are many, they are few.
-- Percy Bysshe Shelley; Masque of Anarchy; 1819.
During the mid-winter month, I have been e-mailing my closest associate a series of letter-essays: long-winded attempts to express the connections between the anger, hatreds and violence on an international, national, and local level. She had called me on Saturday, to discuss a three-day union conference she had just returned from, and noted that the general topics I have been writing about apply to her union activism. I thought that today -- as a winter storm has brought most activity in upstate New Yorks southern tier to a stand-still -- I would share a few of these thoughts with you.
A small example: as a member of the local school board, I try to attend sports events. The level of hostility at both the boys and girls basketball games has reached a saturation point. And it is not limited to our team vs. their team. Oh, we did recently have the mother of an opposing teams star-player rush up into the bleachers, to scream at students after her son missed a foul shot. Curiously, she focused her rage on a 7th grade Asian-American girl, who was not even part of the student cheering section. The woman was told to leave the school.
Weve also had adults yelling, Shut your fucking mouth! and other similar unpleasantries at other adults from our own community; an increasing number of parents who, for reasons good and bad, are furious with their sons and daughters coaches; and an incident where local and state police had to come to restore order in the gym. A mother is now banned from the gym, for attacking a coach.
[There are, of course, many thoughtful, considerate, good and decent people. During a break from composing this essay, I was attempting to shovel-out enough of my driveway to be able to venture out. (I notice my driveway gets much longer in the winter.) A passing truck stopped; it was a gentleman I used to provide services to at the mental health clinic. He refused my offer of payment for plowing me out. This allowed me to come inside in time to answer the telephone: a young lady who was homeless a decade ago, and who we took in, was very upset by poisonous lies her extended family were spreading about her late father. We talked for an hour or so. I told her that she has many of the strengths that I admired in her late father.]
I recognize that I am perhaps more sensitive to expressions of anger in public places, since my cousin and his son were shot in an incident of road rage three months ago. Im aware of the significant amount of Good that a small town provides in support of an extended family, when a father is seriously wounded, and his son bleeds to death in his arms on a dirt parking lot. My lifes experience has taught me that the violence that is fueled by anger and fear is not something that people control -- just the opposite: people lose self-control, and the violence takes control of them. It is diseased behavior, that is capable of spreading quickly through any given population. This results in individuals and often groups acting out.
The only legitimate response to this trend, in my opinion, is found in the examples provided for human beings by Gandhi and King. (The Shelly poem, quoted above, was a Gandhi favorite.) It requires three things: first, that people wake up to their humanity; second, that they recognize that even those seeking to capitalize upon the social tensions that infect our culture are victimized by it (they gain the world, but lose their soul/ human worth potential; and third, that those of good will engage in a campaign of non-violent non-cooperation against the negative forces that destroy human beings.
Among the most pressing of problems in my area involves the environment. Ive been involved in environmental protection efforts for several decades. As I age, my contributions to the struggle have changed in nature; one major change is that I need to take more rest time in between rounds of activity. A variety of issues resulted in my stepping back in 2014. But I am preparing for a return engagement in 2015.
But what the heck does this have to do with high school basketball, you ask?
At a recent game, I was talking to some new friends. The husband and wife, both doctors, were at the game to watch their 9th grade daughter. They had recently moved here from Hawaii (the husband had graduated with my oldest brother, before leaving the small town life for the excitement of the west coast in the late 1960s). He told me how earlier in the day, a lady from the office next to his had told him that all of our areas economic and social problems have been caused by me.She is the step-daughter of the infamous former Town of Sidney Supervisor Bob McCarthy, who made national news with his attack on a tiny Sufi settlements cemetery.
McCarthy was also a fracking advocate, who used his office to attempt self-enrichment. He and his cronies had, upon the advice of a regional energy executive, invested his savings in land, hoping to become the Jed Clampett of gas. Now, since Governor Cuomo nixed fracking, they resent the heavy load of property taxes. Rather than consider how community and county services are now paid primarily by property taxes -- thanks to the national republicans 1% program -- they blame the environmental community. And some more than others.
Hence, my preparation -- rooted largely in my admittedly limited grasp of Gandhi and King -- includes working to not resent these peoples ignorance. To not feel contempt for their beliefs. To recognize that we are not sitting on a fence, where good people will survive, and bad folks perish. To create community.
More, by no coincidence, this includes working to accept the shortcomings of some in the environmental community -- including myself. In the past few years, during the often tension-filled days, there have been fractures within the environmental community. Thus, Im focusing not only on what role I may have played, but on what role I might have played to lessen the damage.
We must seek out the spiritual people because only that is going to help us survive. We have a great force -- a great brotherhood. This brotherhood involves all living things. And that, of course, includes us all. We are talking about the natural world, the natural force, all the trees, everything that grows, the water. That is part of our force.
But when you gather spiritual force in one place, you also gather the negative force. We begin to perceive the enemy now, the power and presense of the negative force.
There is a great battle coming.
-- Onondaga Chief Oren Lyons
My OP has fallen, and it can't get up! Anyone got any viagra to spare?
woo me with science
(32,139 posts)particularly in a climate of incessant corporate propaganda that seeks to create angry divisions among us for political gain.
We need reminders that we are all part of the human family, in order to build shared convictions about what is best for all of us.
Thank you, H2O man.
H2O Man
(73,592 posts)I'm coming back to this OP/thread, after attending yet another b-ball games last night. There was a heated argument between two adult men at court-side. The result? A 14-year old girl crying.
What's curious is that I am friends with both men. I've been to both of their homes. Known them for years.
Both of them pretty much avoided me last night; I think this was due to each knowing that I'd ask them to behave properly.
I was glad that my daughter -- who plays on another team -- went over and comforted the 14 year old.
Liberalynn
(7,549 posts)H2O Man
(73,592 posts)Tierra_y_Libertad
(50,414 posts)H2O Man
(73,592 posts)I've seen the quote, "What you think, you become" attributed to Buddha. It was also among Gandhi's favorite messages.
The amount of wisdom and insight that simple message conveys is impressive.
panader0
(25,816 posts)F4lconF16
(3,747 posts)I have a comment on one thing you said:
I agree that creating community is perhaps the best way possible to resist the momentous flood of fear, anger, and greed that envelops our world right now (and perhaps always has, and always will). When we have a strong community, we have empathy for others. We depend on each other, we ask for help, we give help. That tends to translate (from what I've seen) into an ethically stronger and significantly more positive outlook on life, which of course changes how we interact and behave in the world around us. I particularly like the fence metaphor: we are not two opposing groups, or many groups, we are one people composed of many groups. We are, for better or worse, all in this together.
However, I rather strongly disagree with the idea that we should not hold irrational, hateful, or unethical views in contempt. While we should work to avoid resentment, as you said, we should very vocally and sharply criticize ideas that we feel are wrong. I'm not entirely sure how to phrase what I mean, but perhaps an example would be the best choice: I firmly believe that anti-vaccination proponents should be ridiculed. Their ludicrous ideas are harmful to myself and others around me. I hold their ideas and opinions in contempt, and I would hope others do as well. We should do our best to understand them, if for no other reason than to avoid encouraging hate in ourselves, but understanding is a far cry from resentment, and I don't think that contempt will lead to that.
(Of course, my interpretation of the word contempt may differ from yours, at least as far as the connotations of the word. I realize I seized on a single part of the paragraph, and that I may not have made my response here clear. I think we agree on the ideas behind it, if not the exact wording.)
I agree with what you have said here. Many ideas and beliefs that people have will, by their very nature, result in good people holding those ideas and beliefs in utter contempt. I understand and appreciate that. And I most definitely would never tell you or anyone else that it is in any way wrong to feel this way.
However, I do try -- admittedly with marginal success -- to not respond in the manner that is actually first nature. For example, when I was employed in mental health, I attempted to be as non-judgmental as possible -- except, of course, in forensic cases.
In my opinion, people such as Gandhi and King were giants. Yet, as such, they couldn't "save" society ....at least not from everything ....but rather, they provided road maps. It is up to "little" people, including myself, to attempt to follow the directions they recommended.
For me, it is all too easy to go from holding ideas and beliefs in contempt, to holding those who hold them in contempt. So what I try to do is to set a higher standard for myself, than I would for anyone else. To the exact extent that I can reach that standard, I may be successful in helping to bring about the changes that I know are necessary in my own little, out-of-the-way place here on earth.
F4lconF16
(3,747 posts)And I would do well to remember this:
Thank you for the thought-provoking discussion. It's a pleasure.
H2O Man
(73,592 posts)Mnemosyne
(21,363 posts)Octafish
(55,745 posts)"I will now proceed to untangle the entire area."
When a person does not know he or she is blessed, call a Boddhisatva.
However innumerable sentient beings are, I vow to save them.
However inexhaustible the defilements are, I vow to extinguish them.
However immeasurable the dharmas are, I vow to master them.
However incomparable enlightenment is, I vow to attain it.
http://www.katinkahesselink.net/tibet/vows.html
H2O Man
(73,592 posts)My current issue right now involves a choice: I'm "selling" (giving) my house & property to my children this spring, because as an old man, I have little need for 17 rooms, plus taxes; I could move out into the small cabin beside my pond and sweat lodge, and study to be a hermit ....or, I could continue in another round to challenge the Unspeakable.
Or, I suppose I could try doing both! (grin)
hedda_foil
(16,375 posts)H2O Man
(73,592 posts)Enthusiast
(50,983 posts)H2O Man
(73,592 posts)Scuba
(53,475 posts)I must say, however, that I'm amazed to learn that you are responsible for "all" of your area's social and economic problems. You must have super powers!
This lady apparently was so invested in her dreams of wealth-by-fracking that she has difficulty accepting reality.
we can all learn so much from you, thank you.
We can all learn a lot from one another. I have certainly learned a great deal over the years that I've participated here.