84. Who Are We?
Last year was such a horrendous year that we looked forward to 2004 and the promise of new beginnings, or at least an improvement from the unrelenting worry and woe. Here it is, two months down and so far, not too bad, not great, but not too bad, which is something positive in itself. Hope is ever present.
I've been wrestling with several different topics to write about, most of which I've been putting off several months because they seem so trivial and frivolous in light of our "heavy" news concerns. I was planning to write a Valentine's Day article as part of my ongoing series on dating as an older woman, but sorry Honey, I wasn't in the mood. I haven't been able to shake off that feeling of subtle anxiety. If I smoked I'd be lighting up every half hour. I know I'm not alone.
My usual escape is going to the movies, but quite honestly, most recent films deal with such "downer" subject matter or are too inane to consider that there has been no escape. Instead, I've contented myself by trying to be out in nature more, even on the rainy days, and then it dawned on me. I need to reconnect... WE need to reconnect... to ourselves, to Mother Earth, to all that is good and pure in our Country, our World.
There is no escape from politics with the upcoming elections and the constant barrage of media manipulation distracting people from basic issues. There is no escape from corporate greed with gasoline prices constantly rising and the knowledge that there is one simple fact, which we all seem to ignore, the Earth is running out of natural resources, probably sooner than later. There is no escape from war with our soldiers still being placed in harm's way in Iraq or the probability that there are covert operatives behind the Haitian rebellion. There is no escaping the fact that Americans are disliked around the globe, when in fact, as Americans we need to take a serious look at who we are and why we are, without fear of facing the bitter truth.
The bitter truth is that we are fat, we are uneducated, comparatively speaking, we are ugly in terms of how we treat others of color or different ethnicity, we are wasteful, and thanks to our President, we have no respect for the preservation of our environment or ecological needs, and we are big bullies. Most of us don't even realize that our basic freedoms are being compromised and slowly taken away in the guise of "homeland security," so add to the list that we are fast becoming a nation of a brainwashed society, attacking one another at any suggestion of being unpatriotic with the slightest voice of complaint or dissent. Has it dawned on anyone to question why every single news station reports the exact same news with the exact same perspectives?
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