Monday, November 01, 2004

Spirits

In the Spirit of Halloween, a Haunted House opened near TunaU. Unsuspecting parents who took their children for some holiday fun witnessed "horrors" which included teen suicide, abortion, oral sex and homosexual marriages performed by Satan. All advertisement of this event conveniently neglected to mention that this attraction was courtesy of a right wing fundamentalist flag-filled church.

At the expense of childhood trauma, they claimed First Amendment Rights.

In the Spirit of Values, the Mitten state, like many others, is considering a constitutional amendment which will remove, rather than protect the rights of its citizens. Passage of this proposal will send a clear message that the recognition of love and fidelity belong to some and not to all.

At the expense of family, they claim a superior morality.

In the Spirit of Democracy, this country has waged war time and time again against those that were in our way, different than ourselves, or dared to play with our toys. We justified our position with skewed rhetoric, paid off or killed our detractors and have now earned the unfortunate reputation as a global bully.

At the expense of peace, we have claimed freedom.

Never have I been so concerned about where we, as a people, are headed. In a country that was founded on freedom, diversity and hope for a better future, we have turned into a zero-tolerance, color-coded society, controlled by fear and driven by retribution. Cute, sloganistic catch phrases, such as the 1950 rhyme-tastic "Better dead than Red" have been replaced by "Terrorist. " It's shorter, simpler and much more menacing in an unbelievably vague kind of way. Need to spy on more people? Call them a terrorist and then invoke The Patriot Act. Need to limit some rights? Call them a terrorist and then arrest them without charge. Need to invade a country? Call them a terrorist nation and then slap a yellow magnetic ribbon on the back of your gas guzzling motor vehicle to support our troops.

It's so easy to live for today. It's so easy to flip the television dial, scan the airwaves or browse the Internet to find personal validation. It's OUR money, It's OUR country, It's OUR natural resources. It's OURS. And it's NOW.

But what is ours today will not be ours tomorrow. What resources we squander will be forever lost for generations to come. What financial holes we dig for ourselves will not be solved with a wink and a prayer, and our global bad-boy behavior will not be soon forgotten. It's about time we started treating our existence as a blessing and not an entitlement.

For the hope of tomorrow,
don't claim peace, tolerance, hope and freedom today.

Live it.

6 comments:

TVJ said...

Thank you.

nlk said...

Well said. Thanks for putting so many frustrating thoughts into such a straightforward and honest plea.

Anonymous said...

That is awesome! Thank you. May tomorrow bring us hope.

With admiration,
PeaceTuna

Anonymous said...

Yes, it appears that as much as ever, the Pharisees are still running much of the show. I think there is a deep human need to try to make others out as inferior--whether they are or not. If you're not me or the people I'm surrounded with (be they of the tribe, sect, ethicity, race, football fandom, or political party persuasion, etc), well then you are obviously not as good. And if you're not as good, you should be subservient, if only we have enough troops/votes/money/power/guns to make it so.
Sigh.
Proposal 2 makes me very, very sad.
brad

Kat said...

What?! I can't even believe it. Oh wait, yes I can.
I, too, am scared about the direction the country has taken. I voted today and I hope we can set the country back on the right track.

Hammie said...

You, my friend, are an author and a poet.

Bravo.

*gives a standing ovation*