Life in These Days
Which way are we going as a nation?
Hope for better days
They came from all over the city. The rich places, the poor parts. The places that were filled with hipsters and other places where people struggled wondering how they would feed their children. All over the country, the scene repeated in cities and towns. People all came together to say “enough.”
They came to protest the state of the nation. The nation led by old men who spoke of people as “human capital” instead of as souls. People who were more concerned with 25,000 on the stock index, rather than the 100,000 fellow human who died under their watch. Old men who hoped for the best and did the least. Old men who spoke of strength, but are so fearful that a mask breaks their spirits. Old men scared to speak out against injustice. Old men who don’t even think about common people when they declare war on their own citizens.
They were tired of the buzzing helicopters, police officers in uniforms stripped of insignia, shoot first and ask questions later types, cops who fire rubber bullets at reporters and protesters alike, people who were bullies, just like their fearful leader. People who just want to hurt others were empowered and filled with hubris. They were inspired by their leader who told them they didn’t need to be nice anymore to anyone. An old man who was so arrogant he thought he knew more than anyone else in the world.
He will reap what he has sown
We reap what we sow, the Bible says. They are reaping the results of their years of injustice that didn’t just begin in 2016. Their schemes to deprive people of happiness by making them work more, more and more failed when nature struck back with a virus to get their attention and to let people take stock of their situation in life. Their schemes to imprison more and more and more in private for-profit prisons are failing as people open their eyes to our carceral state and fight back against fascism come alive in a little strong man who does little, except pose for pictures in front of a boarded up church holding a Bible upside down — clueless yet able to cause the American Carnage he spoke of during his inauguration. Was it a promise?
Things are getting better. People are waking up. People aren’t hypnotized yelling “USA,” “USA” as the leader eggs crowds to fight each other in rallies. People are seeking justice. Millions of them. They are out on the streets protesting. Upholding their First Amendment right to petition the failed President and the failed Washington establishment to change our country. Sending a signal that it is time to change. Letting them know people aren’t happy with the status quo. People are going to vote this year. From the local level, state level and national level, they are going to clean house. People are upset at being mistreated.
We won’t be units of labor anymore
We won’t be units of labor anymore. We won’t stand for governments that can’t provide healthcare because they’ve spent all of their money enriching their cronies and outfitting military and police to fight their own citizens. We are saying “NO” to our culture of violence. A nation is marching demanding change to the way we are living since what we are doing now isn’t working for us. We don’t want to return the old ways. We can’t go back to the way things were before Corona. We can’t go back to the ways before the days when people took to the streets to express their displeasure with the government. We won’t go back now that we know we have the power to change the future. We are no longer at the mercy of the oligarchs. We realize the elites want to hold us back. We aren’t letting them anymore. We are not. We are taking back the power.
We are approaching the anniversary of Tienanmen Square. China rolled the tanks out to quell the protesters before the turn of the century. Our leader wants to be just like those leaders of long ago who threatened their people with violence. A weak man, fearful of all sorts of things, hoping to ease his anxieties about being inadequate by speaking like a dictator. Spreading the virus of hate, instead of the love that is universal that flows through the universe. The Orange man is hoping that people would come to heel like the dogs he fears so much — that must be why he speaks poorly of dogs almost daily. A scared old man secretly fearing freedom for the people because he is broken inside. Worried about ending up in one of the prisons he so eagerly want to send his citizens who are fed up with him for many years for daring to protest against his failures.
Times are changing
Times are changing. People are waking up. The movement is rolling on. People aren’t going back. People within his administration are speaking out. His advisors aren’t too smart. He has a huge blind spot because he is hobbled with arrogance, ignorance and prejudice. This is how he will fall. He won’t even realize it.
Better times will be here soon
I am optimistic
The struggle will be tough
The way won’t be easy
But we can change the US
Into a place where freedom and liberty
Are real for everyone
And not just for a few elites
A place where we can love each other
A place where we give up violence and militarism
And instead focus on community building and health care
A place where we can build a heaven on Earth
Instead of suffering poverty, sickness, oppression and discrimination
A place where people are truly equal
And rights are safeguarded for all
It will happen
Sooner than later
I am optimistic
It takes too much energy to sustain a dictatorship
Hate wears people down
Love builds them up
When people are free from worry and oppression
They thrive
This is why the forces of fascism
Screaming about cracking down will fall
They didn’t last long in the 1940's
And, they won’t last long in these coming years
New leadership is coming
Share your vision for the future
Share your views of the future.
Do you think things will be better?
Are we learning from the past?
Or, are we doomed to repeat the mistakes over and over?
What should we do to make life better for everyone in the world?
People Over Property
Now is the time to value people more than property
We have done that for way too long
Our country was build on slavery
And indentured servitude
People either captured and imprisoned
Made to work for free
Or, caught in debt traps
Where all of their money went to their creditor
It was no way to live life back in the old days
It is no way to live life these days
It is time to change our system
Freedom for all
Human rights for all
Love for all
Health care for all
Economic security for all
No more corporate welfare
No more militarized police
Armed for war against regular people
Americans need to live their ideals
And live Jesus’s command to love one another
We can do it
It isn’t hard
If we all start loving
Love yourself
And love your neighbor
Love poem №598
Love is so wonderful
You can love yourself
Just say it
Right now
“I love you”
While looking in the mirror
Keep doing that
If you do, you will start to feel it
And, you will start to make the change
That will change the rest of the world
Just pass this little secret along
To everyone you know
And see how long it takes
To make the world a more
Loving place
To read more of my work, visit my profile here Chris Hedges.
Inspired by posts by Sherry McGuinn and Timothy Key:
Tagging Britni Pepper, Marla Bishop, Gurpreet Dhariwal for international viewpoints on what is happening here and how they are doing in the midst of all the chaos.