#Day61
I watched The Big Short (again) over the weekend. It was more shocking watching it now in our overtly corrupt America than it was a few years ago.
It’s vulgar actually. Vulgar that not a single criminal bank or banker were held accountable. They were rescued. They were hand slapped (maybe). They were essentially given permission to continue scamming, deceiving and profiting while Americans lost their homes, their livelihoods, their American dreams and the possibility of a prosperous future.
Many of us were wakefully asleep when the economy crashed. Many of us were living large and fat and carefree. We were blind to the suffering of others and mad with our desire to consume consume consume. I know I was.
Our lust for stuff was electrifying.
The Regime has been good for the economy. Yes, Obama bailed it out and yet the stock market continues to over-perform even knowing this president is a traitorous liar, potentially treasonous, totally corrupt, mentally unstable, a fraud and yet, what we revere most, the dollar, is doing well for those who control it. It's so confusing.
Today is the first day I’ve seen losses in a long time. Perhaps Russia is less good for the economy?
Seattle, where we live, is one of the fastest growing cities in the United States.
There are cranes everywhere and massive holes in the ground as old buildings are being ripped from their roots for new shinier objects. It’s about density and prosperity and innovation. And yet, you can’t drive under any bridge or freeway overpass without seeing villages of tents, garbage, of lives forgotten.
Children live in those tents. Babies are born in those tents. It’s not just random single men; its entire families who lives were stolen while we were worshipping the false god, the golden calf. Remember the story of the Moses and the Ten Commandments? How while Moses was gone to visit god and the people had some time to kill so they built a calf out of gold and began praying to the gold.
Somehow along our way, in our great American experiment, we too wandered too far into the desert and began worshipping a golden calf.
Since the election, since our day of wokeness, we feel the pain that so many of our American brothers and sisters felt daily before the election, at least that’s how it was for me, recognizing my own wakeful sleeping where I was properly outraged at all the right times and yet, complicit because after the outrage, I went right back to where I was before, right back to my life.
Not only did the election wake us up to the scary reality of corruption, distortion and false idols, it has woken us up to the divide, not the divide in conservative and liberal ideologies but the divide between putting myself first vs. taking care of others.
I truly believe that’s the difference in our values – voting for myself, my own issues or voting for the whole of society.
In our massively growing city, a very progressive activist very wealthy activist wants to raise property taxes to end the homeless problem. I’m happy to contribute to ending homelessness and yet, there are others who even a slight increase in expenses put them at the same risk for the problem we’re trying to solve.
I write all this, as the thing that repeats itself over and over to me, is what do we value?
What gives our lives meaning?
How do we care for one another?
What are we willing to sacrifice to make sure we end this period of massive destruction and greed, of massive cruelty, of governing that destroys so much that we hold dear?
I believe it’s only a matter of time before this regime topples and yet it’s not just this administration.
There are too many in power who have disdain for women, earth, immigrants, people of color, indigenous people, poor people, water, etc., etc.
We didn’t get here over night; it’s been coming for years. And we let it happen because things were good enough for us.
While we are the holistic voters, we are the people who vote for the good of all of us, we are also the people who are being called to recreate the American experiment.
We are the people who need to know what we value so we can lead with our values.
If we value freedom, equality, education, the environment, healthcare, you know the list, what are we willing to sacrifice to ensure those values are preserved and thrive?
I know making daily calls is hard. I certainly don’t feel like doing it every day. It’s a chore. I know getting asked to donate money constantly is a nag; it really bums me out that money is what wins elections. I know it’s easier to order on Amazon, I do it all the time, and yet Amazon advertisings on Breitbart, Amazon is helping fund the lies and hatred.
I grapple with all of it. I feel guilty and consumed. I feel sick. I want to shut it out and yet if I do, I am part of the reason we are here. I am accountable to my country, to my brothers and sisters.
There are so many suffering in ways I may never understand. I want to ease their burden, as that is what freedom and liberty mean.
This great American experiment isn’t about me having while my neighbors live in a tent without heat, electricity and plumbing under a freeway overpass.
We can solve this together. We must solve this together. It’s a hard and painful fight and it doesn’t end when the regime topples. It ends when we value people and the environment more than profits.
TODAY'S EASY ACTIVISM: CALL YOUR SENATORS AGAIN AND AGAIN
1. INSIST the STOP the GORSUCH HEARINGS! How can we even entertain this candidate when our president is under investigation from Russia? I'm serious. This is absurd.
2. Tell them you're opposed to Gorsuch's confirmation.
3. Demand an INDEPENDENT investigation into Russia (outside of what's going on today and will continue in the Senate next week). We need the truth and the GOP was more focused yesterday on leaks than outrage at what is really happening.
DONATE to Jon Ossoff in Georgia. He is under attack by GOP PAC money and we need this win!
Love and gratitude to each of you. Thanks for allowing me to share my passion, my outrage and my belief that we are stronger together.
:: genessa.