Many viruses that are harmful to humans are carried by migratory birds that come into contact with pigs which were usually and historically kept in close contact with humans. All little villages in the world used to have pigs in daily contact with humans. Not so much anymore thanks to factory farming and the slaughter of our fellow beings on an incomprehensible scale…If we didn’t eat animals at the rate and the way that we do we would not have a corona virus, or most flu’s and all sorts of other consequences which we choose to not examine too closely.

If you eat animals on a daily basis you are in a rich, compared to poor, country or society where its difficult to eat meat regularly; although insects are a staple in many cultures and that is a type of necessity. Eating animals for protein is not necessary, its a habit. In order for anyone to be rich in this world a number of people have to do without.

If you eat foie Gras you are eating the liver of an animal that was tortured to death over its long painful life by having grain forced down its throat through a two foot long tube/funnel and its beak/bill wired shut so that it can’t regurgitate the overstuffing and consequently develops a fatty live for which it is then killed and the liver shipped off to fancy restaurants which cater to the rich…That’s life.

The have’s have their way with the world and and the don’t have’s; not so much. Is there anything new going on in this world where that hasn’t been the case since the strong ate better than the weak (i.e. forever) ? Nope!

Is this liable to change anytime soon? Nope!

Can I change how I see things and learn to behave differently? Yep!

Why does it feel like I can’t change and I need to accept the inevitable and nothing will ever change?

It’s how Things Are and, that feeling is just a feeling.

Feelings drive, pull and push us as if they had a power over us because we think feelings can make us do things that, at some level, we know aren’t right.

That’s not true. Any feeling can be examined, looked at calmly (maybe not right away but over time spent trying, as in practice…) and seen for what it is, and it usually is a demand for something to be different in the world so that I am not displeased or uncomfortable or offended.

So, I’m the big problem. Turns out I’m the only one who can help change me.

Who am I helping in this

changing of the me that I

hold so dear and am afraid of

loosing if I let go of it. Who?

Photo taken at top-secret U.S. installation even as guards were looking on. Bwuaha-ha-aha-ha-aha-ha-ha!!! (US Post Office:)

Proof of America imprisoning and dis-appearing our rebels.

There is no justice for the Comfortable Many.

No wonder we riot to show our standing in-solidarity with the oppressed and then go home after ‘secret’ police hold us for a couple of hours and wring our hands. It can’t happen here they wailed throughout history.

We stand at the barricades and then, when its time for some other diversion, we go home; having done what we can, we insist.

We can skateboard on ramps with impunity. We are white Americans fed up with the status quo. Hear us grumble for Organic Chamomile Tea and coffee that is made from beans that have passed through the digestive system of Civets in Viet-Nam. Haven’t the Civets given enough of themselves to support Fine Perfumes? We are White America (or wanna-be-white america, ouch!) and we have a ‘Heart’! Look at this nice wooden one I bought at Target, it hangs over the couch next to the other wooden ones that say ‘Family’ and ‘Love’ Not that there is anything going wrong there, it’s just that the deep need to express love is the same for all of us.

And, the saddest part is that we do care, we have just never developed a language or system or cultural/social ways to show this in the more personal ways. We buy the expression of feelings from others so we can display them and wonder why we feel just a tad empty. It is what poetry, writing, art and music and such are used for, yet they are in a way an impediment to feeling the real thing when that is what is called for. Like now.

It takes time to feel and be still.

It takes great effort to be still and feel.

To be still within effort and feel that perhaps

Stillness is sufficient on too itself

And, there is more…

Quiet helpers in the world

just sitting there apparently doing

nothing, the quiet helpers of our world

just rest and wait until called upon to

hold some thing, to shed light on another,

to unfold and to support out activities;

a little stool to sit on while sorting, or

to lay a book up on, so we can get on

with the day. Someone, somewhere,

helped to build and assemble, box and

ship, then deliver all these helpers to us,

for us. We don’t consider them often

enough, all the helpers. It’s easy to

believe we really matter and are all

alone. Gaze around and see,

don’t just look. Eyes are

Two-way streets

So the cheerful little flower

jumped into the path and said,

‘just keep walking you’ll find

that you don’t have that far to

go, soon enough you’ll be there, and

somebody will see your numbers and

say hey, I’m older than that right now.

American

American male

American anglo male

American anglo male heterosexual

American anglo male heterosexual boomer

American heterosexual ….lefty-anrcho-liberal, semi-conservative, vegetarian, Buddhist, autodidact, pro-socialist-anti-communist jazz-fan and movie-buff and reader of history and religion and art and fan of noir movies who thinks Woody Allen is an asshole who should by now have gotten over himself; and who thinks that John LeCarre and Phillip Kerr are great modern writers and who hates the Washington Post and Fox News with equal vigor because they get paid by the same ad agencies; so they can’t be really (I mean Really!) That Different and thinks that SNL is a poorly re-constructed hash of the original subversive and bright Show of Shows, and that SNL is racist and bigoted in its presumptions that its ok for Black comedians to make fun of Latinos and if Blacks portray themselves as stereotypes that only whites laugh at, its ok; because “we are all in on the joke”and we are hip…not so! Not even close.
American….blah blah blah, who in conversation with others that he feels kinship with, realizes they have some very strange takes on reality and can’t really be trusted.

American…blah etc; who thinks we should make like Woody Allen and get over Ourselves. Maybe examine our presumptions and ideas about what the real world is when all we’ve ever done is lived at the Height of Empire and guzzled and eaten the world while politely discussing that it is a shame how the world is not being treated right.

Oh, Mother Earth! Where are you going? I want to neglect you more! I promise to change tomorrow. Not just yet though, but tomorrow for sure! Right now I just need little time to myself. To, you know, gather in and reflect and see where I can really make a difference; maybe more than half-assed recycling and carrying my Trader Joe’s bag to Whole Foods (a whole other order of American schweinerei, I actually don’t shop there. One must have some standards, plus they are to expensive for me. My personal Class War is giving Whole Foods store’s The Finger when I drive by one; below the dashboard off course. Standards. Are they still in business? Anyway…

American…blah…ad nauseam. I want to explain to you how if you changed a few of your views we could all prosper and be comfortable. I want to explain to you that all people and all cultures and all thoughts and all behaviors and all actions are ultimately just an expression of our deep need and wish for Oneness. But, I gather it is best if I do as I say do rather than I do, do. so…

American blah…bull-shitter; who is so wrapped up in his explanation of himself (or her explanation of herself [Inclusiveness Double Paranthetical],), that he can’t see beyond his (like opinion) nose and when he does is, all he sees is you, which which happens to be a pair of ears that connect to a brain and now needs brand new information about the actual reality of life and what you need to know in order to change, if certain parties are ever going to have a chance at happiness. You know who I’m talking about!

I think a ventricle just cleared up a bit.