Revolution pt 2

I'm annoyed. I was looking at this blog of a musician I rather like (Colbe Logan). Actually, I only have an Anytown album (his old band), but i'm thinking I'll buy some of his albums. Anyways, on his blog he's talking about how materialism is kind of a negetive, and how he traded his materialistic outlook for a path of music and spirituality. All well and good, problem is, it's OUR materialism that allows him to do it! If we didn't buy his CDs, attend his shows, or buy his $25 Tshirts, he wouldn't be able to live the life he does. He's just as stuck in this system as we are.

And that's why I'm annoyed. It's not that he's got a bad outlook; I share the same one. But he talks as if he had extricated himself from the materialism, when he hasn't, he's just taken one step away from it. He's as much a consumer as we are. This isn't just him (or me, as I'm a hypocrite too). We're all the same way. All talk and no walk, and we deny a huge amount of information, ignoring it completely, for the sake of comfort (physical and mental).

One (among many) good example is the gas situation. Our humongous desire for oil and its derivatives causes untold misery throughout the world. Without oil, the Middle East would be a backwater, unless they could sell sand and camels. Think of the the wars and strife (within and between those countries) fueled by oil, oil money, and the politics surrounding it. Also: the energy from oil has given us the car, and thus the suburb (farmland/habitat destruction and community alienation), fast food (obesity), and walmart and other centralized megastores (destruction of local economy and international near-slave labor)... to say nothing of oil spills, air pollution, and noise pollution.

Yet who among us would support a 3 dollar hike in the gas taxes to help reflect the true cost of oil, such as military expenditures and contamination clean-up costs? We'd probably need a 50 dollar hike to cover it (yeah, i'm exaggerating... maybe?). To suggest such a hike would be political suicide, because we'd all freak out and want to hang the guy who proposed it. In the end, we want peace, a clean world, and perhaps a clean lifestyle, heart, mind, and spirit. But only when it doesn't inconvenience us. After all, we need to drive to work, school, McDonalds and Walmart... even if it is only one mile away.

Our problem is that we're all talk, and no walk. I, for example, talk shit about automobiles and consumerism, but still drive, and love buying music and books. Unlike many others, this deeply bothers me, to the core. But the point is, we're left with a bad choice: 1) own up and realize our hypocricy and selfishness (a hard thing to do), and work to change it, or 2) continue ignoring the problems in favor of comfort and expediency, and keep seeing the same old shit happening all over the world till it all comes crashing down. Choosing the first is the start of our revolution.

Revolution pt 1

I’ve been thinking a lot about revolution lately. Not sure why; probably because we need one so bad. We’re long overdue, you know. There’s a quote by someone that says, if you don’t stir the pot once in a while, all the scum gathers on the top.

Anyways, being of the nonviolent bent, I was also thinking about Gandhi. There is the ideal revolutionary, a personal hero of mine. (Incidentally, he took inspiration from Thoreau, pacifist, free-thinker, and another hero of mine). Everyone thinks of Gandhi as this gentle passive guy. He wasn’t; he was a true revolutionary. In fact, he was one of the most effective ones. He wasn’t just some meek, quiet whiner, but nor was he a flash-in-the-pan warlord; he actively protested the British in India, did everything he could, save commit acts of violence. It was a brilliant strategy, and here’s why.

When you are standing up to someone, a violent someone, and you commit no acts of violence back, well, as he attacks you again and again (and the British did, gunning down peaceful gatherings of Sikhs, and violently subduing many protests), well, it becomes obvious who the aggressors are. You leave them no option for their twisted propaganda, to say “we must fight them there so we don’t have to fight them at home” or “we’re defending against terrorists/rebels/evildoers.” The actions are there for all to see. This is why the British left India, they could not maintain the image of righteous overlords.

Now, for one, I support the Palestinian cause (minus the bloodshed). They’re treated like second-class citizens by Israel; they ARE second-class citizens, without the vote and with anti-Palestinian measures like with the new wall or being used as human shields. Shit, how many of them live in refugee camps? So, my suggestion to the Palestinians, a people who are obviously not afraid of pain or to die for their cause, is this. Stop the violence. If you think the Israelis are the evil ones, let them prove it by their actions. Don’t fight back, don’t lift a finger against them. Soon the whole world will be on your side.

Because, in wars, the “other side” tends to get propagandized into subhuman categories. Well, the difference between humans and animals, or one of the major ones, is restraint. An angry dog will bite, an angry bee will sting (even to its own demise), but we can hold back, and use those powerful emotions in a more effective way. Yes, suicide bombs hurt the enemy, but non-violence (not passivity, mind you) would be far more damaging. Using restraint, we can show who is really acting like an animal.

Easter Post

Happy Easter, everyone. I’m not religious in a Christian way, besides the subconscious residue inevitably left over from my Catholic upbringing, but I appreciate the symbolism in a general sense. Rebirth, redemption, a new life in a new context. All good things. So, today is the start of a new way of living for me. It is in this respect my New Year, and with it comes the resolutions.

My dad has been diagnosed with high cholesterol. I eat far worse than he does, so I’m sure mine is just as bad; especially since I tend to take after my mom’s side. Her dad died of a heart attack in his late 40’s, and my uncles there also have higher cholesterol. My heart on it’s own is relatively weak, given certain birth defects that the surgery could not entirely fix. The recent chest pains worry me a bit too.

My diet, as I said, is terrible. I eat more fast food now than I probably ever have in my life, and in general the food I eat is even worse than the garbage I ate while I was away at MSU a few years back (which was bad, let me tell you).

With all this in mind, I was actually a little worried about going on a run today, thinking I might keel over dead. I didn’t, but as it was, the run was terrible. I’m out of shape in a major way. I’ve hardly moved much in the last 6 months, as exercise goes, so I was gasping for breath pretty quick. I’ve never been much for running, preferring bicycling, but this is ridiculous.

So, I’m changing my diet, and my lifestyle. First, I’m massively increasing my fruits and especially vegetables. I eat almost none of that stuff nowadays, save for a daily banana. Going to go meat-lite; not vegetarian but close, and way less dairy and eggs. The biggest things for me, is processed food and sugary food. I am an admitted sugar addict; I get grumpy as a person quitting smoking without a steady stream of it all day. I eat something sweet and it’s like getting high almost, must be causing an endorphin release.

That, and more exercise. I’m going to try a Tai Chi class later this month, as well as more running and biking. I already feel better, just having run today and eaten a bit better, and it will only get better.

Work

Today, working turned to toil. It's not that it was a hard day, particularly. There were the rough parts, but the thing that ruined it, the thing that did me in, was the weather. The sun blazing away in freshly clearing skies, vaporizing the residues of last night's storm, the one I was awake for because again I did not sleep. And at a perfect 65 degrees or thereabouts, my envy of the customers at the bike shop across the parking lot could not have been greater. Watching them ride up on their two-wheeled steeds made me realize how severly lacking my current life has been in terms of enjoyment. I have no time to ride, hardly any time at all to be outside, and thought the days and months have been fast disappearing with my life, today the time went by slower than slow. It was my coworkers that made the day survivable, as usual, joking our way through the hours that would otherwise have consumed me. I try again and again to cheer myself by the thought where I'll be in one year hence: working my way up and through those Georgia mountains, Maine-bound or bust; but to little effect. I cannot ignore the facts: another year of staring at cans of cat food, bags of dog food. Hell, another week of hearing about the Great Pet Food Recall of 2007 will drive me out of my mind; repeating the same answer 70 times a day cannot be good for the mind (on another day I may go into a rant on food quality, animal AND human, the problems of mass production and huge corporations, but not now). And to miss yet another spring, save for glimpses gleaned from stolen moments; to labor through another summer sweating the heat and wasted days is what I try my utmost not to ponder. For now, I'll focus on the nature program on TV, and the fact that I at last have a day off come Easter, though I hear the temperatures are set to plummet back to winter.