Sunday Stream (46) ~ The Aftermath

[mtmynd]

The Aftermath

It was not Hurricane Katrina that brought the devastation as much as it was our own inability to prepare for the inevitable, but yet we point the finger of blame on Nature and cry out how could God allow this to happen, as if God was responsible for our ignorance.

It is we, the collective mind, that is to blame for the aftermath. Witness the destruction: homes reduced to matchsticks, businesses reduced to rubble, boats far from the waters they once sailed upon, vehicles destroyed, our power supplies severed, our food and fresh water supplies gone.

We blame the hurricane for our inadequacies. All around us is the evidence of our inability to cope with Nature. We've had years and years of lessons but we continue to defy the warnings - hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes, volcanoes, floods, and yet we continue ignoring Nature because we're too involved in our own shortsidedness, even though it means our long term survival.

The flooding of New Orleans was not the fault of Hurricane Katrina but our own neglect of preparing for what we knew was inevitable. The aftermath is our collective despair - we have to clean up after ourselves a mess of our own doing. The fallen trees and broken branches are minimal in comparison to our dead, wounded and homeless, the destruction of our homes and businesses, our cars and trucks, boats and yachts, our commerce crippled... these are what's so difficult to contend with. A massive clean up of our own memories so overwhelming that it is the proverbial "pain-in-the-ass" both physically and emotionally, with many casualties carrying the scars for many years to come.

There are those that cry out to God and ask why? Asking how this could happen? After all we were all innocent. "Why are we being punished?" But it was not God or Nature that was to blame. We knew that a 'big one' was coming, we just didn't know when. We postponed our responsibility in favor of other less important things. We squandered our energies on questionable foreign wars... we squandered our resources for material gain that now clutters our gulf area. We did not wisely build our homes and businesses, we did not build defensively for the long term, but only cared about that passing moment.

But rather than blame and accuse it would be prudent to heed the message delivered in force by Nature herself. The collective "we" have received the message. Now we must read it and digest it. In our desperation to provide for the explosion of our species we haven't the time to see the results - we are providing too little to sustain an overpopulation that does not have the resources to defend itself against inequality and poverty. We are out of balance and need to regain the balance or we will end up psychologically, if not physically, destroying ourselves.

Our Oil Conglomerates offer a paltry $5 million, the same corporations that have raped the world to a tune of up to $65 billion and counting in addition to receiving tax breaks from our administration (which is filled with the same oil cartel). Five million dollars - the same as what China has offered... one fifth of what Celine Dion as offered, one-fifth of what P. Diddy has offered! The list goes on and on... all of it completely out of balance with the reality.

The U.S. is on the world stage, only this time we are seen as a wounded giant, stumbling to maintain our pride... the very pride that has been the fall of man. Our short history has been a beacon for the world, but this beacon is dimming and not from lack of will, but lack of love. We cannot love money and materialism over humanity. It's a stick match lit in a hurricane... doomed to go out. Being in this spotlight reveals our nakedness and the shame that has yet to come. We are in the middle of the eye of the hurricane. The world's superpower stands naked and the Emperor has no clothes. They have been ripped and torn by the winds of Katrina.

Our economy has to shift with the storm. Our priorities are no longer hiding behind veils of illusion. Our ignorance can no longer be denied... we are out of balance and must regain our footing before we fall and cripple ourselves. That is something we can do - rebuild our democracy, rebuild our Constitution, rebuild our original purpose set down 229 years ago by the founding fathers -

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness." [Thomas Jefferson]

To see those words come true takes freedom, imagination and creativity with a love for humanity... money is only the grease of the machinery. We have allowed the grease to become the machine. The yoke of corporations have minimized our needs. The efforts of people during these trying times, both in our country and worldwide, will reshape our direction and redefine our purpose. It is no coincidence that virtually every country in the world has offered money, aid or condolences... they, too, long to see the beacon shine bright.


Cecil
03 September 2005

<center>* * *
Do not
humanize
God
for the reality is
so much greater

Rather
humorize
God
to bring joy
to your life
* * * </center>

[stilltrucking]

The first draft read "life liberty and the pursuit of property."

Well done Cecil,

But who will hear it?

Nail it to the frond door of the white house. Sign it Martin Luther.

[mtmynd]

I had also read that someone wrote it "life, liberty and estate". I like pursuit of happiness just fine. good choice by Thos. J.

Thanks, truck... I'll be passing out copies near that door so all can contribute in nailing the Bush.

[WIREMAN]

The inevitable did happen, no matter what category 2 or 3, we were told some day it would come and when it did the laziness of the "Man" showed through......Uncle Sam might as well bury his red faced head in the sand once more....damn Cecil I've done gone and threw another T.V. set out the window...........

[Arcadia]

thanks for the stream, cecil.
peace to all of you,

Arcadia

[K&D]

dito...

[mtmynd]

wired - laziness or indifference, the results are the same. it's an age old problem with our humanity - our own lives in competition with others with cost as the final measurement. Thx for stopping in.

Arcadia y K&D - You're welcome! Thx for the replies.

[Lightning Rod]

tied to the moment
and tied to eternity

love this one, cec

[mousey1]

Yes.

Thank-you Cec. Calm and sensible just what I needed.

[mtmynd]

elRod & mousey - I appreciate your replies. Thank you kindly!

[Anonymous-one]

Our short history has been a beacon for the world, but this beacon is dimming and not from lack of will, but lack of love. We cannot love money and materialism over humanity. It's a stick match lit in a hurricane... doomed to go out. Cecil Lee (Mtymind)

If you don't mind ; I would like to use this
paragraph to create a wallpaper to be
posted on the visual arts board ,and made available to everyone that would like a copy.

Pierre

[mtmynd]

I would appreciate that, A-One. Thank you kindly!

(if you wouldn't mind, I spell my handle "mtmynd". )

Cecil

[Anonymous-one]

Sorry about the misspelling of your
handle . Call it an artist rendition

And thanks for letting me use the text.

Pierre.

[Zlatko Waterman]

In "The Songlines" ( a book I strongly recommend) by Bruce Chatwin, the author describes creation myths of the Australian Aboriginals, whose own word for themselves, not surprisingly, simply translates as "The People" ( like many other indigenous folks). Ethologists call the tribe he visits the "Pintupi."

Names are important, as we all know, and confer power on their owners.

The name, "New Orleans", for example.

How many know where "old" Orleans is?

In the Aboriginal's version of the creation, The Old Ones ( who created themselves), walk across the planet, singing everything-- animals, trees, birds, fish, insects, the waterways-- into being. Their songs thereby become inextricable from the creation itself.

Who would injure the creation when you simultaneously would injure your Song (soul)?

It's time for us to start singing again, and stop removing "inconvenient" populations we imagine are "in our way."

The way is everyone's.

Nice essay.



--Z

[microbe]

Now - about this earthquake that will inevitably devastate coastal California.............