How Things Have Changed

Recently I visited my home, after 5.5 years away, and what I saw and learned truly pained me. I loved seeing the palm trees after such a long time away, but then I started seeing the tents. In downtown L.A. there were more tents than before. I saw tents everywhere. I saw people living in tents on islands at traffic intersections. I had never seen such poverty in the so-called richest country in the history of the world. I saw mothers with signs, and mothers and fathers with their children holding up signs at shopping centers. It was all very troubling and very sad to see, as were the empty stores that had gone out of business. It all brought to mind the Merle Haggard song, “Are the Good Times Really Over for Good?“

Another thing that really gripped me was how divided the country had grown. There were several U.S.A’s, instead of one. I thought of the opportunists and those corporations and robber barons they serve, and how they have sold the country out. Malcolm X once talked about “The chickens coming home to roost” and it all made sense, the relationship between capitalism and racism, the need for exploitation, the commodifying of suffering. Many historians believe Fascism is a revolution from the top down. It is not the workers on the bottom feeling screwed, no, it is about those on top, throwing a fit, and not wanting to share. That is why racism was created to divide the working classes, study Nathanial Bacon’s Rebellion in 1676. See how whites and blacks working together threatened the establishment, and they couldn’t have that; It’s like a guard in prison knowing that all the inmates are mad and they have their eyes on him. He doesn’t care about their religions or the amount of pigmentation on their skins, all he knows is that together they outnumber him and they are all angry and frustrated, so if he could just turn them on each other, it would make his life easier.

I truly wish people can see that they are in the same predicament, and we are facing serious HUMAN ISSUES and we are wasting time and energy fighting each other, instead of tackling the real problems, e.g. Species Die Off, Climate Change, Lessening Nutritional Value of our Fruits and Vegetables, Eugenics, Endless Wars, and Cui Bono, Poverty, Wealth Inequality, Mental Health, Pandemics. United We Stand, Divided We Fall!