No Beast So Dumb As Man

a Docudharma exclusive

I woke up this morning recovering from the flu, still weak and vaguely feverish.  I haven’t written much lately and feel the need to do so.  Where to begin, the cold-blooded murder of peace-loving monks in Myanmar, the outrageous crimes of our own outlaw government, the shameful bastards in our do-nothing congress, the back-stabbing republican-lite democrats, the hot air from our ‘leaders’ on global warming, war profiteering as the new national pastime, the black-hearted evil of the military-industrial-congressional-media complex, the armies of lying blowhards on the TeeVee, the Halliburton detention centers being constructed across the country for the detention of ‘potential terrorists’ (such as bloggers, demonstrators, peace activists, and real democrats), national indignation at silly newspaper ads while the killing and dying goes on unimpeded – so much horror and madness, so little time.

Weakened and overwhelmed by the harsh realities of the day, I am reduced to communicating via art and poetry.

I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness, starving hysterical naked,
dragging themselves through the negro streets at dawn looking for an angry fix,
angelheaded hipsters burning for the ancient heavenly connection to the starry dynamo in the machinery of night

~ from Howl by Allen Ginsberg, 1955

Our generation has seen
The vicious rape of the American Dream
From deep inside our hallowed core
They festered, boiled
Plotted and schemed
Clawing and grasping
Dark and deranged
There is no evil we say these days
Yet evil remains

I’m feelin’ low and singin’ the blues.  Sometimes you have to do that though…sort of take inventory and mourn that which is lost.

We have seen the greatest minds of our generation
Reduced to madness from fear and greed
Poets, priests and angelheaded hipsters
Shot down like dogs
On melancholy streets

If today were the final exam for humanity, I think we have to admit we would not do well.  We’re still blowing each other to hell and doing so gleefully, mistreating each other shamefully, acting like fools.  The many advances made by humankind seem to have made little or no difference.  We still feel justified in ruthlessly taking what we want from others by force of arms.  We still voluntarily indulge in the abomination of war.  We are still little better than barbarians.  We don’t even measure up to our own minimum standards.  We are a failure.

One would think that history would be instructive.  One would think that we’d eventually learn to act in our own best interest as a species.  If we were to do that we’d be focused on survival and sustaining life as opposed to mutual annihilation and the destruction of life.  We seem amazingly boneheaded if you ask me.  Will we ever learn?

My next post will be more upbeat, I promise.

Peace out!

OPOL