(11 am. – promoted by ek hornbeck)
One of Barack Obama’s constant and primary memes has been a call for public service from the American citizenry. It is significant that he spent the day before his inauguration setting an example to follow – volunteering his time at a house for homeless teenagers in DC.
A noble and worthy goal in and of itself, it’s also an incredibly clever way to winnow the wheat from the chaff when it comes to discovering who TRULY loves this nation – to reveal who would be willing to work with him and his administration to fix what the shadowy cabal behind the Bush administration have spent not merely years but DECADES and ENTIRE GENERATIONS trying to destroy.
Never before in America have a “parcel of rogues” come so close to reworking our democratic ideals into a twisted blend of corporate feudalism and outright fascism. With so much to undo, Obama’s call to service acts as a sharp and well-aimed sword cutting through the Gordian knot left to him. Actions speak louder than words, and Obama’s call is a call to action. Those who are interested in deception will eventually be revealed. Their actions of public service – should such even occur – will be halfhearted, slipshod, done grudgingly and with a marked disrespect for those who have called for help.
This methodology is just and fair. It assigns no partisan value to service. In a single master stroke, it guts from nave to chops the runaway capitalist/imperialist monster created by the cabal over the last century – the greedy and irresponsible “FUCK YOU, I’VE GOT MINE” Ayn Randish mentality that America has become all too guilty of across the board.
The blogosphere is well aware of Democrats who pretend to public service but who in reality are all about “FUCK YOU, I’VE GOT MINE”. We are less aware of the Republicans who have chafed alongside us under the abuses of the Bush regime, writhing with embarrassment and shame as they perform their own forms of service, but not to acknowledge that they exist would be less than fair.
What also has me giggling no end about this call for public service from our new African-American President is what it will do to the head of the average white supremacist, but that – like the racists themselves – is a marginal issue. The real goal here is to find those willing to walk the walk, not just talk the talk. You love this country? PROVE IT! With your shoulder to the wheel! Get off the couch, turn off the goddamned TV or the video game or yes, t3h 1nt4rdn3tz and stir stumps! Put up or shut up, keyboard warriors!
Obama is laying the groundwork now to make it VERY, VERY EASY for anyone who wants to prove they love this country to do so. There’s a lot of messes to be cleaned up. There’s a lot of stuff that this administration broke.
There’s a lot of work to do. And there’s a lot of people who need work.
This isn’t rocket science. All the same… it’s brilliant. As simple, clear, and brilliant as truth, as the light of day.
Now this comes around to little me. What’s my personal perspective on the whole thing? Well, at first I was pretty cynical. I still am, in a way. See, I represent the other side of that coin. I’VE SERVED ALREADY, on many levels and in many ways, and I’ve got precious little to show for those decades of hard work along with abuses of power endured.
I served six honorable years in the US Air Force. When I got out I worked at cut-rate salaries at various employers, performing very difficult jobs that entailed a great deal of personal responsibility. Over the 20 years I’ve worked in IT, at least a full year of that time has been unpaid overtime. People who spend months in a back brace don’t usually get that way as a result of being lazy.
When my father suffered a stroke on New Year’s Day in 1992, I stepped in – in addition to my day job – and worked for my mother for several years, taking over his weekend hours in their “mom and pop” card and candy store as they tried (and eventually failed) to save their mortgage. The first year I asked for no salary, the second year I was paid minimum wage. Given that my father spent his entire career as a government employee working both at the federal and the state level, my cynicism grew as I saw how hard my brother – who, thank the Gods, is a lawyer – had to fight to get him the disability benefits he so badly needed.
As a shamanic practitioner, I serve the needs of the land where I live and the community I live with. One of the ways I effect that is that I wander certain pathways and byways forgotten by the community at large, retrieving recycleable litter/trash and seeing that it is recycled along with my own. I harvest the gifts of my land – raspberries, walnuts, the occasional antique bottle cache – and treat them with respect. The bottles get cleaned up and put into a display case, some are traded with other aficianados; the berries and nuts are made into meads and cordials for my friends. When I find land that has been harmed and feel an obligation to speak on it’s behalf to those in government whose obligation is to fix it, I do so. The land spirits, in their touching and mysterious way, have said thank you. The community has yet to do so.
Finally, there is the work I have done over the last several years as a member of CodePink and Veterans for Peace, and indeed before I knew either group existed. Despite my back injury which prohibits extended walking or standing, I went to the demonstrations, I marched in the marches, I participated in banner drops and attended Congressional hearings. I frequently did double duty in the CodePink house, serving as their (unpaid) technical support person in addition to participating in actions.
As I searched for the words to lobby Hillary Clinton’s staffers in January of 2007 in one of my first acts as a member of CodePink, I was reminded of just how many members of my family have served in the US military. Three generations and all four branches are represented. In my family, such service to our nation is a tradition.
I’ve paid my dues. I don’t mind keeping it up, either. But this time, I want to see results – and that had BETTER not be too much to ask!
I have EARNED the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness – more so than a good 98% of my fellow citizens. I am one of that two percent who was willing to put my ass on the line so that others could have these things, and then I went the extra mile beyond that as all of my family have before me, and like far too many other citizens of this nation I am DAMNED well within my rights to say “WHERE’S MINE!”
I want to own my house, and I want a job so I can keep that house. A job I’m good at, a job I enjoy, a job where I know I’m making a positive difference, AND SO DOES MY EMPLOYER.
Furthermore, I want my privacy back in my home and at my job. I want a restoration of the civil liberties that for six years I put my life on the line to protect and defend.
I want to know that I can perform my service – either at my employer or as a volunteer – without having to worry about additional burdens placed upon me by sexism, racism, irresponsible and corrupt law enforcement and/or corporate management which favors people of certain politics and the occasional stalker.
And I want a full restoration of the rule of law – to include prosecution of the Bush administration for their crimes.
Obama has made a call to service. That’s well and good, I am quite ready to serve; and while there is no “grudgingly” attached to this, cynicism is a healthy reaction in many situations that serves as a survival skill. REAL rewards and return on investment for the service I have already performed have been a long damned time coming. Under the circumstances hopefully mine will be a pardonable offense which dissipates quickly in the face of sincere recompense and acknowledgment and respect for decades of service already performed on SO many levels, to include the spiritual.
And I know I’m not the only one to whom these statements or this attitude applies.
Let’s see what happens.
Thanks for the FP, EK.
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