Simple.

(noon. – promoted by ek hornbeck)

It’ll get better, in time. Just give it time. All it takes is time. We’ll get over it… in time.

Ahhhhhhh… the magic of elapsing, collapsing time. Whatever “it” is, it’ll fade away. At some point, it’ll be gone. The pain. The burden. The memory. The obligation. At some point in time, it’ll be somebody else’s problem . . .

Well, far as I can tell, time hasn’t stopped our collective problems from becoming more untenable. Bigger. Stronger. Holy flaming underwear, Batman. What the fuck do we do now?

^{cross-posted at dKos}

For one: Find inspiration. Get back to basics. Break it all down to simple elements. Leave the power players, those parasitic few who feed on our hard work, our fear, our ignorance, our hope. Just walk away.

We’ve been in this abusive relationship so long, we’ve lost the ability to perceive the poison even as we writhe in pain. Yeah frog. We’re the ones slowly being scalded to death as our compass, our confidence, our collective strength is destroyed by lie after beautifully-crafted seductively-sold splendid lie.

When did we start believing we have no other choice? When did Democrats and Republicans push that piece of legislation? When did we begin investing in static ideas? When did we kill the dynamic mind? Why did we allow ourselves to be put into this cauldron?

We have been played. Expertly. I love the whole health care / climate change thing. We rallied around those issues and voted our hearts out over those issues. We BELIEVED. We believed those bastards even as they’d be voting against us, even as they held us tenderly, apologizing, baby, sorry baby. You know I love you. It’s not me. It’s those nasty Republicans. You know I’d never ever hurt you. Baby. I love you……………..

Health care. Health care? The environment? Ding ding ding ding ding… when those in power complain about spending a trillion dollars over (was it 10 years?) a few years on health care paid …for with our fucking tax dollars.. and then have the fucking balls to stand up and tell me they are willing to drop trillions to kill people to keep me safe from exploding underwear… you know you’ve been played and punked. The only thing this group is grateful for is that we’ve finally, well mostly, stopped clamoring for justice, reinstatement of the rule of law, grand jury investigations. . . but it was and still is the only true issue. The one pivotal issue upon which all the others rest. IMHO.

I’m still laughing though. about Yemen. Underwear. Yemen. At least Bush had 9/11. As transparent and full of shit as it was, at least … at least… they tried to fool us. Now. Now they don’t even bother for too much in the way of fireworks and drama. That’s how much they’re worried about us.

So what can be done? I’ve asked myself, tossing and turning in a decade of sleep without rest. Then, as it slipped away, that train-wreck of a decade, as time over took it, I thought I could do the same.

Just walk away. Leave them in their sandbox. These Democratic and Republican and any other politicians and slick three-piece suited men and women. Leave them to talk into empty space. Take my money, my activism, my tired oh so tired mind and do simple things.

The biggest thing imo is modify our behavior as consumers. We really have to ask ourselves: was it a sane thing to spend $300 on a Coach bag those five or six years ago? A colleague of mine actually admitted to recently buying a bag in London for more than 700 GBP. A purse. A pocketbook. Not even a piece of luggage. Because, while it’s a stretch, you might be able to make a case for buying a suitcase for 700 GBPs.  But how can black patent leather be worth that much????????????

How much better would Christmas be without that landslide of perfectly wrapped packages… all that anticipation warped by the anti climax. Could we be cool without hauling a bunch of snotty pre schoolers to chuckie cheese for another birthday party?

Stop using credit cards. Shop local whenever you can. Check out local farms for eggs/milk/veggies/meat and talk to the farmer about how they care for the animals. It’s not just the farmer’s responsibility to keep the animals well. It is on us to be willing to pay what it’s worth.

Stop wanting CHEAP. Yeah Wal-Mart. Those cheap goods are the most expensive pieces of crap I’ll ever buy. Cheap. Not meant to last. Toxic on top of it… plastic, pacifiers, dying dogs, crashing cats. Babies. Killing babies in order to make a buck. I’d say it’s cost us a whole lot to stuff our homes with fucking junk.

Where is the simple and the true? The integrity in ideas, in one’s word? It’s been rolling around in my head for a while now. Feeling as though I’m really really willing to give up my despair, my anger, my sense of senselessness.

I’m tired of the left. The right. And all that fills the middle and spills over into the extremes. I’m not fighting shadows and ghosts fractured through jagged prisms anymore. I don’t care about wingnuts and teabaggers. Truth be told, at least those Tea Baggers aren’t as stuck as we progressives… they’re not listening to anybody telling them a third party won’t work. Maybe we could learn something there . .  . . . . . . . . . .

Yeah. I’m tired of lists and and litanies.  I’m looking for some inspiration. Small kindnesses. Small gestures. Whispers and humility. I’m done with flash and fanfare. Make it something simple. . . something true. I’m looking for the presence of mind to live in my own time. And the courage to not wish it away, but to face it and live it. The good, the hard. The bends, the black ice, the emerging spring.

I’m walking that yellow brick road. I’ve left the wizard and the Emerald City behind me. I’d rather rescue a frog. A polar bear or two. Myself. I don’t know how else to stop the death and destruction. But to stop putting money in the hands of the vampires preying upon us all. Live leaner. Live freer.

Live simple. And true . . .