I came across this news report on RT news after making the image above. It's difficult to project a positive outcome from societies present trajectory. Peace and well being are not the result of wars and all our laws cannot bring about the love for our fellowman which will bring about peace. Unfortunately what we do have is a multitude of laws and wars and a paupers pouch of peace and love. If a good portion of us don't wise up soon this earth is not going to be worth living on. Then what are we going to do? Have you thought about what is being done right before our eyes? Can you come up with a good reason to do this to our children and the future?
Wall Street can come up with a reason, that reason is named 'profit'. It's not a good reason but it's the only reason that has been put forth that passes the 'bullshit' test. But that is not the story you're told.
A reasonable approach to this problem would include the recognition that 17 years of war have not brought peace and that continuing the wars we've started will not bring peace and that we must stop fighting these unjust and undeclared wars for profit. Why haven't the war-makers given a thought to making a living from peace rather than war? We might want to consider the idea of giving peace a chance.
The highlighted texts are links to articles about the topic mentioned.
"The Death Of Love" and "Faces" are two poems I wrote about what I saw happening. I was distraught over the program of exporting endless war and endless misery. The horror of this policy goes beyond reason. Years ago I wrote a poem titled "The Warlords" This video on the topic of the attempted coup against FDR appears to answer the question asked in the The Warlords. It may also explain the Trump Administrations fear of immigrants. I find myself thinking: "Can Trump's malicious, divisive nationalism cause the kind of behavior seen in the video"?
The Warlords
After reading Du Fu, “Advent of Spring”
The warriors have ruled
from time immemorial.
They have come and gone and come again
time after time:
nations, princes, and kings one after another
building on the pile of corpses
stacked beneath their feet.
None have served the people honestly.
Who has given them control?
Where have they come from?
Will they ever leave us alone
to raise our families
and die in our own beds
with our children by our side?
Their grip is on our neck
and they force us
to our grave
in their search for
others to plunder.
They cannot live without war;
it is their meat and drink
as ours is the hearth
and the embrace of our lovers.
They declare those who cry for
peace and complain of war
‘enemies of the state’
and seek to silence them
while we the people are victims
of their lust
and made to pay for their
desires to be satisfied.
Will they ever leave us alone
to raise our families
and die in our own beds
with our children by our side?
Enjoy the poems in the videos below
It only takes a generation
for politicians with eyes for war
to bring forgetfulness upon the people
who wanted war no more.
I made the poster, below, yesterday about what I see happening presently. Denying immigration, especially, at this time a year is a slap in the face to American history by this Administration. Instead of sending troops, what should have been done was to have sent personnel to process the refugees and give then a Thanksgiving welcome. With that in mind it only makes sense that Thanksgiving be cancelled this year.
Rights are meant to be used the way you use muscles.
You need to use your rights everyday or run the risk of losing them.
Americans are 17 on the quality of life charts due to the way their politicians have structured American society. This will come as a surprise to most Americans who have been spoon fed the idea that America is the best of all possible places to live.
So I made the poster while thinking of all that the American lawmakers have done to impact the daily lives of the voters. (highlighted link to commentary by Farron Cousins at The Ring of Fire.)
If there are fair elections in the U.S. this year we may be able to vote the ones who have made life so hard on us out of office. It's up to you people, if you want more of what you have now vote Republican. More war, more poverty, more violence against minorities, more racial discontent, more of all of what we have now. If you want more of the same old same old vote for Republican and Democratic lawmakers who speak poorly about socialism. They will be more than willing to give you more of the same. Boy won't those who vote Republican be happy with more war, more homelessness, more racial animosity, more unemployment more low paying jobs, more expensive education, more expensive and more dangerous healthcare? No they won't. They'll blame someone else for what they have done to themselves.
(note the artist holds both Republican and Democratic lawmakers completely responsible for the condition Americans find themselves in. While working on this I came across this address byRobert Reich.)It's worth listening to.
Today I spied a spider repairing a web I saw him repairing yesterday. Today I took some pictures. Some came out pretty good.,, take a look. Tomorrow's another day.
The last two summers I grew sunflowers for fun. By accident I discovered that a dried sunflower stalk makes a nice walking stick. I used the first walking stick for most of this year. It's not nearly as strong as wood and should not be used by someone who needs a cane for support. It however is very light and the natural beauty of the stalk is enhanced in time, growing darker and the organic patterns of the plant have become more clearly defined. I've become fond of it and it shows very little wear.
I enjoy using it, just because I grew it and nurtured it and it is useful to maintain my balance. I may decorate it and put a protective coating on it. It will be interesting to see how long it remains useful.
This year, because of my experience last year, I grew more sunflowers and harvested many seed heads and a number of possible walking sticks.
For distinctiveness this year I planted morning glory seeds which grew and entwined themselves around the eight to nine feet tall sunflowers. I did this with the intention of making a natural decoration for another walking stick. That project is ongoing as the vines and stalks dry together.
Inquiry
a poem by David H. Roche
Seeds
the size of a fingernail buried in May
and
resurrected in June
with a glorious body
of
tiny green leaves
and flimsy,
translucent
stems
some
of which have grown to giants nine feet tall
with
golden crowns at the end of September…
now
hanging their heads
one by one.
This
afternoon they're like one legged dancers
swaying
back and forth in the wind
at
the last dance of the season
with
Scrub Jays, Ravens, Chickadees
and
whomever comes to sustain themselves from their flesh.
Almost as if there were a cooperative enterprise underway,
next
to the pond across the street
the
remains of once plump juicy blackberries
cling
to dried vines
among clusters of dry brittle leaves
and
bloodletting spines.
Their
wrinkled, desiccated flesh reminds me of rabbit turds.
Notwithstanding,
they are a larder
for
small birds and mice
who
will return throughout the winter
to
eat dinners provided by invisible hands.
All
this cooperation fascinates me,
this living of life in support of the lives of others,
Note titled changed to "I'm Frightened Of Atheists". Poem in progress Inhumanity disturbs me at a spiritual level. By spiritual level I mean the areas of life that involve relationships and our 'natural' responsibility with regard to those relationships. We are 'spiritually' and 'naturally' bound to each other and the environment. To sin is to behave irresponsibly with regard to the relationships we interact with. I am appalled at the callous treatment of human beings at the border. I could not help but recall the words I had heard from the pulpit many times from Matthew 25, read the entire passage here.
"I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in:
36 Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.
37 Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink?
38 When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee?
39 Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee?
40 And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.
The spiritual responsibility we have regarding those we share the planet with is exposed in the words of Jesus. As a result of thinking of the events at the southern border I wrote the following poem.
I'm Frightened Of Atheists
I'm frightened…
not by people at
the border
needing help and
refuge.
I'm frightened by
those who have hardened their hearts
and turn them away
while
clutching laws to
their breast,
repeating
shibboleths,
justifying the
plugging of their ears,
the closing of
their eyes
and ignoring of the
tears.
I'm frightened
by those with
hearts so dark
they cannot see God in rags with their 'spiritual eyes'...
fleeing, hungry, fearful
at the
border gates in need of help.
