Mr. and Mrs. Goose April 28, 2018

"Mr and Mrs Goose April 28, 2018" Photography of a pair of Canada Geese who show up regularly to be photographed. They have been around for years and do not migrate, they just kind of hang out here. The male had a broken wing several seasons ago and he managed to heal but then he decided to stay around.

I Have An Idea...Organize the Dispossessed

Going down the road feeling bad.

I had an experience with a merchant today that set me off. 

Like many Americans I live hand to mouth after the middle of the month. Returning cans is a necessary part of my household economy.

Today I went to the store I go to almost everyday to buy a six pack of the 2nd lowest priced beer available.

I figured it out. Multiply $6 times  360. 

$2000 dollars a year is approximately what this merchant stands to lose for not taking back my cans. 

I had 50 cans the maximum he and the state allow to be returned. 

One of the cans a neighbor had given me. 

The merchant called me on it because he, the merchant, didn't sell that beer. 

The state law required him to give me the money back. 

It was my right and I did not need to be informed the can had not been bought in his store.

It did not matter.

Possibly I over reacted. 

I said to him. 

"Do you mean your not going to take my cans back?" 

And I left my daily 6 pack on the counter, took my cans and left determining that he would never get another dollar from me.

Problem is I like the people, they're immigrants and hard working people up against the wall trying to stay alive

just like me with all the cards stacked against them...

just like me.

But his willingness to pick out a can not sold in his store was not legal.

He was obligated to give me a refund. 

I'm willing to forgive him. 

I like the guy and his wife.

But this was wrong.

As I think about this I realize it was my economic extremity which provided the impetus for my reaction to someone I liked doing business with.

If the money didn't matter to me I would have shrugged it off and thought nothing of it.

(I need to address this with him which means me eating crow)

But you know it's hard not having a dollar in your pocket

and having to return cans to get a little relief from the reality which society and poverty imposes on ones soul can be humiliating.

This is my experience after having worked my whole life

providing taxes for the continuation of a society

that at the end turned its back on me.

So I'm a little bitter about that.

I'm sure you will be too when you discover

it has happened to you.

Oddly the bible recognizes the necessities

this kind of situation imposes on the victims

and provides a remedy.

The bible prescribes alcohol as a relief from the austerity of poverty. 

Where is that bible thumper Mike Pence arguing loud and long for beer for the poor?

Do you hear him?

My feeling is he has a problem with implementing that part of the bible.

Hanging Gays is OK with Mikey Boy

but beer for the poor, 

no way!

We have lots of beer 

and not so many jobs.

Come on Mike you're making God look bad.

So what am I saying?

I must not be so rash is one thing

because the merchant and I are in a life and death struggle with the same foe.

I must know my rights.

You must know your rights.

I must defend my rights.

You must defend your rights

if you and I wish to have them as rights.

I must be compassionate in the defense of my rights.

If each of us were this way,

forgiving but yet requiring justice,

how would that work out?

Think about compassionate justice.

Suppose we just did for others what others needed

and others did the same for us? 

How would that work out?

I came home with my cans.

A friend bought me a 6 pack after seeing how I had been treated and when I got home I sat down and drank it

and in the process wrote this.

Consider it a howl from the bottom,

but you know, it's not a solitary howl,

it's a chorus

and those singing make up most of the people on the planet.

I have an idea.

   Organize

         the

   Dispossessed