What Can You Do? Think!

Today on CBC Radio (The Current) I heard about a mother who is seriously exhausted. Her daughter wanted a nice binder for the papers she carried to school. Apparently it cost 30 dollars. For all the supplies at the beginning of a new year the cost has risen a whole lot.

This is not the whole story. How many kids did she have who were still at school?

The mother of course wanted to get a cheaper binder but the daughter feared being bullied if she didn't get the right one.

This is not the mother or the daughter's fault. They feel trapped in a society that promotes things and trashes people. Drugs, crime, inequality all serve the purpose of creating false virtues. I remember dealing with this when my kids were at school. They never told me they would be beaten up for not having the right things but they did suffer bullying and kept it from me. I had to do some sleuthing and often my values collapsed when faced with unpleasant realities. I had to find a way to help them survive in a world where power landed in the laps of greedy manipulators. TV commercials dripping with the notion we are worth what we own and nothing about integrity or justice or respect for life. 

How can I protect the vulnerable from the rapacious headlines meant to control their thinking? How can we raise the young mind to remain innocent while our society sinks into the muddy soil of patriarchal capitalism?

First we must encourage the young to think for themselves and to be available to them when they need to talk. Our economy asks mothers and fathers to prioritize work and money which they need to survive but there is a message we can give our families that honours who they are as independent souls living in a society which has for thousands of years, trained to be servants to whomever is higher on the pecking order.

When I was in my forties I understood how to care for myself and loved ones, and learned how shallow and false the claims of success in our material world. Now I see that organized society is destroying our minds, hearts and the future of our species. Now I see that life has no value for power unless it becomes the slave.

When life has been tortured to the death of our home we may understand or we may just be blaming someone else. For now you can speak and live your truth and maybe we will survive.

Untitled

sun shines on the deck built by a friend

bushes in the garden

fed by the gardener

lettuce leaves sprout proudly

by their roots

a flower pot on the table

outside a bedroom window

petals are purply pink

as if they are the stars

of the show

my face in the mirror

old and wrinkled

deep in thought

flies come to the flowers

but don't land there.

Am I making it up as I go along?

yes and no

these are things I see

with my eyes and my heart.

A Threatened Planet and People Who Insist On Winning

" My bigger regret is that the national conversation is in the hands of producers chasing ratings and advertising dollars, with no regard for how they’re distorting the public’s understanding of what’s important or the core choices lying ahead." https://robertreich.substack.com/p/what-dr-phil-wants-me-to-do 

https://static1.squarespace.com/static/62fe66976f58234d88d18a84/t/634f218d83f45d5173f24ca7/1666130332150/NCP-Brochure-Full-8x11.pdf 

While environmental scientists and activists fight for the very survival of the habitable planet, the fossil fuel, meat and internal combustion industries are fighting for their economic survival. Either they are regulated out of existence or human society across much of the world will fail. We cannot all win: either these industries survive or we do. But we can all lose, because, eventually, they will go down with the rest of us.

The sole purpose of CCS is to justify the granting of more oil and gas licences, on the grounds that one day someone might be able to capture and bury the CO2 they produce. It’s no coincidence that Sunak announced both policies – more licences and CCS – in the same statement. It would be wrong to say the technology doesn’t work. It works precisely as intended, even if it never materialises: it is a highly successful method of buying more time for the fossil fuel industry. https://www.monbiot.com/2023/08/08/running-amoc/

And I have sunk again into a pit of despair scrolling down Social Media knowing the further I go the deeper will be the depression. 

It is so easy to be cynical while I want an opportunity to briefly appear witty or smart. Want to find the best joke in my head while it appears to me that our species is done.

Change the channel. Strategic plan, love everyone, hate no-one, move to the edge.

How Are You Today?

 

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20230525-how-did-patriarchy-actually-begin#

"The first clear signs of women being treated categorically differently from men appear much later, in the first states in ancient Mesopotamia, the historical region around the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in what is now Iraq, Syria and Turkey. Around 5,000 years ago, administrative tablets from the Sumerian city of Uruk in southern Mesopotamia show those in charge taking great pains to draw up detailed lists of population and resources." 

https://sbtreatment.com/blog/men-and-emotions-the-importance-of-becoming-vulnerable/

"These cultural norms and gender stereotypes have been circulating for generations, and they can be toxic, especially for males. Men who express their emotions are often seen as weak. Because of that, many men neglect to show their emotions because they’re afraid of the repercussions. However, suppressing emotions and feelings can be incredibly detrimental to a man’s mental health."

"Cognitive culture is undeniably important to an organization’s success. But it’s only part of the story. The other critical part is what we call the group’s emotional culture: the shared affective values, norms, artifacts, and assumptions that govern which emotions people have and express at work and which ones they are better off suppressing. Though the key distinction here is thinking versus feeling, the two types of culture are also transmitted differently: Cognitive culture is often conveyed verbally whereas emotional culture tends to be conveyed through nonverbal cues such as body language and facial expression."

https://scheerpost.com/2022/05/20/the-chris-hedges-report-disaster-patriarchy-and-the-global-war-on-women/ 

Chris Hedges: I mentioned before we went on the air that I covered Romania, where abortion was illegal. It didn’t stop abortions. It meant that those who had resources, the wealthy, the mistresses of the party bosses all had access to safe abortions, and poor women died in back rooms. That’s what happens when you outlaw abortion.

*************

 

Can we Trust Each Other?

 

"The problem is that the will of those we should trust – each other – is constantly thwarted by the will of those we shouldn’t. Political and electoral systems, governed from the centre, are designed to grant us a semblance of ownership and control, while depriving us of real power. The political parties that claim to represent us too often respond instead to the demands of the powerful: media barons, corporations, party funders. In extreme cases, such as the UK’s current government, they are reduced to corporate lobbyists, delivering the country to the most antisocial interests." https://www.monbiot.com/2023/08/01/the-door-is-that-way/

That is to say - the powers that will help us survive, are those we have embedded in ourselves and our supports that we know are attempting to heal the world through enquiry and social justice.

All the political systems we have supported are not perfect. We give our money and attention to them, not because "we believe" in them but because we know that it's possible to create a society where most of us vote and hope for, is one based on justice, fairness and empathy.