hope

In the midst of a mini-depression over the attack on public education as well as the failure of our 'representatives' to represent anyone other than the ruling class, a dear friend e-mailed me these words in the early morning hours.   I was questioning the power of love and right to overcome the hate.  These words gave me hope.  At first, I was going to edit for spelling, capitalization and punctuation, but I've decided against that for my own personal reasons.  Here is the e-mail, as I received it:

you got me thinking about something.

it seems like whenever things have been in somewhat 'orderly' fashion,
 (the Victorian Era & post-war '50's come to mind) when the status quo was able to keep folks distracted with religion, blind patriotism, materialism, that  open hatred and hostility was minimal -  contained if you will.
at the same time, under the surface, racism, sexism, worker exploitation was a reality for millions.

it's when the oppressed and their allies develop social movements and say NO!, that's when the hater's come out of the woodwork.
 recall how the worker's strikes - the powerful general strikes, actions ragainst the most deplorable conditions at the turn of the 20th century (the ending of a mostly calm, indifferent Victorian-era),  during that period the ruling-class demonized, murdered, scapegoated & criminalized the struggle.  corporate-controlled print media ran non-stop  hate-filled headlines. company thugs split heads, burned homes, the haters hated most violently.  these sacrifices gave rise to the 40 hr. work week, better pay and benefits for millions of future working-class Americans. love.

when 'the coloreds' were silent witnessses to the 'AmericanDream', knew 'their place',  all was well. it was when   the civil rights movement, boycotts, marches, for education, voting, housing
HUMAN rights grew, with many going to an early grave or the prison,and the ghettos burned in modern day slave quarters -  the hater's went crazy.  today we honor their struggle and learn from their examples. love.

as folks rise, throw off physical and mental shackles, protest exploitation of the environment, raise voices against imperialist wars against soverign nations - the hater's materialize. in the face of outright hate those righteous struggles remain unstoppable,  peoples' unquenchable thirst for justice. love.

with last year's Arab Spring,  the  rise up in Madison, the Occupy movement. a life-affirming  consciousness rose
with it.  these are incredible times we are in darlin'.  nothing like this has happened since the 1960's - not even close.  with great changes comes great anamosity and great hatred from those who want NO unity, or collective approach to a saner, cleaner, peaceful future.  they cling with those in boardrooms, fight against their own interests to  a capitalist system existing    on life-support.  hate?  follow that $$$.

let's  try our best to keep our faith in sun above above earth below, and remember this old world is full of good and caring folks. we can never let the tiny angry, confused speck of humanity in (local forums) get us down with their hatred.   it's a big beautiful world out there teeming with brilliant and creative  people. folks that rise each day with  a smile on their heats and purpose in their step - folks like you .

we are in amazin' times. love