An Examination of Humanity

I had a dream my life would be

So different from this hell I'm living,

So different now from what it seemed...

Now life has killed the dream I dreamed...

 I Dreamed A Dream, Les Miserables

No one is ever going to have all of the answers, yet we keep looking for that one person that will be that silver bullet.  It seems, that is where the problem starts, is with us.  After about a month of wading around in the finger pointing of American Society, you can feel it, the abyss of fear.  

How did we abdicate our freedom?  Well, our freedoms were abdicated long before many of us were born.  We were born into our systems.  We have societies, both secret and known, that we had no choice in entering into.   These societies are simple contracts of agreement, and those who are different are often criticized for their differences, told their are the oddities and don't quite measure into a certain mold.  Our various differences have been both celebrated and maligned. 

There is a crisis of the heart that is affecting Americans right now.  We have so many prohibitions that we feel it is normal to be told what not to do.  It is to protect us.  With every protection that comes along with our laws, we can't even begin to realize what this means.   It means our choices are being limited and all we seem to focus on is how bad and evil people can be towards each other.  "They" only want to take away from us.  "They" hurt us so we must sue them.  "They" are evil.  "They" destroy our liberty and freedom.  "They" have done this or that to us.


Who is this 'they'?  It is everything and nothing.  It is the system.  It is our family.  It is our religion.  It is our community.  It is our neighbor.  It is our state.  It is these evil corporations.  It is our country.  It is, oh you fill in the blank.


The truth is, no matter who 'started the fire', it is you.  Paralyzed with inaction, perhaps because people are afraid of actually needing each other.  


Question:  Is our government working for the people or for its self preservation?


Question:  Why are we fighting against each other?


Question:  Who benefits from us fighting against each other?


Question:  Why have we not empowered ourselves to change this system?


Question:  How much do you really know about the world around you?


I had a long and interesting discussion with a woman who had no idea that she was looking for someone to save her.  A lot of us do.  A lot of us are waiting for some sort of Messiah to save our lives.  Someone who will magically come along, wave a wand, and then make it all come together.  Our lives, saved by either more money or some promise of having the lives of our dreams.


What are those dreams?  


This woman kept firing question after question at me.  I wanted to laugh because there was no way I was going to even attempt to answer her questions.  She wanted someone to tell her what she should do with her own life.  I can't live her life for her.  I can't take that responsibility on.  We all have our own lives to lead, but her desperation made me realize a cold hard truth.  People have forgotten what is within them.  


She called herself one of "God's Warriors"  and I had to laugh.  Does any deity NEED a defense?  I am not going to debate any sort of religious belief at this point, but the main thought, is this.  WHY would a person put that kind of label on, willingly?  


It had reminded me of my military service.  The oath to support and defend a document that so many before me failed to support and defend.  100 years ago it was violated and the problems that began with our central banking system that marched on to enslave the people under a system called "Capitalism".  Believe it or not, the word, "Capitalism" nor "Free Market" is under the protection of the Constitution of the United States.  


So what has frightened the American People?  Themselves.  They look in the mirror and realize that their silence and inaction allows the system to continue.  Of course the Constitution needs to be updated, but they have to decide what is important.  


During the 1950s, Capitalism was introduced in a wide spread propaganda push.  The word "Freedom" was used to talk about the markets, but how free could it really be if only people with money controlled it?  The worker had to surmount incredible obstacles to work his way up to the top of this pyramid structure and through chasing this dream, a whole life was spent in pursuit of money and wealth.  Somehow money and wealth became the symbol for success and this was called 'happiness'.  


Education produced workers with minted MBAs and BAs that were focused on making money as well.  When I asked my students in China what they wanted to do with their degree, many told me, "to get a job."  A job?  Doing what?  "I don't know, just a job where I make money."  So what is your objective in life?  "Objective?"  Puzzled looks and strange expressions crossed their faces.  I pushed further, "What do you want to be?  What are your dreams?  How do YOU want to make a difference in this world?"  


A degree is just a degree without a vision when someone says they just want to get a job.  We have a world FULL of people wanting to be enslaved to work for someone else.  They want someone to work for and to tell them what to do with their lives because they need to earn.  That is how our system is set up now because what has happened within America is that small business has been killed off and we created a society of servants.  That is what you will find in the rolls of the unemployed at this point in time.  People who will not think or act for themselves and they haven't bothered to educate themselves on the laws of their land because it is up to someone else to fix it for them.


I have taken the temperature of my country.  It is a fearful, and yes at times psychotic place where I have taken the temperature and realize that I am, yes, being at times insulting to the country I have loved.  I know I have used harsh and judgmental language.  We have been the dark Empire that went around the world trying to overthrow governments and to spread democracy, and we use words like freedom, but in reality, we haven't practiced it.


A new kind of slavery came over people.  A financial one.  Credit debt, mortgages, car payments, child care, insurances (because we need to protect ourselves), and taxation.  The list of taxes that Americans have to pay, is possibly longer than any tax list known.  It rivals the United Kingdom's silly list.  Freedom, apparently, is a great illusion.  Isn't freedom about doing what you want with your life?


Is it really just about money?  Financial slavery is nothing new. It continues on and you see it in the expression on many who just want to get out of debt so they can acquire more debt and the people have followed suit with the government.  Remain calm.  By the time you have worked your way out of debt and are ready to retire, well you hope, just hope that there will be something there for you in the end.  


How many states are looking at bankruptcy within America?  So what makes this system so great?  From a fiscal standpoint, not a whole lot.  


See?  That is just the beginning of the 'bad news' that is facing the country.  I won't get into the other major issues that is plaguing this nation that is so afraid of the world.  Americans are leaving America.  Other people are coming to America because America is better than where they came from.  So you have the perfect storm.  The new kids on the block who have jobs, homes and cars who have embraced the American Dream.  You have those who worked their entire lives and had the rug pulled right out from under them, and you have an education system that is the machinery of continued enslavement.  The gateway debt is the student loan.


I am not really saying anything new.  It is all old information.  All dream killers.


WE are responsible for the dreams we need to be living and LIFE does not kill those dreams.  NO.  Obsolete systems kill those dreams.  Sure the shiny things are lovely to look at.  We can turn off our brains and stop thinking about the world, actually most Americans need to learn about the world.  


I don't care if you love me or hate me.  Really, I don't care.  Who YOU need to care about at this point in your life is yourself.


All of those systems, are only as real as YOU make them.  You can get swept away in its drama or you can march to the beat of your own drum.  


No.  I don't have the answers.  No one does.  Not all alone where we are just too afraid to let go of all that we think we 'own'.  We don't own a damn thing.  We are mortals walking around this earth with things coming and going in our lives to be used along the way as tools.  That was all money was meant to be, a tool.  Instead we created a God, a religion, a faith called Capitalism where profit is made at any cost.  Even if it means to go to war to stimulate a dying economy.  


The land of the free?  The people decide.  What is really important?  I honestly don't believe they know anymore.  I believe they may have let life kill their dream.   A nation that does not care for its own, that kills its own, that exploits its own....is not a nation, but has become a corporation.