Listen to the Music

          

Just before the holiday season takes off like a Christmas cactus in full bloom, I'm making a list. No, not a list of stuff leaving me open-mouthed with desire, but of my blessings. Mundane as they may seem, their absence would be noticed and result in varying degrees of discomfort. And as we all know, discomfort is downright unpatriotic. Not on this list are my family and friends. For them I am always thankful.

The number one, top-of-the-list item, for which I thank God every time I step into the shower, is hot water. Hot water, you say? Where did she come from, some rural backwater with an outhouse and well? No, but I do remember my family members schlepping down to the basement to fill a portable tank with fuel needed to keep the house warm and the water hot. Forget about electronic this and digital that; if we wanted to keep toasty and wash in something other than ice water, someone had to do the work.

Once we had hot water, a passel of us got to share it in one bathroom; we are talking a small bathroom, roughly the size of what these days some people consider an undersized walk-in closet. Still, there were some interesting times while some uncle or other was shaving and I perched on the edge of the claw foot tub weighing the merit of his words. So I am thankful for the bourgeois luxury of a second bathroom.

On the subject of rooms: I am privileged to have a room of my own where I can shut the door and go about the business of contributing words to a world already awash in too many of them, or dream up my next painting, or type a letter to a friend. A room of one’s own is a supreme luxury and I am humbled by my good fortune and forever grateful.

And I am profoundly thankful I lived up to my father's praise when he delighted in the fact that I was able to root around in the refrigerator and come up with an edible meal. Over time, this knack transmogrified into an ability to cook. Cooking well, and taking pleasure in it, is a blessing I can share. Sharing makes it all the more precious.

I am thankful for the wind chime outside our front door, because it reminds me of God's breath and, despite efforts to purge them from our modern lives; magic and mystery abound in the universe.

Perhaps more than anything, I am grateful for the ability to laugh at myself and the world around us. If there were a heaven, I am sure it would not be populated by dour righteous types, but rather by folks who would share a bawdy joke with God after splitting the wine, doing a jig, laughing over creation and raising their voices in thanks for the music.

Buy, Buy, More American Pie

Cruising the internet not long ago I come across a post something like this: America is the only country in the world where you give thanks for your bounty one day and trample shoppers the next in a quest for more things.  I paraphrase, but the sentiment stands. ‘Tis the season of stuff.
It starts with turkey stuffing, feeling stuffed and moving on to buying stuff. All kinds of stuff: electronic stuff, plastic stuff, overpriced stuff, cheap stuff, artsy stuff, mass-produced stuff, one-of-a-kind stuff, stuff for adornment, stuff to read, stuff carrying a plethora of promises, (most dealing with youth, health, a wealth of indulgences, status or sex appeal) it’s all stuff.
As the stuff season begins, and as it finally exhausts itself in a collective exhale from Beijing to Wall Street, a running analysis on the relative success or failure of the season is delivered in appropriately solemn or upbeat tones from “media outlets.” The degree of solemnity or cheer depends on whether the buying craze proves either disappointing or exhilarating to retailers.
When considering that economies across the planet are increasingly based on consumption, one might toss out the eggnog in favor of the rum, but doing so only results in a more desperate consumption. Not to mention potentially disastrous vehicular impacts, fisticuffs, soaring blood sugar levels and/or projectile vomiting. Oh, wait, come to think of it, around this time of year those events occur with just short of the same degree of certainty as the sun rising in the east. Surely not what is meant by “the spirit of the season.”
There is an old “Adbusters” magazine from fall 2002 on my table. The cover is black and white. A by now clichéd image of a “revolutionary” is tossing an indistinguishable something off the page. S/he is masked and the body language is determined, or angry, or both. The text reads, “I want you to curb your consumption.”
The admonition waits to be taken to heart, though there may be little room left in its chambers filled with desire.

American Idle: Jobs, Lies and Taxes

Unless President Obama caves to the Republican agenda on the tax issue, we’ll be hearing the usual empty rhetoric from the GOP and the Koch-financed tea baggers. The refrain will go like this: taxing the rich is taxing the “job creators;” we are taxed enough already; taxing the rich is class warfare; we have the highest corporate tax rate of any industrialized nation.
Below is an explanation why the above are well-orchestrated lies calculated to keep us from taking to the street and demanding the government (and especially the hijacked Republican party) dismantle themselves and start from scratch:
1. The so-called “job creators” Obama wants to tax are NOT the legions of small businesses Thomas Jefferson thought (along with yeoman farmers) would be the backbone of this nation: they are multi-gazillion dollar corporations that, besides reaping obscene profits, create their “jobs” in third world nations where they can pay “employees” (read wage slaves) barely subsistence wages. These “job creators” behave as companies did in this country before unions made it possible for working people to earn enough to form a middle class. The corporations, ever ready to exploit and profit from the labor of others, just moved their jobs offshore and recreated what the 19th century looked like in America: child labor, people getting fired on the whim of bosses, expendable workers earning just enough to keep them alive, 80-hour workweeks and all the other dehumanizing conditions the “job creators” are reenacting in other nations.
2. Regardless of whether or not you believe “we are taxed enough already,” the critical issue is WHERE our taxes go. The question is not how much we pay in taxes, but if we are seeing any value for our “investment.” Because, as unlikely as it seems, it is possible to consider taxes an investment. The question is: do we want to invest in American schools, clean energy, research, affordable housing, healthcare, job creation, or do we want to see our taxes pissed away in pissant nations such as Pakistan?
3. Anyone who believes the bogus charge of “class warfare” is simply an idiot. There is no other way to say this. The rich have been sucking the blood of the poor since people put words (or characters) on parchment. In this so-called “warfare,” the wealthy hold the power; not what one would call a “fair fight.” However, there is no real “warfare.” What there is, is a carefully contrived campaign of deceit calculated to keep people pissed off at the wrong target. It’s Wall Street, boys and girls. Get rid of Wall Street and we have a shot at retaking our government.
4. Finally, it doesn’t matter worth a hill of treasury notes what the corporate tax rate is if there are enough loopholes so companies such as General Electric manage to avoid paying one devalued penny in taxes, while corporations and CEOs sock their lucre away in offshore accounts and anyplace else they can conjure up to avoid paying their share.
Tax the rich. Now. Cut corporate welfare. Now. Close tax loopholes for the wealthy. Demand it now. Do it now.