General Discussion

Any suffering is caused by one's involvement with the status quo. I mean, a proper commune would never even notice what is going on right now if not for outside media. So, the suffering is the withdrawal from a way of life. That way of life is, by now, corrupted and being more corrupted every day. They have taken over that way of life. To continue to involve yourself in it is to create more suffering.

What if we all just stopped with the finance and started helping each other survive? I hear stories about people grifting hurricane and other disaster survivors and how it is such a despicable act. Shouldn't such behavior be held across the board? Now is the time for survival. It is not the time to continue to have people arrested because they were going through your restaurant's dumpster for food. (Happens all the time. Just give it to them, for fuck's sake, you were throwing it out anyway. And, yes I know plenty of places DO give their leftovers away. I worked in a few.) As you said, you want those who created this mess to go down hard. So do a lot of people. However, at this point is more like gangrene than a broken arm. There is only one thing to do about gangrene, once it sets in. It hurts. A lot. People will have to relearn how to do certain things because the old society does not exist anymore and we will have to adjust. This is not some fantasy novel... we are approaching this point. (Please note I said 'approaching'. We are not there yet.)

I am old. Do you think I have not, am not, and will not suffer along with everyone else? Do you think I am going to make it through this? I don't see it. I am a poor, old nothing. I will be one of the first to go by the 'slow' pass. Just wasting away because only the rich will be allowed to seek healthcare and only the positioned will be allowed to enjoy anything positive from society. (Oh wait... we are already at that point.) I could be such help in a new society that focuses more on each other than a green piece of paper. (The current one says I have nothing to offer other than two arms, two legs, and a back... and they don't work worth a crap anymore. Our 'overlords' don't care though... I am supposed to die behind the tiller, so to speak.) They hold all the cards and refuse to part with any of it. And, we will just toil away to keep them there.

All that has to stop. All of it. Now.

Unless some one flies in with a white hat and a cape on, we have to be the ones to make it through this. And, by 'this' I mean the fall of the corporate model being used as a societal one. We should have paid more attention to the wealthy when they started their game, but they had spent a long time convincing us that they were the epitome of our society and their way of life was the only one that mattered. (This was after destroying our ability to focus for more than a few seconds at a time. That took a decade or so.) How many deaths came from chasing/stealing/losing wealth... solely because the ones that had it said how awesome it was to have? We have to help each other. Now is the time for the concept of 'neighbors' and 'community' to stop hiding behind the fear generated by the wealthy, who hate it when we show how to survive without money or prestige. (They REALLY hate it.)

We are learning why it was all bad now. Even those who thought they were not being a part of the 'evil oligarch' mentality now can see that they are. Being responsible is understanding that this had to happen. And, we all bear some fault for letting them implement their corporate mentality on every aspect of our lives. It is time to let it die out. Like a popular teen fad, just let it go. Let's build something better... something progressive... something that relies on our togetherness and our combined strengths as opposed to a society that oppresses for profit and power in some vain attempt to win over the masses.

I don't want anyone to suffer. I will do what I can to help others every step of the way out of this helltopia we created by following the callow and empty of heart. (Once I am able to, as I am one of the ones in a bit of a pickle.) We all can. Letting them win is letting them control us with that green paper. Stop letting them win. Let's do something to help each other as well as ourselves and quit with the 'I gotta save the portfolio and the bank account' mentality. Those who are good with gardens, help others plant one. More food from the ground cuts out the middle man. Those good with carpentry and other construction, help those who need their homes repaired. Those who have the skills and the means, share. Stop worrying about being paid. You will be paid in a more sound community. Forget the speedboat (unless you plan to use it for community building). I know that is a 'dirty word' these days, We can survive this fairly easily if we stop financing their endeavors and start 'investing' in our communities and then our regions, and then our states, and then... you get the idea. It always stuns me that there is a strong belief that we just cannot trust each other. That it would be bad to help each other. They created this myth and they want it to continue.

We just need to let go of the current societal model. The one in place today was not meant to be such anyway, so we should be capable of removing it. (Please notice I did not say our governmental model. I am talking about what has taken over our culture and our society. The governmental model is in the process of being corrupted. The societal one was already corrupted.)

(Annnnd, I guess I just let my very progressive, humanitarian flag fly... sorry, but it is how I feel about all this. We can make it through while letting the bad parts die out. We just have to understand that only by our combined efforts will the suffering be lessened and made to be irrelevant as a means of punishment and control. Which means enough with the capitalism and enough with the greed (and desire to rule over others... looking at you, overzealous evangelicals).

Go ahead... call me crazy and an alarmist. As I have said here before, when that time comes which shows I was wrong about all this, I will happily admit that I was wrong. Happily and loudly. (I will be pretty stunned, but I will happily do it.) Will anyone who disagrees with me now do the same when the time comes?