The Wisdom of Pogo—The Ubiquitous They

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"They say..." "They always do/never do..." "They won't/will..." "They all are/never are..." "They all look/act..." "They know..."; "They" are always knowledgeable experts, the voice of authority, and definitely always right. "They" are the trump card in many an argument.

Who are "They"?

I don't know for sure. And since I do not know who "They" are, I do not trust them. Unfortunately I believe a great many people do. These persons appear to accept without question what "They" say; assume whatever "They" do is always right, proper, and for the betterment of humanity. "They" are often believed to be too big and too strong to rebel against successfully even when empirical evidence clearly proves "They" to be wrong and what "They" are doing harmful to many.

Individually we need to clearly identify "They" before we assign any credibility to them. Otherwise we will continue to stereotype and discriminate, profile racial and ethnic groups, abuse our women and children, suffer wars without end, and other iniquities too numerous to mention. So I suggest as an answer to my question in the second paragraph, a paraphrase of a statement made by Walt Kelley's wise little opossum Pogo¹, "We are the they that are doing it to us."

¹Actual quote, 

REAFFIRMING LIFE

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Sometime ago I came across these words of a clinical psychologist whose name unfortunately I have forgotten—but not his advise. "To reaffirm your life, at least once a year hold an infant in your arms and attend a funeral."

Birth and death are the bookends of life. The first offers promise of the future, the last a reminder that human life is not a forever thing. Vicariously experiencing both birth and death should give one pause to contemplate the meaning of human existence and his or her place within this gift of providence.

Do we owe that infant the best possible start in life, our contribution directly or indirectly to the child's having adequate food, clothing, shelter, safety and equal opportunity to maximize his or her potential? Did we contribute to improving the society in which the deceased lived? Are these acts even our responsibility?

Do we pollute or recycle? Do we remain mute or speak out against injustice regardless of the nationality, race or status of the victim and in spite of possible retribution? Do we vote as blind recipients of propaganda, or before we vote do we study the issues and question the candidates seeking to represent us? Do we contribute to the wellbeing of us or seek only the best for me? The infant should prompt the question, "Do we?” The decedent, "Did we?"

TRUTH—AN ENDANGERED SPECIES, MORE

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During the halcyon days of the Third Reich, the Nazi propaganda machine was very successful because it operated efficiently under the dictum, "If you tell the people the same thing loud enough and often enough, they will believe it." (Paraphrase of a quote attributed to either Joseph Goebbels or Adolph Hitler.) The "People's Observer" was the official daily newspaper of the NSDAP (The National Socialist German Workers' Party cum Nazi Party). The lies perpetrated by the Nazis resonated with a large part of the population because substantially they reinforced what the majority of the citizens wanted to believe. This propaganda machine was still moderately successful even as large parts of Germany were being reduced to rubble near the end of WWII. "Pravda" (Russian for “Truth”) a newspaper published in Moscow and distributed nationwide as the official organ of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union served very much the same function in the USSR as did the "People's Observer" in Nazi Germany. Both fed the people ONLY WHAT THEIR GOVERNMENTS WANTED THEM TO BELIEVE—much of that information founded on lies—WHILE AT THE SAME TIME RUTHLESSLY SILENCING OPPOSING VOICES. Sound familiar?

Nazi Germany's demise occurred only after its more democratic neighbors found themselves faced with annihilation and their governments with the support of the citizens—who experienced great personal sacrifice and many the heartache of the loss of loved ones—joined together to defeat the Axis powers. The Russian people and their satellite neighbors, who for decades suffered similar deprivation and loss of freedoms under the direction of the Communist Party leadership, finally rose up and dismantled the USSR. These victories were possible only because millions of citizens, like ourselves, were willing to sacrifice their time, money, effort, and in extreme instances their lives to make these victories possible.

We citizens of the United States of America are hourly bombarded by propaganda not at all dissimilar to that promulgated by the "People's Observer" and "Pravda". Our analogs to these newspapers are the major TV networks such as FOX, CNN, ABC, NBC, ABC, CBS and print sources such as the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, and even multi-source outlets like PBS—which is really scary—and this is only a short list of the media organs whose content is originated and controlled by the wealthy and powerful who daily become more wealthy and powerful at the expense of the many. They are the new American Oligarchy. (Be aware that it was an oligarchy that eventually destroyed the Roman Empire.)

On the bright side, evidence that we the people have had enough of rule by the few is everywhere. Demonstrations against assaults on our health, safety, shelter, violations of our privacy, destruction of our environment and so forth, by Big Ag (Monsanto), Big Pharm, Banks-too-big-to-fail, Big Oil, the President, Congress, (and this is only a short list) fueled by dissatisfaction (and possibly fear) have increased in number. Many free and so far uncensored dissident voices speak out against these abuses of power through Blogs. Petitions giving citizens the opportunity to express their concerns and to become involved circulate on the Internet also. And there have been victories as a result of these voices and opportunities, many of which have unfortunately gone unreported by the oligarchy controlled media that constantly seeks to assure us that everything is GREAT the way it is.

Truth, an Endangered Species

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Truth:  A statement in accordance with fact or reality. —American Standard Dictionary

            (1) the state of being the case : fact (2) the body of real things, events, and

            facts : actuality —Merriam-Webster Dictionary

The following paragraph was excerpted from an article titled "Cranking Up the Washington Lie Machine" by investigative reporter Dave Lindorff. (Google him for his credentials.)         

"In reality, the biggest threat to America today is not terrorism, which is really a much less serious problem in terms of death and mayhem than drunk driving (and one which would subside if the US stopped trying to be a global empire). Rather, the biggest threat is a federal government that has become increasingly unhinged, secretive, unmoored from the people and the Constitution, and thoroughly unprincipled -- ready to lie without hesitation and acting in the interests of the rich and the powerful, instead of in the broad interests of the majority of the population. We have reached a point where trust in the government is so low that the default assumption of most citizens is that the government is lying -- and they are correct."

Many of my students reported their surprise at the meltdowns their children had when they discovered that Santa, the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy didn't exist—that their parents had lied to them. Many of these same students defended their telling of these 'innocuous lies' as just a part of childhood, at least from their point of view.

Judging by their children's extreme reactions when they discovered the truth, it should be apparent that they did not consider these lies innocuous. Extremely powerful persons, the very same persons the children depended upon for their survival, persons in whom they had invested their trust, had lied to them. This was a faith-shaking occurrence and for many children their trust in these caregivers was never fully restored.

Whether or not we like to see ourselves this way, we are the children of the United States Government and of our 'godparents', our state and local elected (or appointed) officials. We depend directly or indirectly on these people for our food, clothing, shelter, and safety. They are the big persons in our lives and they are frequently lying to us. Our meltdown and concomitant, constructive and restorative responses to our disappointment, frustration, anger and fear are decades overdue and exceedingly necessary if we are to return to power "...a government of the people, by the people, and for the people before it perishes from our earth." (Amended from Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address.)  More to come.

Twenty-seven Years of Marriage

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Yesterday was our twenty-seventh wedding anniversary. Since neither of us is big on special occasions we did nothing unusual. We started the morning with her dozing in my arms while awaiting our tea water to boil. Then we had tea together, listened to the weather forecast and watched birds and wildlife from our porch windows. Our teatime is sacred and we let nothing avoidable interfere with it. Afterwards we each spent about an hour reading our e-mail, had breakfast together, then I went to my office and wrote while she took care of household responsibilities. Running errands was followed by lunch at one of our favorite restaurants, after which we came home and relaxed until about four. Between then and six, I worked on a Blogspot and she updated us with friends and relatives. At six we settled in for 'our time together', the other sacrosanct hour of our day, and enjoyed our beverages of choice while we discussed a variety of topics. A light supper was follow by our usual two hours of TV and then to bed were we read until overcome by sleep.

From my perspective, these have been great years, the happiest to my life. We've worked together, traveled, shared children with their concomitant joys and sorrows, supported each other through a few surgeries and adjusted to the vicissitudes of aging.

We complement each other. I have the book smarts, which are not all that useful in daily life; she has an abundance of common sense, which makes up for my lack that I demonstrate daily. We enjoy many of the same things—books, music, TV programs and so forth, while also maintaining separate interests. We often finish each other's sentences, fill in the blanks during word and name searches, think of the same thing at the same time. We agree on most things, agree to disagree on others. Anger is infrequent and short-lived.

I admire and respect and enjoy Cindy. Most importantly I like her. She is my best and closest friend. This, I believe, is the cornerstone of our marriage. Aging has changed our appearances somewhat, but I still find her very attractive and sexy. I love her and would marry her again in a heartbeat. I could say a lot more, but I've run out of room. Happy Anniversary, darling.