Taboo Plaza

Is it just me or are things starting to feel pretty brutal over the last couple weeks?  I'm not sure what it is, but things just seem more difficult than they were a month ago.

A day ago.
A year ago.

The pressure is coming downward and quite frankly I don't like it.  I know there is something better on the other side, but man getting to that other side is going to suck.  And I'm not talking about death.  I'm talking about something better tomorrow.  And not tomorrow in the same sense as Little Orphan Annie singing the song.

I'm saying that tomorrow will be better than today, because I must make it so.

I need your help on that though too, although I may not be speaking to you personally.  Because you personally, might need me.  I don't know and you don't know, but together we might make it better.  With you and me and a couple more making threes.  We can make things happen.  And I don't mean through violence or aggravated attitudes.  That never gets you anywhere, because you always end up back where you started.  Half of the truth staring you in the face and a big mess to clean up.Tomorrow requires thought.  What do you want tomorrow to look like?  I think I'd like to see a bit more purpose in life.  I think that our ability for a better tomorrow can be enhanced through the education of our children.  I'd like to see my kids challenged in school.  I don't care if they can perform well in math or science.  I want them to be able to face the moment- any moment- and act or react appropriately.  Obviously they can't be taught specific ways in which to engage a situation until the situation takes place, but they can be taught to reason and speak their opinion.

That would be nice.

I want my kids questioning everything in an intelligent fashion.  I want my kids to look around and see what the hell is happening in our world.  Our world has been a bit jacked up for quite some time now.  Every now and again we get complacent because that seems to be the cycle in America.  Take a few steps forward and then rest on our laurels.  Moving slowly back into the mire from which we once began to extract ourselves.

Rest for a while, but engage and make tomorrow better than today.

I need to get engaged.  You need me engaged.  I need you engaged and thinking.  Thinking about what tomorrow might look like.  Thinking about what we want tomorrow to look like.  Who we will be tomorrow?  And not in the sense of what are you going to be in five years.  What do you want to see around you tomorrow?

I need you to want to see.  You need me to want to see.  Only as we can tomorrow be impacted.  See something.  I don't even really care what it is.  Just see it and have it be better than today.  Maybe mention it to someone, but don't cram it down their throat.  Throw it out there and see what happens.  Let it be known.  Tell somebody what you see today that may make tomorrow better than today.

You need me to do the same.  At least I hope you do, because if you don't what do we have?  What do we have if none of us care about tomorrow being better than today?  It's not about gods or demons.  It's not about the end of the world.  Or the beginning of something big.  It's about tomorrow.  Somebody needs to want to know what tomorrow is going to look like.  If it's left to the same vision being pursued today, I have the feeling we are just waiting for an asteroid to strike the Earth and wipe us clean.  Like the dinosaur, will we vanish in an instant. 

Will we fight the asteroid like in the movies? 
Will we find a way to make it somewhere we can't go today?

I suppose that question depends on what we see for tomorrow.

7 Deadly Sins

It's amazing the power of wrath.
It consumes the heart with a mix of fear and panic.
There's a sense of helplessness lashing out in despair.
It's ugly.
It makes violent outbursts feel good.
Like a shady spirit in the night,
Wrath haunts the heart in solitude.

7 Holy Virtues

Patience is the balance of life.
A level of comfort within the environment.
No need to name anything.
No need to recognize anything as anything.
The world stands still for the patient in silence.
Sweet silence.
The patience of a Zen monk cross-legged, mouth closed
for twenty minutes or more.
There's nothing that's of need in such a state.
Patience seductively follows the clear mind like a nymph of comfort.

Down On Rage Street

I can't help but sit in wonder at the outrageous salaries that are made in this country.  Take the wireless company Sprint.  They just hired a new CFO.  A guy by the name of Robert Brust.  The Kansas City Star reports that Brust recently arranged a two-year contract with Sprint.  Purportedly, Brust will make $1 million a year as well as a $1.65 million sign on bonus.  He got a $1.65 million sign on bonus! 

If I made that kind of money before I produced anything, I'd walk in perform in a half-ass manner and be on my way.  A person should be able to live off that kind of money for the rest of their life.

Now you may tell me that I'm crazy.  You may tell me how there's all kinds of people with millions of dollars that can't afford to stop working.  That's a load of hockey though.  It's bullshit, if you prefer.  Those people are spending way too much money.  A nice house costs anywhere from $250,000 to $400,000.  If you want land you might pay a bit more depending on the part of the country you're in, but even $800,000 out of $1.65 million would leave you enough to put $500,000 in secure investments of one sort or another and live off $300,000 at a rate of $100,000 a year.

That's a nice living.

You'd live quite well with a family of five on that kind of a budget, but many people want to be big ball rollers.  It's engrained in us from the culture, the media and the people around us.  Watch MTV Cribs and try to think small afterwards.  We live in the world of the stories that are told around us.

Big money roller, ya'll.

Our sense of perspective is gone today.  Our sense of perspective is blown way out of proportion and it starts with corporate dealings like the one Sprint made with Robert Brust.  The problem with perception of living standards and instant gratification didn't start with the punk gangstas on the street, but rather in the board rooms.  The punks on the street saw the corporate types with all kinds of perks and respect.  The punks wanted that.  So here we are today, with a million dollars not equating to enough money to live decently, and MTV Cribs showing us how we can piss away enough money to feed everyone across the globe for at least one day.  Go one day with an empty stomach and tell me that one day with something to eat doesn't matter.

Yet we live in the world of conversations that follow: 

'That's not going to work for me, how about a $1.65 million sign on bonus?  I can't feed my family on anything less.'

'You got it.'

'Done.'

'Done!'

We're all done in such a world and if you're a Christian then you should understand that better than anyone.

Belly Laugh

It doesn't matter how many times I watch this video.  Dave Chapelle is hysterical here because this is the essence of labor in a service environment.  Who cares about making copies other than the person that needs them?  What satisfaction is there in performing this kind of labor? 

Dave Chapelle is at his most brilliant in this sketch.