” I offer my voice, but it is merely a whisper. You know what? I don’t give a shit.” Me
The world as it is, is the way it has always been. We have a living, 3D representation of why it has been that way. When you change your view from microscopic to telescopic, the picture becomes much clearer. Regardless of how far we have progressed from the cave, our flaw has traveled with us through the millennia. Our present leader is not an exception, he is a sad continuation of man’s desperate need for power. My choice of gender is on purpose, too.
What got me going on this is the stunning silence, a voice vacuum that says we are better than this. Whip out your telescope and take a look at what is going on, not only here, but around the world. Is this the behavior that warrants our being placed on the top rung of Darwin’s ladder? Our species thrives on victimizing our own and whatever else poses an impediment to our singular dominance. It is evidence of a tragic insecurity, a timeless epidemic, caused by our large brains and starved spirits. Religion is no cure either, because it is an external force, followed and embodied, but not initiated from within. The God worshipped outside ourselves, doesn’t seem to be able to seal the forever, gaping hole in our souls.
Unlike the vast majority of people, who use social media, being liked is not my goal. Being honest is all that matters to me. Wait, that is not all. I am not interested in hurting anyone’s feelings. So, before you get on my case regarding religion, who the hell am I to have an axe to grind? I don’t. Love and compassion can’t come from without, because ownership comes from within or it is merely a meaningless mirage. What you do, beats the shit out of what you believe. At its best, religion is a means to an end, to be the best we can be. When it is weaponized by word or deed, it fails and examples abound.
Divisiveness has been the drug of choice since our very first, hairy ancestor accidentally stood up on two of his or her four legs. I think gender is important, which seems to stupid to say, but it has never been said enough. When the first guy witnessed the first woman give birth, I’ll bet it scared the shit out of him. Men have been afraid of women ever since. Trust me, I’m no scholar. When I moved from NYC to Santa Fe, I actually saw Native Americans. After Manhattan was sold for a handful of beads, you might find them walking on steel girders thousands of feet in the air, but never on the ground. Being afraid of heights kind of took care of that for me.
As some of you know by now, staying on topic is not my strong suit. I spent some time on the reservations with these folks and over the years, befriended a few. I learned that when a guy marries a woman, he becomes more a part of her family than his own. By the way, if I got this wrong, I don’t care, because I am telling a story and it works for me. I will bet money the world was matriarchal, before man used his strength to up end the natural order. You think the Salem witch trials were about witches? It goes back to the hairy witnessing of birth.
It is the next day and I ain’t done. I am just coming off the cushion and I was thinking about this story. First, let me finish off the talk about man vs. woman. In general, most of my gender are terrified of having their masculinity threatened, as if it can be taken away. Brute force is how it ends up being “protected.” I got a great story about it, but it’s too long. Ok, I’ll give you the short version.
I worked at the ’64 World’s Fair. After getting laid off toward the end of summer, a buddy and I decided to transport a car to Los Angeles. However, you had to be at least 25 to do so and neither of us were. We advertised for a driver and ended up with a 6’5” total peacock of a gay man, rounding out the traveling trio. I have written about this somewhere in the blog, but in much more hysterical detail in my book. The drive cross country was an incredible adventure, especially back then.
Upon arriving in LA, we went to a party in the Hollywood Hills. I will never forget my reaction when we walked into a house filled with gay men. After passing out drunk, I ended up awkwardly fending off aggressive advances by the party host. I spent a week going around town with this guy and had a great time. He never once crossed again. This is when I began to understand that our sexuality is all about balance and judgment has no place on that scale.
I also started thinking again about religion and politics and the gender business. The white Christian male is the chosen one in America. Skin color, religion and gender have been weaponized. I’ve already shared my two cents about religion and gender. Color is merely an adjective, devoid of any superiority.
I wanna wrap this up with a brief talk about Jesus, who was a voice that rebelled against the excesses of people like Trump, but it was within his religion. He spoke to the inherent goodness he believed lived silently in the hearts of his people. I can’t think of a better example of “truth to power.” He paid the ultimate price and I am not talking about getting maligned on X.
Today, I hear silence and that is what got me going in the first place. Back in the days of Christ, he rebelled against the opulence and the turn to idolatry of his people. He chose not to attack, but to offer a different way to get closer to heaven. Even though I know we have continually cycled this way, each empire falling prey to the need to dominate, it still saddens me more deeply than I can say.
I offer my voice, but it is merely a whisper. You know what? I don’t give a shit.
LISTEN TO IT HERE:
One of your best in a while… thanks
Oh, so the earlier ones sucked!!! Kidding. Thank you for the comment.
How I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall during that road trip! Loved this.
It ia one of my world class stories. I don’t know if you can imagine what it was like, traveling through the heart of America in’64 with an absolutely screaming, very tall, shameless, gay man. It was incredible. Keep in mind, we slept in cheap motels on the way across and they always had two beds! Each night, we chose, who got to sleep alone. My friend and U had a rotation of 2-2-1-2 and we never lost and Stanley Slapin got the bed to himself. I do such a good gay imitation that I stopped doing it, because it was that good. I am really glad you liked the story.