Human rights violations

Let's think of each other as humans, at least during this season.
At least during this season, where we celebrate the moving through the darkest part of the year, let's think of each other as humans.
Humans who eat, sleep and poop, humans who share common needs, and have common basic desires.

We share this one world, we have, or have not, according to our willingness to see the needs each other have, and see them as being worthy of being met, our ability to be uplifting to our fellow humans is the measure of our character, we see ourselves as worthy of more than the guy living down by the river under a bridge, we somehow raise our own needs above the needs of others.
By doing this we are able to accept the lack in others life as their just deserts.
Saying in essence, it's their own fault, even when we understand that our economy is rigged, and always has been.

Somehow we have been convinced that any person who has less is worthy of less, then we even go so far as to outlaw the behaviors that the poor MUST have, daily.

For instance sleep, the ability to sleep is one of the most important rejuvenating acts, you must sleep, or you will go insane, and yet, when you have no home, the ability to sleep the night is not guaranteed, and is often outlawed, police regularly raid homeless camps in predawn, SWAT style raids, heavily armed and violating all sorts of rights, human, civil, and universal, but when you are poor, no one stands up, once knocked down, you cannot stand against law enforcement, you have no safe ground to retreat to, you are always vulnerable.

Police profile the poor, they single out the homeless and ticket the same person over and over, even when no jail time or community service has "reformed" the person, they continue with enforcement, it's the only tool they have at hand, unless they resort to rights violations... If they are willing to violate the rights of the most vulnerable, then they have the ability to end the revolving door of the court and jail systems, if they are willing to violate rights, they beat you, false arrest you, wake you every night, many times per night, and lets face it, the cops are willing to violate the rights of the poor.

They know that there will be no recourse, no one will stand up for their rights, the poor are downtrodden, and the police know it.

Now, today, this moment, consider standing next to a person who is being oppressed, consider who stands with the poor, think about how you, as a human, can positively affect the life of a person who you know.

At least during this season, see the humans who are down, even if your needs are so great, that you cannot help, at least during this season see your fellow humans.

Double standards

Let's talk about poop. 💩💩💩
It's a real thing, each person who you know, poops.
It's part of the human condition, and our society has a serious double standard when it comes to poop.

If you are a homeless person pooping can become a crime, you can't poop at home, and those "restrooms for customers only" signs, they are up there for us, the people who need to poop, but don't own a toilet.
So get this, people poop wrong, they poop in bushes or boxes, or buckets or bags, really, when the time comes, you are going to poop no matter where you are.

So you poop at home, with your favorite brand of tp at hand, and some choice reading material, you pay your bills so that you have the right to poop in comfort and ease, and once that poop is gone, down the hole, along the pipes and tubes through your town or city, it winds up in the care of a your municipal sewage treatment plant, where depending on your town it is processed and released into a local water way, or some in some cases it's treatment is sufficient that it can be reused.

And this is where the double standard comes in, those municipal water treatment plants, occasionally, pump millions of gallons of poop into your local water ways, and no one gets jailed.
When the municipality or corporate treatment facility poops, on a massive level, it's settled with fines, offenders pay their fine, then often repeat the same behavior, or never pay the fines and end up in court attempting to escape any responsibility.

You see, everybody poops, and the double standards about poop, are shit.

Abandon fear

Why is it we live in fear?

Fear of condemnation, because our views are rejected by those who don't agree, or fear of attack, being singled out and hurt by others because of our feelings and expressions.

We are sensitive, we are feeling, we are concerned about our affects on those who are a part of our lives, we know that they can accept our expressions or reject them, we know that what is right for us can be wrong for someone else.

That sensitivity, that concern can prevent our expressions, it can keep is quite when we really have a lot to say, because we fear that we may hurt others, or that they may reject us for our views and feelings.

So please, please accept those people in your life who have enough bravery to express themselves, accept their views as their own, and hear them out, weigh the words they speak and consider the feelings that arise.

Maybe if our world finds a way to hear each other, to accept differing views and feelings, we can find solutions which will work for all of us.

Be brave enough to speak, also be brave enough to genuinely listen.

Open your eyes

Open your eyes, see what you can't look at.

See past the color, the class, the gender, to the person there, they were born to parents too, they eat food too, those people poop too.
In fact they are more like you than unlike, the person who you can't even see, the person who you purposefully look away from is almost exactly like you.

It makes it hard to see that person, the poor person, the handicapped, the person of color, it's hard to see them, when you think "I could be in their position." "That could be me." It's tough to relate to a person when you don't want to understand them, knowing you already do.

So I challenge you, the next time you have the chance, engage with that person, connect with them, even if it's just looking them in the eye and smiling.

Human connection is what life is about.

Forward thinking.

For just a moment, if you will, engage in some forward thinking with me.

We as forward thinking people, can recognize the direction our society is heading.
We see how the planet exists on a thin margin in space, we know that a Cinderella zone , a thin band of light, and land which has allowed is this awareness.
We know that our shared future is looking dark, because of the consumer ways of our culture.

We as rational beings, know, we know that there is a path forward, we know that our ability to use logic and reason can in fact pull us back from the edge, we can move forward towards a future of health and abundance.

Our ability to see the importance of each person, each animal, each plant, our ability to lift each other up, to see the vital needs of each being as a cause worthy of investing ourselves in, regardless of class, race, or gender, seeing each person as a being who has a vital role to play in our shared future.

How do we find this way forward?

How do we face the people in our lives with the intention of progress for all?

How do we choose to survive?

Change begins with unity.

Seriously, the change I see in this crazy world, is a thing that begins as a unity movement.

#Occupy
#IdleNoMore
#BlackLivesMatter

Choosing to band together, to face the dangers and fears the world presents us with, and say I have comrades, I am not alone, we are strong enough to get through this, we are going to win.

The strength we gain by uniting is the strength which is multiplied by it's self, the synergy which creates a wave overcoming any obstacle, in a way that no single drop could, overwhelming.

This unity, this bonding and strengthening is what we require to take the next step, to overwhelm the oppressors, to gain so much strength through unity that our comradeship can jointly walk away from the chains that our modern world considers progress, and instead pursue a future which can offer health, happiness and sustainability.

Our kleptocracy, our fascist america has drawn a clear line, a line which divides the people who see a sustainable future, in which all people share the potential and the future is of shared liberty, of shared resources, of a shared earth.
On the other side, private property laws make the very act of living without property a crime, to exist, to eat, sleep or poop is not guaranteed, you don't have the right to the every day human functions necessary to living, you have to pay, pay to eat, pay to sleep, pay to poop, your human functions are a commodity, a thing of value, which the wealthy buy, sell and profit from.

The world cannot suffer the oppressors any longer, the world is ready for a shared future of health and happiness, the world has been calling for an uprising, a unity movement in which our dedication to future generations drive our ethics, and productivity is measured by our ability to provide for a generation which hasn't been born.

Can we figure a way forward?
Is this a unity movement worthy of overwhelming dedication?
How do we turn our good will towards each other?

I am not content

I am not a thing to click a like button on, I am not a series of ones and zeroes, I am not a .gif .JPEG .MP4 or .zip, I am not a profile picture or status update, I am not a like button, I  not trending, I am not some abstract text which can be misconstrued, I am not a photo shop picture, I am not a follower of community standards, I am not comfortable being censored, I am not submitting my ID for access to my account, I am not subjecting myself to trolls and surveillance, I am not your friend.

If you know me person, you know what I am.

Geocide

Just quit it.

Quit killing us all, I mean seriously, we have no planet B.
We need to focus on living a life which is sustainable, it's long past the time to cut back on consumer goods, and bring your own bag, its past time for recycling and composting, it's past the time for alternative energy.

We are at a point where continuing to buy, consume and trash, is a statement of solidarity with the people who prefer to see you, me and all of our future descendants living on a planet of toxic air, water and soil, continuing to drive, alone, chewing through fossil fuels for your selfish needs is a declaration "I don't give a fuck about anyone but me!" However if I speak out against these Orwellian behaviors, somehow I am the insane one.

Selfish behavior is not only accepted, it's expected, polite society will shun you if you are not supporting geocide, they would rather never have to see the future repercussions of their actions, and certainly will not look at how their present day planet is affected by the actions of consumer culture.

It's past the time for rational reactions to the wholesale massacre of ecosystems, it's past the time to study IF there are problems with burning fossil fuels, it's past the time for wondering how we can do things differently, it's way past the time to rise up against the oligarchy which has condemned us all to a life of hunger, thirst, and slavery.

We are willing to continue with our lifestyle and pursuit of this hollow form of wealth, despite the mass extinctions and ecocide which are implied by our behaviors, we mine rare earth minerals, we frack our aquifers, we log our forests, we have pit mines, strip mines, deep earth mines, we consume our planet with such reckless abandon that it can only be considered intentional murder of earth.

Just quit it.