disillusion

Redefining Modern Anarchism

/ uurevjeff / 4 Comments

At recent Occupy the Tri General Assemblies, we held some passionate discussions about a logo and the subject of a clenched fist arose (similar to that used by the New York OWS group).  Some felt the power of the symbol reflected our frustration with the way things are and represented our resolve to fight for change.  Others were concerned that the symbol failed to reflect our primary commitment to nonviolence.

We eventually agreed on a design that I believe reflects our most important guiding principle – our need to love for and care about each other on a deep primal level.  Even this wonderful design presents a challenge.  The design continues to incorporate traditional symbols of resistance and peace.  But the centerpiece shows us joining together, devoted to a more loving world. 

We live in a society where branding is deeply ingrained behavior.  We all know golden arches, and sneaker swirls.  We tend to know corporate symbols better than even basic rules of language and etiquette.  So it will take time for our new logo to catch on with the public.  It will definitely take time for our principles of love and nonviolence to capture the public spirit.

Similarly, I have been reconsidering another traditional symbol of resistance and revolution, the anarchist Circle A.  This symbol is certainly not as widely known as countless others in our society, and this particular symbol has been used in wildly different contexts and for differing purposes.  I imagine for a lot of people, the Circle A represents  violent bombers or punk rockers, carrying a heavily negative connotation.

But, I believe it time to revisit this historical association of the symbol with the violent overthrow of governments.  Gandhi, perhaps humankind’s leading proponent of nonviolence and proponent of the overthrow of oppressive order once wrote:

“The ideally non-violent state will be an ordered anarchy. That State is the best governed which is governed the least.”

Anarchy India has an excellent blog posting on how Gandhi’s vision of anarchy would be applied.  Gandhi felt that the State represents violence in a concentrated and organised form – a soulless machine that can never be weaned from the violence to which it owes its existence.  Is Gandhi’s ideal of a non-violent state of enlightened anarchy where social life would remain self-regulated a pipe dream – an impossible utopia?  I have no idea who said it first, but many noteworthy people have expressed the sentiment.

“The impossible is what nobody can do until somebody does”

So, while I know the Circle-A symbol has some well-deserved baggage (perhaps no more or less than many other commonly accepted images), I think it has value and deserves to be reclaimed.  The anarchy symbol is a direct and obvious statement that an existing order is dysfunctional and must be replaced.  For those of you who are into the origins of words, the word “anarchy” comes from the ancient Greek ἀναρχία, anarchia, meaning “absence of a leader.”  Well, isn’t that at the heart of the Occupy Wall Street movement?

Anarchy can be nonviolent.  Society can exist with laws but without corrupt government.  It will not be easy – in fact it may be very nearly impossible – but we can build a human society based on love.  We’ve spent millennia building one based on fear and hate, so how hard can it be if we put the same energy into positive emotions?

I’m Back

/ uurevjeff / 3 Comments

I haven’t posted to this blog for many weeks.  My absence has not been for lack of desire to communicate with you, dear reader.  Rather, I have been wandering – wandering in my mind for words worth writing, for messages worth reading, for feelings worth expressing.

When I wander, I allow life to speak to me.  I open myself to whatever the universe is saying and then I seek meaning in the messages.  I envy those who can sit in lotus poses and meditate for hours on end to access the voices of the cosmos.  I fear that my puppy mind has long grown past the point of such discipline.  So, I search for sustenance by random grazing.  My process is wholly unpredictable, even chaotic.  But, when my beautiful muse speaks to me, she injects me with an understanding beyond all knowing and a joy no drug can match.

Last Friday, I took a day off and drove to Frankenmuth, a little tourist town of quirky shops and manufactured cuteness.  I strolled through an enormous bead shop, admired faerie art, turned a music store clerk onto European goth rock, and sped through a soul-sucking Christmas store.  My only purchases were a bag of specialty popcorn and some random candy from bygone days.  I bought them thinking that I would savor them over the coming weeks, enjoying the occasional taste of toffee and sugar.

But, last night, I sat in my living room resting, flipping among the cable channels mindlessly.  Beside me was the now empty bag of popcorn and a few remaining pieces of the candy.  In just a few days, I had not been able to resist the repeated narcotic allure of the promise of instant gratification.  Whether I had actually enjoyed the consumption had no meaning – I had simply wanted to consume and could not resist the urge.

This morning, I was besieged by a wave of synchronous voices – a Facebook link to an article about why our young people are leaving churches in waves; a heart-wrenching biography of a young woman struggling to survive economically without selling her soul or losing her way; and a finely crafted essay on capitalism calling for us to seek a new model for living and being together as humans.

For the past few years, I have traveled this road largely alone.  Oh, I have friends – dear and treasured friends – many of whom are treading similar paths.  But I have lived alone within a sea of humanity.  I have preached of love, of the agape of religious community.  I have spoken promoting pacifism and nonviolence, of how we must learn to love ourselves and others equally.  And when the Occupy Wall Street movement began, I jumped at the opportunity to try to shape all of that frustration and anger into a constructive and positive force for change.

But, the pull of my old life is hard.  Financial debt constantly reminds me of the need to seek monetary compensation for my labor, even though I would gladly do this work for free.  The privileges earned only through the circumstances of my birth tempt me with their serene siren song of comfort.  And I mourn the loss of my family elders, my first mentors, now all dead and kept alive only in my memories.

I know in my mind that we must change – that my old life is not sustainable.  I know that I cannot, as they say, only talk the talk.  I must walk the walk.  I am trying, dear friends, oh I am trying.  But resisting that candy takes so much effort.  Taking risks and having the courage to reach out, to be vulnerable, frightens me.  And, in allowing myself to be vulnerable, do I risk losing my capacity to lead, to help effect the changes I deem necessary in our society?

In recent months, I have watched helplessly as people lost hope in causes.  I have struggled as comrades, consumed by doubts and fears, dropped out of activities and organizations.  Perhaps such attrition, while regrettable, is inevitable.  But, is the flame of our hope flickering on the verge of evanescence?

As we emerge from winter, thankfully a gentle and easy winter, perhaps the time for a new dawn has come.  Maybe this time, we will subvert the dominant paradigm.  Can we build a new Racovia, a new Hopedale?  Can we envision and bring about a new model of being together as humans?

I do so fervently hope so.  And I invite you to join me in the journey.

Can We Build a Utopia?

/ uurevjeff / 9 Comments

Pundits want to know what Occupy Wall Streets protesters want.  I believe that Occupiers want what the 99% – deep down – all want.  We want utopia.  Here is my vision of utopia.

  • Guarantee that everyone receives free and reasonable access to a basic core program of health care.
  • Guarantee that no one goes hungry or homeless; no child or elderly person gets left behind for lack of our caring.
  • Guarantee that everyone receives free and reasonable access to education from birth to at least high school plus two years of technical education or upper-level college prep.
  • Guarantee that everyone who wants to work gets a job that pays at least a living wage.
  • Restructure our system of employment so that everyone who works receives compensation commensurate with the value of the work performed – this includes everything from service workers to politicians to corporate CEO’s.
  • Guarantee that every citizen receives the free and unencumbered right to vote; no person or entity can donate more than $100 to any political campaign and all details on all campaign finances must be available to the public.
  • Redirect the criminal justice system at every level toward the goal of rehabilitation and the dispensing of just and equal punishment, not the production of profit or mistreatment.
  • Require every citizen to provide at least two years of public service, broadly defined as including service in local or national peace forces, community development, aid to developing countries, or other forms of human assistance.
  • Rethink and re-engineer every element of society to function in closer concert with our environment, from food production to sustainable energy to manufacturing outputs.
  • Afford every reasonable effort to promote the creative and imaginative efforts of our people, from arts grants to business start-up funds to financial assistance to organizations or industries seeking to upgrade their technology and operations.  The ultimate goal is to retain and maximize the fullest measure of human potential and productivity of our people.
  • Eliminate every law that discriminates on the basis of any identity, including but not limited to sex, gender, age, race, ethnicity, nationality, sexuality, ability, religion, political views, or socio-economic status.

Now, the big question – how do we get there?  The biggest challenge is funding, so here are my suggestions.

  • Eliminate the current Department of Defense and all associated military forces and replace them with a scaled-down Department of Peace and forces whose sole purpose is to protect this nation and support the development and maintenance of human rights of all people in the world.  The majority of efforts directed toward the production of military equipment should be retooled to the production of supplies needed for rebuilding communities after natural disasters, improving the nation’s infrastructure, and deterring the development of war technologies throughout the world.
  • The current structure of 50 separate state governments is an historical anachronism that has long lost any purpose or meaning.  We eliminate the current structure and replace it with 5-10 regional governments to serve a similar purpose.
  • At the local level, similarly eliminate thousands of separate civic entities and school districts, seeking to reach a basic critical mass level of size for towns/cities and for educational entities.
  • Conduct a comprehensive review of all government, eliminating all bureaucracies and entities that can be replaced by better resource allocation and more equitable distribution mechanisms.  Government should always retain strict oversight responsibility (with severe penalties for corruption), but private industry should be encouraged to replace inefficient public programs and historical leftovers, such as toll roads and bridges, the proliferation of public fees, and many separate taxes.
  • Conduct a comprehensive review of all law enforcement codes with a goal of decriminalizing a significant proportion of current actions and significantly reducing the current level of frivolous legal actions, thus relieving an enormous burden on our justice system and getting government out of the business of enforcing morality.
  • Show the world the nature of true leadership by cooperating at the highest level with world organizations and creating true partnerships with other nations.  Our goal as a nation should always be to seek the most mutually advantageous relationship with other nations, which will in the end provide the greatest return and encourage the same from other nations.
  • Conduct a comprehensive review of all areas of business enterprise and reinstitute a new area of monopoly-busting, starting with the unhealthy current situation involving our nation’s media enterprises.
  • Stop trying to motivate action through fear-mongering and instead inspire our people with messages and actions of hope and love.

Can it work?  Every great accomplishment of human civilization derived from a vision that, at the time, seemed impossible.  Let us dream of the impossible.

Drilling to Our Spiritual Core

/ uurevjeff / 3 Comments

We Unitarian Universalists pride ourselves on our commitment to social justice.  We hold in deep reverence past acts of abolitionists, suffragettes, civil rights activists, and others promoting equality, freedom and democracy.

A new movement has emerged that does not ask, “Can you imagine yourself a slave?”  “Can you feel how it feels to be a woman?”  “Can you understand the experience of being African American; Indigenous; Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer or Intersex?”  This new movement has turned the question around and asks, “Do you recognize that we are the 99%…that you are the 99%?”

Perhaps you are reading this on your home computer, or your smart phone, thinking that things are not that bad.  Maybe you are very happy with your life and you cannot understand why these protesters just don’t work harder to find a job, or suck it up and pay their student loans like everyone else.  You see media reports of dirty-looking 60’s leftovers whining about everything without any suggestions for real change.  You ask yourself, “Why don’t they run for office if they are so dissatisfied?”  Or, “If they hate America so much, why don’t they go somewhere else?”

All legitimate questions.  Consider one answer.

Slavery was morally wrong.  It took a century and a horrible civil war, but we eventually abolished slavery.  Denying women the right to participate in the democratic process was morally wrong.  It took a century of activism and protest, but suffrage eventually prevailed.  The exclusion of Blacks from the rights due all American citizens was morally wrong.  It took a century of lynching and violent sacrifice, but the Civil Rights Act was eventually passed.

Are these problems now magically solved?  Of course not.  Millions of undocumented immigrants, who have come to America just like our ancestors did, suffer in indentured bondage under crushing bureaucracy, hunted by an indifferent and overzealous paramilitary army with little or no oversight.  Women remain objectified in virtually every medium as objects for the sexual pleasure of men, their paths to leadership stifled by images created by corporations whose only bottom line is profit.  And GLBTQI people still suffer thousands of discriminating laws, the rejection of the most basic human right of marriage, not to mention all too frequent violence and even murder simply because of their identities.

And now we have Occupy Wall Street – a bunch of poor, dirty hippies grousing about rich  people, if you believe the mainstream media.  But, is that the reality?

The reality is that the United States in the past 50 years has made conscious decisions – moral decisions – to place profit over people.  Industry regulations have been eviscerated in the name of promoting economic development.  At the same time, we have carved away iindividual liberties in the name of security.  With the stroke of a pen, the highest court in the land has declared that a corporation is a person.  Racial minorities, women, gays and lesbians, and immigrants have been fighting for that recognition for 200 years and have yet to achieve their goal.

And what is our reward?  The free press, with the possible exception of a few small outlets, is essentially dead – held in a corporate vice grip by a literal handful of wealthy individuals intent on maintaining their Divine Right.  Ten of millions of Americans still suffer from untreated illness and disease because we have invested in bailouts instead of universal healtcare.  Washington continues to insist on fighting unjust and illegal wars across the globe, and looks to our social safety nets of Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and others to foot the bill.  Our corporations rape our environment unabated, shelter billions in earnings from fair taxation, gamble with the economic life of our nation through unscrupulous speculation, and then are handed over the keys to the treasury to cover their losses – money that should be educating our children, creating jobs, caring for our elders, and giving young people reasons to hope that their belief in hard work and the American Dream is not just playing them for suckers so CEO’s can get another million dollar bonus.

Religious people of every faith should be outraged, because every text we hold sacred preaches against these moral choices.  Here are just a small portion of the wisdom taught in every religion

  • The love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, and in their eagerness to be rich some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pains. (Christianity, NRSV Bible, 1 Timothy 6:10)
  • A lover of money never has his fill of money, nor a lover of wealth his fill of income…A worker’s sleep is sweet, whether he has much or little to eat; but the rich man’s abundance doesn’t let him sleep. (Judaism. Jewish Study Bible, Ecclesiastes 5:9 and 11)
  • Woe to every slanderous reviler, habitual defamer, who hoards wealth and incessantly counts it!  He thinks his wealth will immortalize him.  Most surely, no, indeed!  He will be hurled in the Crusher. (Islam. Qur’an Surah 104:1-4)
  • The gateway of this [self-deluded] hell leading to the ruin of this soul is threefold: lust, anger, and greed. (Hinduism. Bhagavad Gita 16.21)
  • This foolish mind is greedy; through greed, it becomes even more attached to greed. (Sikhism. Guru Nank Dev, Siri Raag, p. 21)
  • There is no calamity like now knowing what is enough.  There is no evil like covetousness.  Only he who knows what is enough will always have enough. (Taoism. Tao Te Ching 46)
  • Fetters of wood, rope, or even iron, say the wise, are not as strong as selfish attachment to wealth and family.  Such fetters drag us down and are hard to break.  Break them by overcoming selfish desires, and turn from the world of sensory pleasure without a backward glance. (Buddhism. Dhammapada 345-6)
  • As long as a person does not know the richness of joy and peace that comes from within, he tries to fill his empty and insecure existence with the clutter of material acquisitions…One must impose a limit on one’s needs, acquisitions, and possessions such as land, real estate, goods, other valuables, animals, money, etc. The surplus should be used for the common good…This Jain principle of limited possession for householders helps in equitable distribution of wealth…economic stability, and welfare in the world.  Non-possession, like non-violence, affirms the oneness of all life and is beneficial to an individual in his spiritual growth and to the society for the redistribution of wealth. (Jainism, Twelve Vows of a Layperson, Aparigraha (Non-Possession)

The Occupy Wall Street movement has, at its core, a moral imperative.  As a society, we make choices about resource allocations, about what matters to us as people.  In recent years, we have chosen to support corporate idols over the needs of people.  But, corporations do not have souls, the moral capacity to act ethically, to sacrifice, to love.  OWS reminds all religious people, it reminds all of us, that the decisions are ours to make. 

I don’t know the direction OWS will take.  But, as Theodore Parker said in “Of Justice and the Conscience” (1853): “I do not pretend to understand the moral universe; the arc is a long one, my eye reaches but little ways; I cannot calculate the curve and complete the figure by the experience of sight; I can divine it by conscience.  And from what I see I am sure it bends towards justice.”

Funeral for the Death of the Middle Class

/ uurevjeff

At our Occupy Midland demonstration today, we had a funeral for the victims of corrupt politics and failed economics. Here is the text of the eulogy.

=====
Dear Friends,
 
Welcome to this solemn occasion, and join together in loving community as we lay to rest our dear brothers and sisters. We assemble today, people of all ages and races, men and women of all backgrounds and identities, spirits of all faiths, united in common cause against insidious invaders intent on destroying the America of our founders.
  • Let us treasure the memory of Participatory Democracy and an economic system that benefited all who built this nation, conquered on all fronts by politicians bought and sold by corporate “persons” and by hijacked elections.
  • Let us remember our pursuit of Life, Liberty, and Happiness, murdered by the unfettered corporate control of our media and unregulated financial institutions.
  • Let us recall the once healthy and vibrant American Dream, victim of spiraling medical costs, disproportionate distribution of wealth, and cruel repressions against immigrants desperately seeking to follow the lead of our own ancestors.
  • Let us mourn our Homes, Retirement Savings, and Safety Nets being sacrificed in order to maintain colonialism and unlawful military actions across the globe.
  • And lastly, let us especially grieve our dying Earth, whose pillaging, defacement, and reckless abandonment through oil spills, fracking, waste contamination, and violent abuse leave us homeless of spirit, and without anchor in our chaotic universe.
But, let us not grieve so deeply that we fall into a melancholy of inaction. For new children stand ready to take the place of these, our dearly departed. The 99% does not seek two-car garages, but equality and fairness. The 99% pursues not personal glory and isolation, but revels in teamwork and action with our neighbors. The 99% opens their arms to all willing to work side-by-side in peace and nonviolence, leaving no one behind. The 99% warmly hugs every tree, bush, and stone of our Mother Earth, knowing that living in partnership with our environment benefits all.
 
The forces opposing us are wealthy and determined. But, in the end, they fight only for the illusion of money. For power is only ours to keep or to give away. Let us leave this sad occasion with a new resolve to retain the power of self-determination, of mutual concern, and of fairness and love.
 
Let it be so. Amen. Shalom. Salaam Aleikum. Om. Blessed Be. Namaste.

Where is our Port Huron Statement?

/ uurevjeff / 15 Comments

I have had a number of spirited conversations in recent weeks over the Occupy movement.  While I think the movement has been unfairly criticized for lacking focus or specific suggestions for change (it’s not even two months old!), I do believe that we need to start thinking about this direction.  For years, I have watched individuals and agencies all fighting for their individual causes, and found the lack of a unifying progressive agenda in this country frustrating.

So whenever this topic arises regarding Occupy, I can’t help but think of the Port Huron Statement, the manifesto of the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) completed on June 15, 1962.  Whatever one thinks about the 60’s and how the movement eventually went astray, I still find this Statement a compelling articulation of the liberal, progressive mind of America.

Now that I find myself in Midland, Michigan – home of the Mackinac Center for Public Policy – I yearn even more strongly for a voice of fairness, compassion, and reason.  What is stopping us from gathering together our best minds and our most passionate leaders to take the New York General Assembly statement to the next level of clearly explaining our vision for a future America?  What is stopping us from creating a plan of action for the next decade?

The beauty of such a statement today is that the Port Huron document was the reflection of only one generation.  The Occupy movement could  bring together literally every demographic in this nation.  And today, the technology certainly exists to bring together people of every socioeconomic group without a concern over travel expenses and lost wages.  We could even use the New York General Assembly Statement as an outline to frame the document that could eventually be distributed and ratified by General Assemblies in countless cities.

I want a Declaration of Independence for 21st century America – independence from the corruption of the democratic ideal, from the perversion of capitalist economy that our corporate complex has created.

The Real War on Terror

/ uurevjeff / 1 Comment

I imagine that I pestered my parents quite a bit as a seven-year-old child.  It was 1963, and a new show – Shock Theater – was airing late Friday night.  Starring Ghoulardi, one of the first in a long line of horror hosts continuing even today, Shock Theater presented B-grade monster and science fiction films to the generation born during the imminent threat of nuclear holocaust and Communist invasion.  We were a demographic ripe for the fertile nurturing of terror.

I had already seen The Twilight Zone, and The Outer Limits would burst on the scene later that year. So, I couldn’t wait to stay up past my bedtime for this offering.  What made Shock Theater different was that Ghoulardi was cool – a funny and irreverent Beatnik.  Ghoulardi became a master of the catch phrase.  If you happen to remember minor novelty hits like “The Bird is the Word,” and “Papa-Oom-Mow-Mow” by The Rivingtons – that was Ghoulardi.

Between cinematic classics like Kronos and The Deadly Mantis, Ghoulardi also exposed me to the classic Universal horror monster films of the 1930’s.  Even if you have never watched a minute of these movies, you know the themes.  These characters pervaded 20th century media and still represent icons of modern cultural literacy.

Dracula, the Vampire – a soulless, loveless creature of seemingly overwhelming strength and ability. Modeled after Vlad the Impaler, an historically notorious slaughterer of enemies, Dracula lives on today in endless film and print versions.  Vampire stories on the small screen range from Buffy and Angel, to Being Human and True Blood. And who could be oblivious to the new interpretation of the vampire myth that has a generation of young girls rapt in the Twilight series?

The vampire represents the terror of powerlessness, a hypnotic horror that doesn’t just kill your spirit quickly, but slowly drains it away.  The vampire is no force of nature, but a conscious and malevolent power bent on the deflowering of the innocent and the tainting of the pure.  Protection exists for those with unwavering faith, and especially strong believers can wield the tools capable of destroying the monster.  Ironically, mortal love is the one variable most able to foil the vampire’s plans.

In some ways quite the opposite of Bela Lugosi’s Count was Imhotep, the Mummy, a reanimated flesh golem whose sole purpose of existence is to complete the execution of an ancient curse.  The Mummy is less popular, especially among the ladies, perhaps because of his lack of independent initiative or creativity – and the dirty bandages don’t help.  The Mummy is a brute, pummeling or strangling victims, with none of the subtlety and finesse of the vampire.

The Mummy represents the terror of inevitability, because no matter what you do, the monster will eventually catch you.  Unlike the vampire, little can put the Mummy off your track as his slow but relentless pursuit wears you down until you relax your guard just once.  But, like the vampire, the Mummy has one key weakness that makes it ultimately vulnerable – his forbidden love for the Princess Ankh-es-en-amon.  And while his body is impervious to attack, the paper scroll containing his life-giving spell can be burned to end his threat.

A much more human character was Larry Talbot, the Wolfman – a gallant, but innocent soul infected with a disease that transforms his body and subjugates his mind.  Over time, writers have often pitted the werewolf and the vampire against each other, most notably in the recent Underworld series and the aforementioned Twilight books and films.  For, while we helpless rabble might lump one monster with another, these two are irrevocably different.  The vampire is lifeless, a heartless killing machine with only vague memories of mortality.  But, the werewolf is still a living human inflicted with the disease of lycanthropy.

The Wolfman symbolizes the terror of corruption, an unyielding virus that insidiously attacks the body from within.  The lycanthrope has the mighty power of animal nature, driven by the mysterious power of the Moon, an eternal metaphor for darkness and mystery.  The true evil of the werewolf lies in the non-death of the circumstance.  Unlike the mummy or the vampire, lycanthropy steals away one’s free will, but not one’s life.  Once again, in death there lies release, but only when delivered by the hands of a loved one.

And then, there is the ultimate Monster, the unnatural creation of Dr. Henry Frankenstein.  This once human, now perverse sacrilege of God’s handiwork, the Monster evokes equal parts pity and revulsion, awe and rage.  Given our routine exposure to mayhem and carnage today, one can hardly believe that this film once caused fainting spells and heart attacks in theaters.  Most would agree, however, that Boris Karloff’s performance made the Monster the memorable figure it remains today – humane and childlike, yet savage.

The Frankenstein Monster exemplifies the terror of profanity, the vile and blasphemous embodiment of humanity’s inflated ego and arrogance.  This creature, at the same time both trauma-inducing and tragic, makes us look in the mirror and question our purpose in the world and our relation with the order of the universe.  Only when his monster threatens his bride on their wedding day does Henry Frankenstein recognize his error and fight to end his creation’s reign of violence.

All of these terrors – powerlessness, inevitability, corruption, and profanity – alone are enough to vanquish the weak and to conquer those lacking the skill and devotion to battle their power.  But, there is one more terror, a terror perhaps worse than the others combined.  For this power, however, we must leave the comfort of cushioned theater seat and the delight of a tub of buttered popcorn for the all-too-real world.  Because, this terror only exists in a universe where the monster can actually emerge victorious when the credits roll.

In June 1876, a real-life character not unlike Henry Frankenstein in his boldness and arrogance took on an overwhelming force of Lakotas, Northern Cheyenne, and Arapahoe in the Battle of Little Big Horn. George Armstrong Custer was among 268 soldiers of the 7th cavalry killed in the action, which has acquired mythic proportions in American history.  One item nearly always omitted from the popular account is that Custer was found with shots to the left chest and left temple.  He seemed to have bled from only the chest wound, meaning his head wound may have been delivered post-mortem.  Some Lakota oral histories assert that Custer committed suicide to avoid capture and subsequent torture.

Being right-handed, historians generally discount reports of Custer taking his own life.  However, several accounts of Indian witnesses note that soldiers committed suicide near the end of the battle. Walking Blanket Woman told of the mass suicide of C Company, which was described by Black Wolf, Pine, Limpy, Bobtail Horse, Rising Sun, Red Fox, and Dives Backward – all Northern Cheyennes. Wooden Leg, also a Cheyenne, described the same incident to his friend, Dr. Thomas B. Marquis, who later wrote a book titled, Keep The Last Bullet for Yourself: The True Story of Custer’s Last Stand. Wooden Leg later recalled: “[T]he white men went crazy. Instead of shooting us, they turned their guns upon themselves. Almost before we could get to them, every one of them was dead. They killed themselves.”  Other Indian combatants spoke of still more suicides among the American soldiers, including He Dog and Turning Hawk.

Now, many of Custer’s men were the rawest of recruits, with no experience fighting the Native Americans, and little practice even firing their weapons.  One might imagine how their heads had by then been filled with accounts of brutal mistreatment and torture at the hands of this particular enemy. This combination of fighting an unknown enemy to whom all manner of atrocities had been attributed understandably made these soldiers succumb to this most powerful of terrors – the terror of hopelessness.

This addition brings us a complete picture of true terror.  True terror makes us feel powerless and as if relentless bad outcomes are inevitable.  We see the causes of terror as corrupting that which is innocent and pure and profaning our foundational principles and beliefs.  Worst of all, true terror robs us of any hope that we can cope with these feelings.  In the face of our recent history, the exploits of Freddy Krueger, Jason, and Michael Myers cannot possibly complete as threats to really terrifying us beyond the confines of 90-minute entertainments.

For the real terror today wields almost limitless financial power and political influence; its doors may only be open from 9:00 to 5:00, but its efforts require no sleep or sustenance.  The real terror has taken a sound theory and corrupted it, not only creating chaos and confusion, but then trying to convince us that chaos and confusion are eventually good for us.  Millions without jobs…millions without medical care…millions homeless and hungry…millions robbed of futures…millions of dreams destroyed…millions deprived of the hope that is America.

The real terror today is the Frankenstein monster that we have built, that we have assembled part by bloody part, often through our own indifference or our own pursuit of comfort.  The real terror today is the perversion of capitalism and democracy generically labeled “Wall Street.”  We see evidence of its attacks on our communities every day.  Our jobs can disappear overnight taking with them pensions and insurance; organizations devoted to improving workers’ rights and workplace conditions are being dismantled by our elected officials; and greed can erase home ownership and the fruits of a lifetime of hard work with the stroke of a pen or the tapping of a calculator.

This monster possesses an insatiable appetite and will never rest until it owns everything.  This monster knows no law but the backroom deal, the special interest group, and the campaign donation.  This monster will happily gobble up all the sacrifices we make to placate it, and then come back for more.

We are not Custer’s raw recruits.  We know our enemy well and have too often turned a blind eye to its misbehaviors.  Individually, we may not have the skills needed to combat the monster, but we know how to acquire them and how to work together to share our available talents and energy.

In recent weeks, people with hope have begun to act.  People from all walks of life, from 9 to 90, dock workers and doctors, people of all faiths, races, identities and backgrounds have come together in more than 1,000 cities and towns across the country.  The grassroots Occupy Movement continues to grow everywhere where people feel the monster at their doorstep.

Despite the best efforts of corporate-owned media to make the movement sound unfocused and leaderless, a statement approved by the general assembly of protesters at Liberty Square in New York City articulates a widely-held call to action.

As one people, united, we acknowledge the reality: that the future of the human race requires the cooperation of its members; that our system must protect our rights, and upon corruption of that system, it is up to the individuals to protect their own rights, and those of their neighbors; that a democratic government derives its just power from the people, but corporations do not seek consent to extract wealth from the people and the Earth; and that no true democracy is attainable when the process is determined by economic power. We come to you at a time when corporations, which place profit over people, self-interest over justice, and oppression over equality, run our governments…
• They have taken our houses through an illegal foreclosure process, despite not having the original mortgage.
• They have taken bailouts from taxpayers with impunity, and continue to give Executives exorbitant bonuses.
• They have perpetuated inequality and discrimination in the workplace based on age, the color of one’s skin, sex, gender identity and sexual orientation.
• They have poisoned the food supply through negligence, and undermined the farming system through monopolization.
• They have profited off of the torture, confinement, and cruel treatment of countless nonhuman animals, and actively hide these practices.
• They have continuously sought to strip employees of the right to negotiate for better pay and safer working conditions.
• They have held students hostage with tens of thousands of dollars of debt on education, which is itself a human right.
• They have consistently outsourced labor and used that outsourcing as leverage to cut workers’ healthcare and pay.
• They have influenced the courts to achieve the same rights as people, with none of the culpability or responsibility.
• They have spent millions of dollars on legal teams that look for ways to get them out of contracts in regards to health insurance.
• They have sold our privacy as a commodity.
• They have used the military and police force to prevent freedom of the press.
• They have deliberately declined to recall faulty products endangering lives in pursuit of profit.
• They determine economic policy, despite the catastrophic failures their policies have produced and continue to produce.
• They have donated large sums of money to politicians supposed to be regulating them.
• They continue to block alternate forms of energy to keep us dependent on oil.
• They continue to block generic forms of medicine that could save people’s lives in order to protect investments that have already turned a substantive profit.
• They have purposely covered up oil spills, accidents, faulty bookkeeping, and inactive ingredients in pursuit of profit.
• They purposefully keep people misinformed and fearful through their control of the media.
• They have accepted private contracts to murder prisoners even when presented with serious doubts about their guilt.
• They have perpetuated colonialism at home and abroad.
• They have participated in the torture and murder of innocent civilians overseas.
• They continue to create weapons of mass destruction in order to receive government contracts.

To the people of the world, We…urge you to assert your power. Exercise your right to peaceably assemble; occupy public space; create a process to address the problems we face, and generate solutions accessible to everyone…Join us and make your voices heard!

Where do our churches fit in this movement?  As Unitarian Universalists, I believe that a connection with this movement – if you agree with its assertions – is undeniable.  We affirm and promote the inherent worth and dignity of every person, which includes the 1% and the 99%.  And, a corporation is not a person.  We affirm and promote justice, equity, and compassion in human relations, all of which have been under assault in recent years.  We affirm and promote the right of conscience and the use of the democratic process, another area facing challenges from unjustified arrests and detentions, to efforts to undermine our constitutional rights.  We affirm and promote the goal of world community, a goal unattainable so long as primacy is giving to profits over people.

I think that we as religious people, laity and clergy, wield the one force capable of slaying all monsters. We possess the one tool able to saving their victims, of curing the afflicted, and motivating even the most unruly mob to coordinated action.

We are the agents of love.  No silver bullets, no garlic and stakes, no torches and pitchforks.  Just pure love.  Innocent love.  The love of a child, of a parent, of a brother or sister, of a neighbor.  We can bring the power of our love to this movement, helping to heal the pain felt by the 99%.  By standing on the side of love, we can once again show that our churches are relevant in our day-to-day lives, and that a strategy of nonviolence can overcome any obstacle.

I intend to stay involved in this particular war against terror.  I ask you to get informed and make your voices heard.

Occupy!

/ uurevjeff

I am normally not much of an “in-your-face” protester, and my body does not take kindly to long marches. But, the Occupy movement speaks so viscerally to so many people, that I jumped at the opportunity to get involved.

Occupy Midland held its first protest on Monday in front of a Bank of America branch at the corner of Ashman and Eastlawn here in Midland. About 50 people participated and I am proud to say that about a quarter of them were members and friends of the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Midland.

I wore my Standing on the Side of Love shirt and we picketed as literally hundreds of drivers passing by honked their horns and waved encouragement.

Occupy Wall Street movements take hold in Mid-Michigan: Occupy Midland makes the top story.

Two points I made that didn’t make the televised interview were these.  The Occupy movement is expressing the rage and frustration of hundreds of millions of Americans who feel betrayed by their institutions and politicians.  What better place for ministers to be in this time of national distress.  Second, the emphasis of the Occupy movement spans all demographics, including religion.  Every religion teaches that the love of money and the pursuit of wealth only leads to unhappiness and despair.  Every religion teaches the value of charity and being our brothers’ and sisters’ keepers.  Every religious person is part of the 99%.

Coming Out

/ uurevjeff

Two days of note this week have raised my impatience for the future.  Last night, the Director of the Ziibiwing Center of Anishinabe Culture and Lifeways spoke at our Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Midland about the seven teachings of the Anishinabe (which greatly resemble our seven principles) and on the significance of reframing Columbus Day as Indigenous Peoples Day.  The event was a spiritual experience and gave me great hope for the day when humanity will choose the path of compassion over destruction.  And today is National Coming Out Day, which promotes a safe world for LGBT individuals to live truthfully and openly.

I welcome both of these celebrations. I welcome the opportunity to recognize a gradual shift away from unbridled colonialism, from hatred based on our differences, and from inequality.  I welcome the chance to acknowledge that much work remains to be done and to advocate for a fair and just world.

My frustration lies in our retention of labels at all.  Gandhi is widely attributed to have responded to the question of whether he was Hindu by saying, “Yes I am. I am also a Christian, a Muslim, a Buddhist and a Jew.”  I have always admired this quote and have seen it as a path toward an eventual reconciliation of our human differences.

Now, I am not so sure.  The Anishinabe believe that there are four races of humankind – white, black, red and yellow – and that all must exist in order for balance to be retained.  All must learn from each other and understand the cultures of the other.  But, as long as these differences exist, our natural human tendency will be to elevate our race, our culture, or our religion of birth over others – to always hold our birth identities as just slightly “better” or more important than others.

So while I completely support my LGBT brothers and sisters today as they continue their struggle for equal rights and a world without value judgments, I wonder when we will start moving away from our labels.  Because, in the end, every person on this planet eventually goes back to a single source.  And from that source arises all of our unique attributes.  From that one source arises white and black, male and female, gay and straight.  When I say that I am a white, straight male, I deny my human genetic heritage that includes being black, gay, and female.

So, on this Coming Out Day, I am coming out.  I am coming out as human.  I am not only gay or straight.  I am not only male or female.  I am not only white, black, red, or yellow.  I am not only Muslim, Jew, Christian, Hindu, Buddhist, or Unitarian Universalist.

Because in the end, I don’t find my joy in life as any of those labels.  I find my joy in life as a human being seeking to find relationship with all sentient creatures and with the universe and with all of existence.  I love you whether you are a man or a woman.  I love you whether you follow the teachings of Moses, Jesus, Muhammad, or Buddha,  I don’t care about your appearance, ability, or age.  I love you.

It is true that I enjoy enormous privilege at this moment in time that perhaps enables me to come out more easily than those who do not have the same rights and opportunities as I do.  And I do not want anyone to think I am making light of the hard decision to publicly own any individual identity.  So I will work to be a good ally to all people of all identities until the day comes when we can all rise above all of our identities.  I will work to create a world where everyone feels free to come out, as a human.

Does It Get Better?

/ uurevjeff

The It Gets Better Project specifically addresses the question many LGBTQ youth have when they experience bullying and discrimination.  Does this ever get better?

You don’t have to be LGBTQ to ask that question.  You may find yourself in a job that seems to be going nowhere.  Your relationship with parents, children, or significant others may be mired in seemingly endless cycles of misunderstanding and hurt.  There may never seem to be enough money, no matter how hard you save or cut expenses.  It may seem that only destructive behaviors are able to alleviate the stress of your everyday life.

Does it ever get better?

The simple answer is yes, usually things do get better.  But, the complicated answer is that we are human beings – flawed and imperfect.  We live in a world that is unpredictable, filled with random noise and chaos.  And anyone who tells you that life is fair is trying to sell you something.

Does it always get better?  No.  Does it get better and always stay better?  Probably not.  Given the reality of life, then, you may ask yourself, “Why bother?”  You should bother for one simple reason.

TANSTAAFL.  Readers of science fiction writer Robert A. Heinlein know this acronym.  TANSTAAFL means, “There ain’t no such thing as a free lunch.”  In other words, the only things worth having in life only come to us through hard work and sacrifice.

Can we go through life without risk, without taking a chance?  Sure.  And in America, one can quite possibly live a perfectly satisfying and safe life without taking that leap of faith, without jumping off that cliff.  But, you won’t achieve the really great things, the “wow factor” in life without commitment, sweat, and compromise.

And compromise is a big one.  By compromise, I don’t mean selling your soul or abandoning your principles.  Compromise means negotiating and constantly renegotiating our covenants with each other – what we promise to others and how we will treat each other.  And in order to compromise effectively, you must identify what matters most to you in life, the things that are non-negotiable.  Everything else is on the table, because in the end, the rest really doesn’t matter as we pursue our goals.

The rest doesn’t matter because all of the really important goals involve other people.  I can’t be the best at my profession without clients for my services.  I can’t be an effective parent, child, or sibling without family and committed partners to make the journey with me.  Unless I seek the life of an ascetic, I cannot be truly happy alone, and no drug can give me that happiness.

Identify priorities, work hard, and compromise.  They will not guarantee success, but they will certainly improve the likelihood that you will achieve your goals, and will certainly make the effort more fulfilling.