The Torment of Light and the Hope of Dark

Well it’s  that time again (I’m speaking of course of my birthday. I’ll be 4,785 years this time around) and it always makes me reflect on my life and the world around me. I wonder how much has actually changed through these long millennia and how much hasn’t.  What have we learned? Considering the fact that we’ve been through hell and back yet again this past year, have we learned nothing from our journey’s? Have we learned nothing from our failures and successes?

 Anything………Bueller????

Nope is the only real answer I can come upon with. Zip, zilch and a big fat nada.

Now I know for a fact some of you may be saying “Fuck you Rev, we’ve changed the White House. We’ve changed the congress, we’re beating back Covid, we’re celebrating social justice.” And you may be right in all of these things, but only in the slightest of ways. So slight that hummingbirds would miss it. 

Let’s review this past year only: 

 In 2020 an autocratic dictator shows his true skin and almost wins. This was not a mandate, but a photo finish and we are here by pure luck it would seem. White nationalists parade around as patriots with all but the hoods and almost get away with a small insurrection, but live on with the hope of a larger one. Even if you prosecute each and everyone,  two more will prop up in their place like Samael the hound of hell. The Plague shows how fierce it really is and that it is on the brink of winning. (Someone needs to tell it, it’s killing the wrong people…). Maskless GOP Zombies still walk around lamenting their lost king, the ending of Camelot and the losing of the sword. Whispering and praying  of his miraculous return , like some god given savior. Half of congress has already forgot the  past and the other half is doomed to repeat it. Institutional racism and violence are still alive and well in all areas of law enforemcement and the number one target of the police is still people of color.

Yea we’ve learned shit.

We can’t help it though. We were born to follow the shiny things in the world. We follow whatever is in front of us that makes us feel…..not like us. 

Anything but us. Because us…. is such a disappointment! 

We are not as smart as we think we are. 

We are not as talented as we think we are.

We are not as pretty nor rich as we hoped we’d be.

We have no savior-faire.

We don’t care about science-not really. We much prefer magic and faith. 

We eschew education and don’t really want our children to be smarter than us-just away from us so we can bask in the glow of the black light. Wear the velvet that can only be seen under perfect conditions. We are the pirates on the ship hanging on the Wall in the den. Not the dumbasses who trudge everyday through their lives. Frail humans who can be brought down by a virus so small it’s impossible to understand. So we gallantly stride around denying its effect over us and it’s existence.

I have seen this on my go arounds so many times, I can no longer blame us as a species. It is in our genes, it is how we are built. My only question on this auspicious  birth month of mine is why? Why are we created to understand nothing and yet feel everything?Every slightest torment, every slightest failure and fatigue. All of them bound into a single moment of ultimate torture that invades our entire being like the possession of a dybbuk.

Not because of Jesus. Not because of Yaweh, nor Buddha or Allah or any of those pretenders. 

Nope……

(Shhhhh-here is the secret but don’t tell)

It is because we feel, that we must choose, and until we feel the true nature of Justice and the unrequited love of the heavens- we will not change. 

It is the torment of light and the hope of the dark.

Selah,

the rev

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ACAB..Really?

There are too many things to unpack these days. There should be nuance in everything instead of deadly broad strokes. The world was created in nuance…let’s follow that road.

ACAB- All cops are bad or all cops are xX^&*X&^. Whatever you fill in is wrong. Why because it’s just not true…..But it’s most definitely true at the same time. You see the issue is so severely nuanced that a sound bite like that does not hold the weight it carries and just further divides us as a people.

Try this instead..

All cops are bad..WHEN…They protect other cops who have histories of violence and malfeasance against citizens, especially citizens of color-since they are the brunt of the offenses. Bad or illegal behavior is not rewarded anywhere else but in military like institutions-(and corporate America, but that’s another blog).

I know a lot of great cops who would give their lives for you. It’s a fact.

Still….

All cops are bad WHO participate in coverups and do not let third party investigators do their jobs. An organization does not have the capacity to investigate itself honestly. But time and again we see internal police probes that just clear officers UNLESS there is some sort of outrage.

All cops are bad..WHEN they believe Qualified Immunity applies to them in all situations simply because they are the police. This leads to an institutional culture that believes itself above the law instead of being part of the due process of the law that serves the citizenry of it’s country.

This last one I just heard from someone whom I would have never pegged as a neoconservative.

“I saw cops kneeling in support of BLM therefore all cops are good..”

Taking a knee is only a statement. Yes it’s great when cops join in and support the rights of others. That’s a very powerful image…. but Derek Chauvin took a knee and look where that landed us.

We need to look beyond the obvious, beyond the first page of a book to find the real story.

Are ALL COPS BAD?

YES and NO

Should we defund the Police?

Yes and no.-Next time…….

 

Selah

the rev