I posted a little bit ago about the thing where the billionaires are buying boats, and brought it up with a fellow seminarian, who naturally challenged me on it. These billionaires, the ones with all of the economic power available to them, that could be put toward the common good, are not the enemy.

They are in effect a representative scapegoat for all of us who are getting by okay, or perhaps a little better, while others in the world suffer and starve. I may only be a thousandaire, but still I've got something.

In any case, my friend brought up the dead-on concept that a bunch of liberal care-for-the-poor types whining about and pointing at the rich isn't going to help them want to join our cause. But them joining us is necessary, if we're going to get anywhere without a whole bunch of blood.

And there I go again saying "them" joining "us." From a real perspective, if I say "We are going to do thus-and-such...", who does that "We" encompass? According to the roots of my theology, at the end of the day, that "We" has to encompass everyone. According to set theory, of course, there are always going to be ways to divide into "within the set" and "outside of the set," but the one universal set of everyone/everything riding on this big ol sphere, is a "We" that's incontrovertible.

So, given that, I still say that the resources "We" have been given to play with during our time here on Earth have been arrogated/unjustly claimed, and are being misappropriated, and those who should be governing, legislating, and enforcing are not up to the task.

Today, I was thinking about my policy of giving a buck to any of the spare-changers I come across and what other people might think of that. Lots of people would say that my money would be better spent given to a shelter or foodbank, and I don't disagree with that. But to those people who say "Oh, those bums aren't going to buy food or put it toward anything good - they're just going to spend it on cigarettes or alcohol," I wonder. I wonder if there's not a corresponding response one could give to those who say we need to make sure that the corporations (and their investors) are making good profits, so that they can help the economy and give their employees a paycheck. That response would be "Oh, those bums aren't going to spend it on healthcare benefits or decent wages for their factory workers - they're going to spend it on their boats." It hurts to say that, because I believe it to be true. I hear about our oil companies (and other corporations) with record profits, and the part of the "We" who compose the American elite class with their ever-widening income gap, which come as a result of government tax-breaks, subsidies, and no-bid contracts, and I see all the suffering people (and important elements of the commonwealth structure) that neither our government nor the corporations "We" make up are taking care of. I see that, and have to say that.

I don't want to be a part of that, and I think that's what keeps me going back to "Us" and "Them" thinking. "We" can only become a universal "Us" when that desire to make a "They" in our minds dissolves. That's hard work.

Did I ever mention the little bit about the defn of "Satan"? Yep, in some old book or another, someone said that Satan is the adversary of God. But then with all that wrestling betwen good and evil, etc, it gets a little difficult for some folk to sort out which is which. So in the interest of expedience (lest we stay trapped in the infinite loop of "You're the Great Satan." "No, YOU'RE the Great Satan," etc...) let's simply define Satan as The Adversary.

SATAN == THE ADVERSARY

Eliminate the "them." Satan disappears, or at the very least suffers a big ugly gash on the forehead, perhaps a mortally wounding one. The problem up until now is that people try to eliminate the "them" by means of actually eliminating those they consider as other, rather than eliminating the very concept of "them."

OK, enough of that fun, here's some Jesus Lizard lyrics for a different (and IMHO more fun) kind of fun.



music:
Jesus and Mary Chain: Good for My Soul
Jesus Lizard: American BB

colors: blue and white

mood: sleepy? not really..

chant/prayer/mantra: tra la la


pax hominibus,
joel