Undercurrents

Start Listening
I feel something happening. I have a friend who once was greedy, offering to house and clothe his girlfriend for free until she gets back on her feet. I have a mentor, who is dragging himself out from under the specter of self-pity. I know a girl whom I love, who I can't follow across an ocean, and I broke both of our hearts. I know a woman who's husband refuses to pay child support. My friends and I took an offering for her. A small dent in the despair, but we must keep the love flowing. I know a man who so indulges in the whims of his lady love that he has long ignored his personal passions. He just bought a lap-top with which he plans to compose music. I know a girl, battered by life. I see her swimming against a strong current and floundering.

I sat in my room with five individuals I would die for. I sat and wondered at the compliance and coincidence of life. The little occurrences that go unnoticed, the prodigal friend standing in the doorway rather than sitting on the bed with the rest of us, standing, afraid of rejection. Her body language extolling her apprehension. No one could tell. I might have imagined it. At the moment it was true all the same. There is a bountiful energy in the room. Everyone connects beautifully, just enjoying the glow of one another's company. I hear the music that matches the moment. And my cynical friend begins a whimsical rhyme castigating the talents of Oasis, in order to bring me back down to Earth.

Thank you?

I sit and I compliment, I brazenly flout my opinion as if it matters. I give and receive love, the world turns, and slowly something changes. Realization takes hold. People experience epiphany. Everyone looks around and notices the unacceptability of the situation. We all decide to treat one another with respect.

I wake up.

Things are the same. Hopefully something subtle has taken hold of me, and I endeavor to effect positive change today. Hopefully, but not realistically. I am kept so busy. So self-absorbed. Nothing penetrates the shell of my apathy like it used to. Don't be like me. Fight the impulse to be worthless. Work towards generosity, and hope that it takes hold. Because if it doesn't, we are truly doomed.

If we can't give when we need, then how can we expect to ever give? When aren't we in need? There is so much pain out there. Children left fatherless for one reason or another: death, apathy, love betrayed, poverty, etc. Women abused, faith forgotten, men with the boots of their masters pressed tightly against parched throats.

How long will we take it America? How sick and tired of being sick and tired do we get? When do we draw a line in the sand, stand as men and roar: "No more lies! We are not stupid, we know that things are worse, that we could be making them better, that we are outlawed from doing so. Persecuted for screaming aloud the anguish in our souls! No more! I call thee Molech! False prophet! Seven headed beast of the Earth! Fury and destruction! Fear us for we are united!"

When do we kick the assholes out of office (all of them), and start running things ourselves again? When do we put down the six-pack, the remote control, the smut filled neo-idiot box, the sports illustrated, the numerous layers of distraction? When do we demand truth? I think it's soon.
I pray I'm not imagining things.

Oil spill

It just hit me today. There is about 40 million gallons of oil in the Gulf of Mexico, and that figure is growing at a very rapid rate. That spells a lot of trouble for all my favorite vacation spots. Moreover there is an epic amount of lost undersea life. 40 million gallons of black, slick, viscous poison spilling onto a vast vivid variety of organisms, destroying intricate unexplored communities. It's really very depressing.

What's more depressing is the storm it has created above sea level. Government is bumble-fucking it's way around the situation as usual. Acting tough, slinging mud, completely ignoring it's dual debt to this disaster: architect and savior. Architect, because of the irresponsible legislation allowing for oil drilling a mile deep into the ocean, forcing it, in fact. Savior because the only thing they've been doing to solve it is fining the people trying to solve it.

I'm not saying BP has no responsibility, they do. They need to be more open about the repair process, and the lax safety conditions and procedures that led to this disaster were obviously insufficient and should never have been allowed. However, we are where we are and this problem's got to get solved. The only one's working on it right now are the engineers employed by that company. Unless I'm sadly uninformed, (entirely possible) good ol' Uncle Sam isn't doing much in the way of employing environmental engineers to aid in the process. Nor are they pumping any money into the problem, yet the pockets of our senators grow ever deeper.

No, as always the citizens of our great nation will be the ones to quell this shit-storm. After the fact, unfortunately. The problem will be solved at least by August when the relief wells will be finished. Then the recovery process begins. An outpouring of philanthropy from John Q. Public. We'll all band together, clean up our beaches, and communally lament the ugliness of our own incompetence at not only electing but also employing politicians and captains of industry so prone to excelling in only two things: making money and ignoring/understating gargantuan problems.

Speaking of things that aren't helping: I hate the constant criticism of everyone handling the problem. I am more anxious to see the world united in the denouncement of those responsible after we've solved the problem. Let the circus start after we've fed the elephants, or cleaned the seagulls, as the case may be. The American media bothers me as well. They put all of these terrible pictures on TV and deliver these emotionally charged editorials on the lasting effect and irreparable damage to the coast.

Again, forgive me if I'm mistaken, but doesn't oil dissolve in saltwater? If we all just pull together and make it happen, can't we minimize the loss of life and duration of the disaster somewhere between six and eighteen months? I'm not saying this isn't a catastrophic tragedy the likes of which the world has never seen because it is, but doesn't some of the kowtowing that cable news perpetuates sound somewhat disingenuous and inflammatory to anybody else?

Call me a skeptic but it seems to me they're just trying to get everyone all riled up in order to start a witch hunt. I don't think anyone meant for this to happen and I certainly don't think that there are any BP executives laughing about this while they count their money. I suppose I'm just a bit more distrustful of the people who've been trying to tell me how to think my entire life, rather than the guys who've been trying to get me to buy their gasoline for the last eight years, (the amount of time that's passed since I could drive.)

I'm not saying anything no one hasn't already thought of though. Really the only reason I write about a subject like this is to prove to myself that I'm not the selfish American that the rest of the world says I am. I do care about this. I want to help. My life isn't directly affected yet I hold sympathy for the plight of the entire gulf.

I think I may actually try to do something about this. If I don't I'm still just complaining like everyone else. I have family in Fort Walton Beach, they've informed me that the oil has reached them and if anyone sees any of it the can call 311 and clean up crews will be notified. I wonder how difficult it would be to go down for a long weekend and volunteer? If anyone manages to read this with any pertinent information I'd really appreciate it. If not, I guess I can always count on the almighty Google to help me out with my altruistic fit of fancy.