A Media Community Integrating Spirituality, Democracy, Ethics
A Seedling of Hope
"I'm taking a break from politics. I am deeply disillusioned and find I feel better if I don't follow current events right now."
This note is from a friend and dedicated supporter of my fledging prophetic efforts and an ardent yellow dog Democrat. A substantial part of me resonates deeply with this despair.
During the marathon election cycle I perpetually kept one eye wide open with candidate Obama’s political tent revivals. I didn’t chug the hope kool aid. The genetic idealist in me did however take a sip.
Only the most depraved and cynical did not get chill bumps upon hearing this lofty litany of possibilities.
“It’s the hope of slaves sitting around a fire singing freedom songs; the hope of immigrants setting out for distant shores; the hope of a young naval lieutenant bravely patrolling the Mekong Delta; the hope of a millworker’s son who dares to defy the odds; the hope of a skinny kid with a funny name who believes that America has a place for him, too.
Hope -- Hope in the face of difficulty. Hope in the face of uncertainty. The audacity of hope!”
President Obama has signaled a few shimmers of hope. Gitmo is being closed. He is reaching out to the rest of the world with a reasoning ear rather than a cowboy’s spurs. A parched world responds with a Nobel Peace Prize for these relatively miniscule gestures.
But,the fundamental cancers of our capitalist empire haven’t gotten a band aid, much less a shot of radiation or chemo.
Wall street addicts comprise the economic team. “Health care reform” is shaping up to help the perpetrators of death rather than its victims. The investment bankers are already reporting record profits again while Joe and Jodie six – pack languish with their lost their home, lost job, and lost health care. President Obama has already escalated the war in Afghanistan and looks poised to repeat the Bush surge doctrine.
It took us forty years of corporate socialism to get into this hellish abyss. And frankly all of these tendencies are chronic American maladies.
This parable from my spiritual reservoir grounds me to the shore of perseverance and protects me from being dragged to the icy sea by the undertow of despondency.
“To what shall we liken the kingdom of God? Or with what parable shall we picture it? It is like a mustard seed which, when it is sown on the ground, is smaller than all the seeds on earth; but when it is sown, it grows up and becomes greater than all herbs, and shoots out large branches, so that the birds of the air may nest under its shade.”
Obama’s election and presidency is not the destination, but a seedling of hope.
This note is from a friend and dedicated supporter of my fledging prophetic efforts and an ardent yellow dog Democrat. A substantial part of me resonates deeply with this despair.
During the marathon election cycle I perpetually kept one eye wide open with candidate Obama’s political tent revivals. I didn’t chug the hope kool aid. The genetic idealist in me did however take a sip.
Only the most depraved and cynical did not get chill bumps upon hearing this lofty litany of possibilities.
“It’s the hope of slaves sitting around a fire singing freedom songs; the hope of immigrants setting out for distant shores; the hope of a young naval lieutenant bravely patrolling the Mekong Delta; the hope of a millworker’s son who dares to defy the odds; the hope of a skinny kid with a funny name who believes that America has a place for him, too.
Hope -- Hope in the face of difficulty. Hope in the face of uncertainty. The audacity of hope!”
President Obama has signaled a few shimmers of hope. Gitmo is being closed. He is reaching out to the rest of the world with a reasoning ear rather than a cowboy’s spurs. A parched world responds with a Nobel Peace Prize for these relatively miniscule gestures.
But,the fundamental cancers of our capitalist empire haven’t gotten a band aid, much less a shot of radiation or chemo.
Wall street addicts comprise the economic team. “Health care reform” is shaping up to help the perpetrators of death rather than its victims. The investment bankers are already reporting record profits again while Joe and Jodie six – pack languish with their lost their home, lost job, and lost health care. President Obama has already escalated the war in Afghanistan and looks poised to repeat the Bush surge doctrine.
It took us forty years of corporate socialism to get into this hellish abyss. And frankly all of these tendencies are chronic American maladies.
This parable from my spiritual reservoir grounds me to the shore of perseverance and protects me from being dragged to the icy sea by the undertow of despondency.
“To what shall we liken the kingdom of God? Or with what parable shall we picture it? It is like a mustard seed which, when it is sown on the ground, is smaller than all the seeds on earth; but when it is sown, it grows up and becomes greater than all herbs, and shoots out large branches, so that the birds of the air may nest under its shade.”
Obama’s election and presidency is not the destination, but a seedling of hope.
Comment
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Comment by chuck freeman on October 23, 2009 at 11:10am -
Thanks for your note Bill. I am decrying the "cancers" of capitalism, not capitalism itself. Our practice of capitalism is not "free market" in any sense of the word. It is socialism for the rich - period. There is a way to practice a socially responsible capitalism but we only see this in small pockets here and there at this point. True, the Hebrew scriptures in particular are tribal. However,there is some good stuff we can preserve from there. MLK did a beautiful job of doing this, as do UU's throughout history. The "inalienable rights" of the Declaration were meant only for white male landowners, but we have evolved these as well.
Soulfully,
Chuck
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Comment by Bill Edwards on October 23, 2009 at 12:30am -
I may be talking against the wind here, but I must object to using the word "capitalist" as the ultimate pejoritive, for the same reason as I would to the right using the words "liberal," "atheist," or "faggot" similarly. For myself, I am a liberal, an atheist (or at least an agnostic), and a capitalist, as I understand those terms: liberal in the sense of trying to be generous to and respectful of the rights of others, and capitalist in the sense of believing that the right to peacefully hold, use, and exchange property on a free market is as fundamental to a good society as freedom of speech. I would prefer to avoid the term "progressive," as it can be used to mean any change at all in a direction that the speaker approves of. Words are slippery tools and even more slippery weapons.
I am inclined to distrust the Biblical prophetic rhetoric, since, by my reading of the Bible, its users were much too ready to kill those who disagreed with them, as are their modern followers.
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Comment by Christine Amaryllis on October 22, 2009 at 3:56pm
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Yes, Chuck, this seems to have plucked the heartstrings! I only hope that the younger ones in the world will also commit to tending this seedling...
CA
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Comment by chuck freeman on October 22, 2009 at 3:33pm
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I don't remember having this many comments on a blog posted here ever! Looks like this one touched a nerve. We do have to take the long view. It took us 30-40 years to get here, and as I wrote some of these issues are in the American DNA. I heard a presentation at Netroots nation saying that the "millennial" generation is communitarian, and strongly progressive in their values. We are just getting started!
Soulfully,
Chuck
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Comment by Carolyn Dower on October 22, 2009 at 1:45pm - Thanks, Chuck! I needed that!
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Comment by peter staats on October 21, 2009 at 10:25pm
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Barak is all we have.
After that is Michelle-
after that John stewart
so,
thank god for our guy
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Comment by Marianne Dollins on October 21, 2009 at 5:20pm - Chazdee and Christine are my family and their comments, and Pat Hollander's speak for us. We will never quit watering that mustard seed! Lets help our President and take his heavy load as our own, as Chazee said, so eloquently. I can guarantee Christine will grow that mustard seed...she grew a Lemon Tree with a Lemon seed in a pot!
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Comment by chazdee on October 21, 2009 at 3:37pm - When we stick together, our sorrows are divided and our joys are multiplied.
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Comment by Pat Hallander on October 21, 2009 at 2:16pm - I agree with Steve and Christine. The right-wing rabble rousers and BS Republicans just energize me to do everything I can to "nurture the one seedling of hope that we have."
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I, too, feel despondent, when I pay attention to the news. Despondent and mad. So I seldom watch the news. We don't need to hear all the screaming from the religious right, or the do-nothing politicians, that the media is showcasing. That is all just upsetting, as it is meant to be. That is about ratings, and about swaying those that are more emotional than rational. We are about change. We know what we need to do, and we need to do it. We need to keep calling our representatives, keep emailing them, keep telling them what we, their constituents, want to happen. We need to keep nurturing the one seedling of hope that we have, and keep talking about it all. This is democracy and ethics in action. As for spirituality, well, wanting the best for all, including Joe and Jodie Sixpack, is our openhearted way of expressing our beliefs. Nothing is going to happen overnight, we know there is no immediate gratification that is hearty and nourishing. We have the patience to keep striving, to keep going, to keep hoping.
I think we did feel like our "Superman" would magically fix everything when he was elected. And good for us, for being so optimistic! Do you imagine that Obama must feel like giving up now and then, maybe like "OMG, what was I THINKING?!?!?!"
End of sermon.
:)
Christine Amaryllis
About
The Free Souls Connection
The Free Souls Connection is an initiative of the Free Souls Project with the intention of cultivating a community of Progressive media producers and users in the areas of Spirituality, Democracy and Ethics.
We invite original written, audio, and video creations in the lineage of Spiritual Humanism, the wellspring of the Declaration of Independence and Constitution, forming the basis for a healthy integration of Spirituality, Democracy, and Ethics.
Rev. Theodore Parker expresses this trinity of American values marvelously. “There is what I call the American idea…a democracy, that is, a government of all the people, by all the people, for all the people; of course, a government of the principles of eternal justice, the unchanging law of God; for shortness' sake I will call it the idea of Freedom.”
Come Ministers, Radio Hosts, Musicians, Poets, Bloggers, Cartoonists, Commentators and all artists for the common good!
Let us support, nurture, encourage, and commune with one other and our sacred world.
We invite original written, audio, and video creations in the lineage of Spiritual Humanism, the wellspring of the Declaration of Independence and Constitution, forming the basis for a healthy integration of Spirituality, Democracy, and Ethics.
Rev. Theodore Parker expresses this trinity of American values marvelously. “There is what I call the American idea…a democracy, that is, a government of all the people, by all the people, for all the people; of course, a government of the principles of eternal justice, the unchanging law of God; for shortness' sake I will call it the idea of Freedom.”
Come Ministers, Radio Hosts, Musicians, Poets, Bloggers, Cartoonists, Commentators and all artists for the common good!
Let us support, nurture, encourage, and commune with one other and our sacred world.
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