I’ve been thinking a lot lately about, well, everything. It is true that all of our problems aren’t immediately solvable, certainly not all at once. That doesn’t mean that we can’t endeavor to find solutions that aren’t so damaging as to make the original problems seem tame.
How do we listen to one another and then act to ease the pain, fight for the just cause, and make a world where love and peace aren’t just words.
My chosen career had me seeing how businesses small, medium and large function. And while it is grim, it is not all bad. I have worked for privately owned companies, Fortune 500 corporations, and public/private DoD contractors. And you are free to call me a job hopper. I “chose” to do contract work when the work I had been doing disappeared.
First, when Arthur Andersen loosed CPAs all over the managerial accounting world. Which gave us auditors doing managerial accounting. Simply put, we went from accounting for the business to accounting to the tax liability. I’m not sure if everyone understands the implication of that. And certainly that’s where businesses were headed starting in the 80s when we went from 16 column green sheets to computerized spreadsheets. This was designed to make accounting more efficient. And it did. Data entry replaced infinite pencil marks. My indentation in the finger that my pencil made was traded for carpal tunnel. Which I am fortunate to not suffer from (yet). Ok, fast forward to the late 90s. Everyone remember the Y2K freak out? In truth, that was done because businesses weren’t getting off their asses fast enough to join the computer revolution. Enforced bubble, no economic policy that would have shifted jobs to the next thing to build, inevitable crash. Arthur Andersen’s fall from grace was a red herring. Enforced CPAs in a managerial accounting role, month end went from ten (having already been reduced from fifteen via technology) to five to three days.
This changed the market’s ability to manipulate the numbers, since the true accounting would come out after the fact. Couple that with Madison Ave tactics and we can bounce that market like a yo-yo
Then, about a year or so before Cheney took over the WH from his bunker/man-sized safe. [The image I will always have in my head is when he arrived at President Obama’s first inauguration doing his best Mr. Potter imitation. I will always wonder who he thought was George Bailey…]
This story I will save for another time. It isn’t a lesson in how could we not have seen this coming as much as a lesson that more than just one lone accountant can explain how we let it happen. And trust me in those days flying between MA and DC found me in a lot of interesting accounting conversations. See I talk to people around me, no matter where I am.
You see my brothers and sisters something happened during the past decade plus that wasn’t supposed to. We was robbed. Starting with our minds. I’m not speaking to just racism or any other ism, I am speaking to the full court press of marketing madness that find many a once rational person running around screaming as if their hair is on fire.
No, I’m not referencing any upcoming elections. I am an avowed and unapologetic Bernie supporter. This diary is not about that either. And if you come in and hijack my first diary in six years, then I will do the same to you. And I will hound comments from those who think they see a loophole because that is how twisted their minds have become. I am relentless and I only sleep 4 hours a day.
So back to my premise: How do we listen to one another and then act to ease the pain, fight for the just cause, and make a world where love and peace aren’t just words.
I hear that it can’t be done. That hearts can’t be changed (I am speaking about my BF who is about as “who gives a fuck” as I am “I do and more than just a fuck”). Well, then what about the minds? Can’t those be changed? Or are people so beaten down that they will lash out without thinking? These are the things that have been rolling around in my head. I have no answers other than to say that I try to speak up for what is right, although that is hardly a testament to the righteous indignation that we should all (those of good will) be feeling and expressing loudly and clearly.
So here are some words that I want to have their rightful place in this discussion. Their actual meaning and not the twisting that some have given them.
Gay. It means happy. I want that word to always mean happy. Pass it on. Not to denigrate my non-conformist sexual brothers and sisters.
Rapture. It means orgasm. I want that word to always mean orgasm. What would a day be without it?
Dominion. It means to take care of. Often confused or conflated with domination. Which is a whole different word. Ask Eliot Spitzer. Who I am also a supporter of his, ahem, politics. Seriously, not having him in some capacity as an attorney working for the people is a true waste of his gift.
[Oh, I’m a firm believer that we all have a gift to share with the world. Too bad so much of our life is taken up with fitting into some notion of what is normal, that we miss out on a lot of what could be.]
Love. It means that special feeling you have when something/one you care about is near. It has nothing to do with sexual relations, although it is nice if you at least like the person.
Follow my train of thought as it veers off track for a bit. Love should be given and received unconditionally. If coerced, that is not love. It is the lesson from Cain and Abel (paraphrased from grade school age Hebrew school). Cain didn’t understand how Abel was so popular. Abel tried to say, I love you my brother. Cain says it’s not fair that you are as beloved as I am reviled. Abel says don’t worry about. I love you. Cain kills Abel and kills off the only love he had the hope of spreading.
Ok, back to words.
Peace. It means calm.
Love. Peace. Love. Peace. Love. Peace. This should be our daily mantra.
How do we listen to one another and then act to ease the pain, fight for the just cause, and make a world where love and peace aren’t just words.
These are all the words I have for now. What words do you choose to use?