I can’t sleep.
Is it that tonight there is an extra hour to sleep? No. We fall back every year, but I’ve never not been able to sleep through it. So, what? My mind just won’t shut off.
The truth is, I am afraid. Very afraid.
I have a built-in excuse for not following the Occupy Wall Street movement as much as I want to: I work for a state agency, and like most everyone, I have to keep my job. I can’t rock the boat, no matter how much I’d rather speak my mind and be a part of the protests.
Sitting on the outside looking in, albeit from a distance, I can see where it is heading. And, I am afraid. Very afraid.
We don’t have a monarch, a king, one single ruler that is soaking up all the gains from the toils of his peoples. We have an oligarchy, a small group, that is hiding behind the shirt tails of politicians instead. OWS doesn’t have a clear “enemy” and as a result is without a unified purpose. Without unity, with only dissatisfaction to drive the protests, the movement may be doomed.
Or not. It could follow the footsteps of Syria and become a battlefield; a growing sea of blood as more people join the fight just because of the violence. It’s starting already as police continue to use excessive force toward peaceful protesters. What would it be like if the United States fell into war within itself?
I imagine that business as usual would come to a screeching halt. But, what is that like? Well, take the tornadoes, the hurricanes, the early snow, the earthquakes, the tsunami and multiply the effects by 100 and you’ll have your answer. No power, no communication, no shipping of food, no money for necessities, and all during winter. People will be freezing and starving to death. People will be stealing blankets, food, water from each other, not from the few that caused this mess.
There has to be another way.
Let’s face it, there won’t be any way to stop the greed. Deregulation set it loose, and there’s no way to close those floodgates. So, the answer is to bring on a drought.
The transition is the hard part, and it has to start with you and me. Stock up on food, pull your money from the big banks, and plant a garden next spring. Turn down your thermostat and wrap up in blankets this winter; minimize as much as possible your use of energy. If you can’t produce what you need, trade for it. I can plant a garden, but I can’t quilt. The lady down the street quilts, but has no land. If you can’t sew or grow, perhaps you can cook or teach.
The key is to move from selling your time to trading your value within a self-sustaining community.
No, I don’t have all the answers, nor have I thought through how this would all work. But the point is to smother out the big corporations and monopolies that have strangled us for so many years. Their gravy train has to come to a halt. Somehow, some way, it has to end. It is time for slavery to truly end.
It has to end, the way things are now. It must. But, it has to end in a way that we all not only survive, but come out ahead. The way things are now is not the way humanity was supposed to evolve. We are an intelligent, creative being worthy of a good life for all of us, not just a few.
We need to get on the same page. We are smart enough to do this without violence, without loss of life.
We all need to see the beauty.
