By Margaret Wiltshire
From the Comedy Channel, Jon Stewart of the Daily Show is calling for yet another, “Of, By and For the People” March on Washington. On 10/30/10, the Rally to Restore Sanity will be held at the Washington Monument. It will face the immediate challenge of Stephen Colbert, also of the Comedy Channel, who will on that day be holding his March to Keep Fear Alive, same time, same place.
Is the Comedy Channel taking on the Fox News and Glen Beck? Or is this merely a moment of comic relief in tense and trying times? One way or another many of us meaning US(of A) have been losing our cool, our objectivity and our peace of mind.
I believe one can have peace of mind in the most trying of times. Before I heard about this event in Washington on 10/30/10, I had planned to write about the concepts that help me adjust after losing my cool. I’m admitting that I find some truth in every political direction but it is always floating in a soup of fables with labels.
My relief comes from the Ruiz family writing on Toltec wisdom. The Four Agreements and The Fifth Agreement are books that challenge the mind and spirit. In these writings, I find perspective.
I find some Conservative ideals good but they tend to get dressed up in something like the “Emperor’s New Clothes”. In other words, they believe in Santa Claus and are not very picky about who plays Santa. I find Liberals usually get better info and research but tend not to “do” anything but dress in intellectual snobbery. They are also counting on Santa.
Our big problem is we all believe in Santa but we forget WHO Santa is. It is time to pat ourselves on the back. Also, look in the mirror to see who is going to solve problems.
Like many of you, I react to what I see and hear on the news and even in my village. Sometimes I have felt like I’ve been in a vise. Let me share an example.
At one point in the 2008 campaign, a woman very active in the democratic party was in my front yard. I told her democratic candidates needed to do something about the rape of our aquifers, that this was a serious environmental issue for NM, all of NM, regardless of party. She said they’d look into it. Then just before leaving she said to me, really what do we care what happens to a few republican ranchers on the San Augustin plains. And she swept from my yard.
This has sat undigested in me for years now. I do care what happens to a few republican ranchers out on the San Augustin plains. More than that, what happens out there will effect this whole quarter of the state and eventually the whole of the state. That’s only half the vise.
In Datil, while attending the annual Water Coalition Meeting, I overheard a few republican ranchers talking about how they didn’t want any tree-hugging environmentalists messing with this issue. And for the liberals....blah, blah, blah. Ouch!!
Okay Santa who do you think has been good or bad?
The reality, their political Santas don’t care about New Mexico. To care about NM is to care about water, the real realities of water. The state has assumed ownership of what is really the earth’s crust. Leave the aquifers for the earth and we haven’t got a major problem. We have water problems but nothing a little hard work, and less greed, couldn’t fix.
So many political and industrial folk feel justified in taking all of the earth’s crust that they justify each other. This thinking comes with a price tag, a huge price tag but now, they think it’s a steal. Yes, but what they are stealing is the future.
I’m not an environmentalist. I am of an old fashion kind of conservative stock who can see that if you use it all up, it’s gone. If you ruin it, it’s gone. If you waste it, it’s gone. What ever structure I’m living in, the earth is home. Didn’t everybody get a program when they came in?
As a conservative, I didn’t find someone to represent me, as a liberal, no one represents me. I even found that I don’t always represent myself well. I have found that I have value, and I can see the value in you.
If Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert want us to take it down a notch, be reasonable and have some fun, that might be a great idea. Like an old fashion 4th of July. When we thought that all attending were one of US (of A), no matter where they got their news.
Comments? Contact Margaret at Wshireoldadobe@yahoo.com.
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