OPINION: After the shooting stops, it should be time to think
Each terrible shooting is followed by conjecture and the lame efforts of journalists and lawmakers and, of course, the rest of us to question the whys of these occurrences.
The society we live in has become increasingly hard to comprehend. The things that we know are just not right are causing hopelessness and helplessness.
Since 70 percent of the population has absolutely no say in the policies of the country, and the dollars we do manage to earn seem to disappear into a morass of the increasing costs of existence, we have nowhere to turn except on each other. The documentary “Requiem for the American Dream” shows the steps of what has happened to our so-called democracy due to concentration of wealth, which means money=influence=political power.
It is a vicious cycle, where the above effectively care for their own interests in spite of the terrible effects. Our economy has been artfully redesigned to increase the role of financial institutions. The oversight and regulation is run by the very ones who are having the heyday they are having since they are making all the rules.
Kill the unions, kill public-funded education, send manufacturing overseas, shift the tax burden onto the middle class. And do all of this while spending federal tax dollars to fund endless wars and bail out these election funders who now have rights as “people.” Make all of this palatable with catchy advertising and no pesky investigative journalists to butt into the pablum served up as news. It is important to keep people in line while they fight each other over the hot button issues that spark hate and rage. Must make sure to keep minds busy with guns, gays, Islam, abortion, wolves and such so they do not notice what is being done to them.
Ego is running things for itself. The more we think of anyone else as “other,” the more we can hate them or hurt them. We just shoot out our own yucky stuff onto them since we can see it so much easier on someone else and it is less discomforting than seeing it in ourselves.
The big problem with this is that it causes so much pain and misery to try to get the yucky onto someone else without the deadly stuff getting all into and onto ourselves too, which it always does.
Maybe you have no idea what I am talking about, but if you do, I beg you to consider it. The “others” are not friends, family, and coworkers, but everyone. The lesson of the ages is to love one another.
Sounds silly in this complex world where there is perceived justification to be angry at anyone and everyone for everything. The angles for our ego to justify hate are a choice. However, a more painful choice from our soul’s perspective cannot be found. We hate someone or talk mean about them or to them, and it may seem justified by our ego and will probably hurt them. But the yuck gets all over the one with the hate fueled by fear.
I do not know why, but learning this is harder than getting gum out of your hair. Fear is the opposite of love and owning this is the only true power. Understanding and compassion will take us to a place our souls would love to go; it will drip into our consciousness while we watch our miseries getting small.
Imagine a grand experiment of working together to take back what we have lost, happily replacing the prevailing hobby of ridicule and criticism. Our politics would be what we would wish, to help ourselves and our planet by doing a thing we all have the power to do. A big switch of focus to love could stop the historical and revolving replay of human horror. Thinking has big power and loving thinking has the very biggest power. Unstoppable power it is.
Noble is a resident of Kalispell