The 99%

Throughout time, the world has seen many people and many groups of people walk its lands.  Most of these people generally, although sometimes begrudgingly, accept the policies of government and follow the rules of society.  However, there always seems to be one group at any given point which has challenged the system.  There was Christ, that is when he was preaching, and his followers, as well as the gypsies of Medieval Europe.  Skipping ahead, with the formation of America, the Transcendentalists made their mark early on in the history of America.  Since then, America has hardly been without a group who has challenged “the system.”  Abolitionists, the Knights of Labor, Beatniks, Hippies; all of these groups were speaking, expressing and, in some cases, fighting for freedom.  What’s more is that they have all managed to affect, however significant, change.

Where is this group today?  It has been a half of a century since the Hippies marched for a cause.  These people now look to a different generation.  Indeed, some of their kids look toward a new generation of leaders, of speakers; of people willing to fight for what is right.  These people must make it their mission to make a stand for Americans, as it is Americans who have been taken advantage of.

But what are these people making a stand for?  It is a thoughtful question.  As a group, there must be a set of ideals that we are fighting for.  Unlike in times before, the frustration most prevalent today is not focused on equal rights of a single, disadvantaged group.  Rather, it is directed more toward receiving care and having our voices heard for the purpose of equality for the extensive, disadvantaged majority.

Although it sometimes seems that there is not enough apparent frustration in America at present to start a group, something truly remarkable has come to pass in the last couple of weeks.  It seemed to be in direct response to the thoughts described above.  People have begun to protest.  First, it started on Wall Street in New York City.  Some college students began an occupation of Wall Street to declare their unhappiness with major corporations and the government.  The idea has now grown to become an international response to injustice.  Occupations have now begun in forty-five of the fifty United States.  These protesters call themselves the 99%, a name in response to the wealthiest 1% of America.  As of 2001, the wealthiest 1% of Americans held 38% of the nation’s wealth.

On Saturday, October 08, 2011, I attended a meeting of the “Occupy Nashville” group.  As a group, “Occupy Nashville” has now set up a permanent spot to “occupy.”  Protests are happening and it seems that the spirit of these committed individuals will continue to fight (like those around the country and globe) until reasonable change is made.  It is unacceptable to stand and watch as these corporations and the government take advantage of Americans who cannot afford to live in luxury, like that top 1%.

Currently, there are a lot of people out in the world who are feeling the khakified syndrome.  It is something they would normally dismiss as unfortunate but normal.  This time, a group has embraced this feeling, and has now inspired people to think, as John Steinbeck wrote, “If I’ve missed this, what else have I failed to see?”  This is a movement full of, not people looking for an easy way out, not people who just want to be angry, but people who have a reason to be angry because of the injustice they have had to endure for so long.

Take that, Herman Cain!

The American Flag

The groundbreaking ceremony for the Muslim mosque was yesterday.  It came as a great, positive moment for this group in Murfreesboro.  Two to three hundred people showed-up to take part in the ceremony.  As I watched and talked with attendees of the event, I listened to the Muslim adults on why they had come to America.  Their answers were basically the same:  they had come here for freedom, something they are very grateful for.  Furthermore, they talked about how their friends and family, who are still overseas, long for America.  What a testament to the ideals of this country.

However, in the parking lot of the church next to the building site, three men stood and stared with disapproval.  They came in a big, Ford truck with a fiery bald eagle on the side and a massive American flag flying in the bed.

So let me get this straight…These men were protesting the freedom of these Muslim people with the symbols of America and the freedom it embodies?  Seeing these men and their flag made me rethink what that symbol stands for.  The Muslim community looked upon the flag as a symbol of hope, of the possibility of new things.  For the Muslim people, yesterday marked an advancement of their culture for future generations in this area.

The “other guys” took the flag to mean that America was a place for safety and security.  It was their belief that their freedoms were being taken away because a group of people, they hated, were being given rights.  It’s perverted logic, but it is how they rationalize their misplaced fear.  They told the local news that it was the Muslim belief system which was so dangerous.  I guess they missed the point that the Muslim religion worships the same God as Christians and they believe in Jesus too.

So what does the flag really stand for?  We like to think it stands for “liberty,” but if we put stipulations on who can have liberty, then exactly what does our flag symbolize?  What has happened to the flag’s meaning?  What is clear is that the Muslim people find great hope and opportunity from it.  This other meaning, though, is ugly.  The American Flag does not seem to stand for what it used to, so I now question what America stands for:  Freedom?  Justice?  These values used to be understood and available to all.  If our country is to regain this kind of position, then we are going to need “change”.  We must have change in our hearts, our minds and our actions, from being interfering to being accepting.  Americans can do this, but the direction we move in must be positive.

Corner of Your Eye

Sometimes we do not see what is so plainly against the laws of goodness and fairness and equality in life.  We can walk past it, run over it and push through it without a conscious thought towards its unfair state.  It is only when we stop and stare at it that we finally see the pain it causes.

This may not make sense to a lot of people.  Indeed, they have most likely fallen victim to this idea that all is fair in love and war, but it’s not.  When you see the homeless man on the side of the street begging for food, what thoughts pass through your head?  Probably things like, “He deserves this,” or, “That’s just too bad.”  Maybe, if you are filled with compassion, you will pledge yourself to try and help people like him; however, this will almost immediately become like a New Year’s Resolution; something you would like to do, but without enough gumption to ever start.

It doesn’t even have to be someone who is so obviously struggling.  How about the married man who has lost his income, but is still trying to keep his family together?  This man may have it worse than the homeless man; for he must persevere for his family and be strong for those he loves despite the little hope that exists.  The struggle can make one lose faith and dignity, a terrible blow with defeat so near.

Whoever it is, we rarely take out the time to see and to feel the pain that they are going through.  In the first episode, of the first season of “Doctor Who” with Matt Smith as the Doctor, there is an alien hiding in a house with a simple cloaking device around the room he stays in.  The way the cloaking device works is that the room directs your attention slightly to the right or left of the door, thereby making it invisible.  The Doctor locates the room by looking out of the “corner of his eye.”  The subliminal message behind this episode is that one can see something that he/she hasn’t before, by simply paying attention in a different way.

This is a necessary part of life if the whole story is to be attained.  It has always been said that one must weigh and think and let ideas simmer on both sides to get the whole story.  If this is not done, then one group will think it is better than another and conflicts begin to arise.  A great way of explaining this comes from the book, Mountains Beyond Mountains, by Tracy Kidder.  Kidder’s book documents some of the great things that the protagonist, Paul Farmer, did while helping people from Haiti.  In one paragraph, Kidder explains Farmer’s use of the word comma:

     This was for me one of the first of many encounters with Farmer’s use of the word comma, placed at the end of a sentence.  It stood for the word that would follow the comma, which was asshole.  I understood he wasn’t calling me one – he would never do that; he was almost invariably courteous.  Comma was always directed at third parties, at those who felt comfortable with the current distribution of money and medicine in the world.  And the implication, of course, was that you weren’t one of those.  Were you? (Kidder, 24)

This explains the issue of a one-sided approach.  It is important to research both or all (for many issues are not double- but rather multi-sided) sides of a problem before creating any judgment whatsoever.

In the end, we must make a difference, however small, in changing some aspect of the world.  Even if it is changing someone’s belief, this change is one more step in the right direction.  Why, one might ask, is this so important?  One little change in attitude cannot make enough of a difference.  My answer is because we care.  We ought to care because it is right to care.  Comma.

The Middle Class

     I had an epiphany this week about my blog.  Recently, I have not been able to focus.  This changed, though, when I realized the breadth of my mission here.  The idea behind khakified is not as narrow a subject as I had originally thought.  Oftentimes, I can get caught up in the lower class or peace as my subject, and certainly, this is a major part of my blog; however, the khakified syndrome, this distinct feeling of invisibility, also applies to the middle-class.  As I started thinking, it occurred to me that middle-class men and women are normally forgotten about.  More than that, though, they are okay with this.  So long as their values are not threatened, so long as their lifestyles are not likely to change, they do not and will not speak up.  For this, my blog also encompasses those in the middle-class who wish to speak up, but are afraid to do so.

     The majority of the middle class suffers from the syndrome of khakified.  They put up with miserable jobs and give up any chance to enjoy life just to try and ensure the safety of not sinking further in the socioeconomic classes.  Albert Einstein said that the definition of insanity was, “doing the same thing over and over again, expecting different results.  There is a lot of insanity involved with this boring routine of doing things over and over again.  But these people are not expecting different results.  In fact, they want the same results.  A feeling of invisibility and even more, a lack of action on their part, makes them incapable to stand on their own for justice, both for themselves and for others.  It seems that the middle class is more susceptible to being khakified than the lower classes.  The government also helps to create this mess.  It is true that they spend their time addressing needs for either the upper or lower class, but rarely the middle.

     In the end, so long as there is a voice that speaks for this large part of American society, progress can help lead to major change.  The middle class is khakified, but hopefully this blog will be able to produce a spark that turns into a fire.

Trainwrecks

I’ve been pondering recently on people.  How and why do we interact with each other?  What makes us “individuals?”  The answers to these questions are curious because it seems that they are different for each person.  Because there is no consistency, sometimes it seems that some people are more powerful or respectable.  In truth, every person is great because of their unique approaches to life.  There is a recent song by the band, Weezer, called “Trainwrecks.”  The song’s lyrics are very insightful into this discussion.  Here is a link to the song and the lyrics are below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zoYHOhqeyO8

We sleep all day and rock the night
We just get up to start another fight
We kiss and then we bite
We are Trainwrecks

You don't keep house and I'm a slob
You're freakin' out cause I can't keep a job
We don't update our blogs
We are Trainwrecks

People love to tell us what to do
That's just cause they're jealous of me and you

We're digging through the couch for cash
We're taking cabs cause both our cars are trashed
But we're still kicking ass
We are Trainwrecks
Trainwrecks
We're still kicking ass
We are Trainwrecks

We think it's uncool to be on time
Mooching off our friends is not a federal crime

Someday we'll cut our critics down to size
And crash a Diddy party in disguise
We fall, but then we rise
We are Trainwrecks

That's the story of our lives
We are Trainwrecks

I love this song because of its message.  The last two verses really make the message stand out:

We fall, but then we rise

We are Trainwrecks

That’s the story of our lives

We are Trainwrecks

It expresses this idea that humans, in general, are just a little messed up.  We have quirky habits and annoying tendencies that drive even those close to us insane.  Yet, the more major takeaway from the song is that these habits are part of each and every one of us and it is what makes us so unique.  It means that we were created in a one of a kind shape and continue to grow.

To add, this same idea reminds me of a quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson.  He said this in his essay, “Self-Reliance,”

A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines.  With consistency, a great soul has simply nothing to do.  He may as well concern himself with his shadow upon the wall.  Speak what you think now in hard words, and to-morrow speak what to-morrow thinks in hard words again, though it contradict every thing you said to-day. – ‘Ah so you will be misunderstood.’  Is it is so bad, then, to be misunderstood?  Pythagoras was misunderstood, and Socrates, and Jesus, and Luther, and Copernicus, and Galileo, and Newton, and every wise and pure spirit that ever took flesh.  To be great is to be misunderstood.

The common thought between the song and the quote is clear; humans are original, they are unpredictable, and each one is amazing because of this quality.  No matter if it is the homeless man begging on the side of the street or the rich millionaire who earned his money through hard work and perseverance, men and women from all backgrounds are amazing!  The writers of the British science fiction TV show, Doctor Who, exemplified this by showing how struck the Doctor is at the capabilities of the human race.  He always vouches for the survival of humans because he has faith in their abilities.  Because we are worth saving!  We are worth the experiences life has to offer, because we all experience them in a separate fashion.  The beauty of people comes from the distinguishing characteristics that they carry.  Therefore, we should learn to embrace our own traits and, just as important, accept those of the people around us.

Why Peace?

There are two time periods in American History which I believe are the most interesting to study.  These periods, seemingly, were also the most productive in U.S. History.  They were:  the time between the end of the War of 1812 (1814) and the Annexation of Texas (about 1846), and the time between the conclusion of the Civil War (1865) and the Spanish-American War (1898).

The first time period, mentioned above, was a time of unity in the country that had not been seen since before the Revolution.  It was a time for major reform, whether it was critical thinking, religious enlightenment, or social class.  This was the era of Thoreau, Emerson, and Whitman; the Transcendentalists.  Yet, while these men are quite notable, they were merely the teachers and a few of the makers of change which came to define this era and redefine America.

The second period was known as the Reconstruction, or the Industrial Revolution, and had a newfound emphasis on business.  This time is marked by the corporate giants and “robber barons” of Andrew Carnegie, Cornelius Vanderbilt, and John D. Rockefeller.  Twain and Steinbeck, too, began their writing careers at this.

Judging by this information, things were going generally well.  What can we attribute this to?  Despite a couple of shortfalls, it would seem that there is really no connection between these two eras.  Could it have been a commitment (and, in the case of the Reconstruction, a recommitment) to do and make things work properly for the people?  I believe this is part of it, but what allowed them to focus on this, versus some war or something?

There lies the answer to these periods’ successes; there was no war.  The first period of time that was addressed is the longest period that America has been at peace, thirty-two years.  The second period was the second longest, at thirty-three years.  Now, one could make the point that today, we are making more progress than we did in these past eras, but are we, really?  I’m talking in the sense of original thoughts.  Today, we focus almost all of our energies on regurgitating and improving that which has already been designed.  In my mind, two new versions of the iPad in one year are not nearly as impressive as the dishwasher, escalator, and diesel engine in twelve years.

The point I am trying to make here does not deal as much with the disadvantaged as it does about what is right and progressive.  Progress, of course, will breed positive action for the disadvantaged, eventually, but the main point in all this is to address what we could accomplish without unnecessary war.  The current budget of the US asks for 663 billion dollars for “defense.”  Compare this with the United Nation’s estimate of 195 billion dollars to end world hunger, yet we can’t seem to bring ourselves to do something actually good for mankind.  What could we accomplish?  This is the real importance of peace.

The Circle

The circle is a masterpiece.

What do you think of when you see a circle?  Generally speaking, it brings to mind a perpetuation of things, such as the circle of life.  However, the circle also symbolizes deeper meanings.  Think about how you would draw a circle?  If you just drew a quick one on a piece of paper, chances are that you would end up being uneven on more than one part of your shape.  Therefore, I believe that the circle is the most difficult shape to draw well.  Likewise, a well-rounded life is a most difficult way to live.  Why is this?  Perhaps the difference is ignited with the distinction of straight and curved lines.  A shape with straight lines, such as a square or a triangle, has clear and defined intervals of change.  As such, one can trace exactly where change has to be or has been made.  However, with a circle, there are no such intervals of change. 

If you look at a circle, it can represent a much more accurate spectrum than a line.  Take good and bad.  If you put “good” 180 degrees away from “bad” on a circle, then they seem pretty far apart.  However, sometimes someone who is trying to show good-will at an extreme level can end up doing harm and someone who is trying to be terrible can end up doing something good.  Sometimes the extreme actually becomes the opposite point of view.  This is often true in life, but two great examples come in popularity and politics.

We can apply this to real life.  It is easier to go through life when there are clearer boundaries of what we perceive as positive and negative actions.  It is another thing entirely when these boundaries flow together, because it challenges us on what we believe to be true.  However, the flowing boundaries of a circle are like a path less travelled, and are the most fulfilling.  We find the most joy and feel the most accomplished when we have completed them.  Many people follow the already well-worn path of the majority, exiling themselves to a life of boredom and unhappiness.  The challenge is to overcome the easiness of falling into that lifestyle and reap the rewards of persevering.