"And the idea that you could make men equal just by saying it? Hell, it took only your first day in a Montana flop or standing over your mother's unmarked grave to know that equal was the one thing that all men were not. A few lived like kings, and the rest hugged the dirt until it cracked open and took them home."
From The Cold Millions, by Jess Walter
"I fell in love with my country - its rivers, prairies, forests, mountains cities, and people.............It could be a paradise on earth if it belonged to the people, not to a small owning class."
Elizabeth Gurley Flynn
We never had a chance. And by "we" I mean every person, not rich, who has ever called America home.
Money isn't everything? Are you fucking kidding me? Money is everything. Trying limping into old age with no money. Millions and millions of Americans are in that category. Millions are suffering, living in fear, stripped of pride.
Expanding on thoughts about this country, I've come across some points of view - in works of fiction - that make you consider what a dangerously fucked up country we live in and how very little we know about that truth.
One involved a group of rich and powerful men - ultra conservative - who despised liberals, and who also blamed Muslims for the decline of this country. They hatched a plan to detonate nuclear bombs in two liberal, American cities, knowing full well that Muslims would be blamed, resulting in retaliatory nuclear strikes by America in Islamic countries. The assumption being that if we wipe out Islam, we will be safe, thereby justifying the slaughter of American citizens.
Far fetched? Have you sensed or maybe even experienced, the intense hatred, man to man, that is drowning this country? That story line is extreme, but it or something equally as dangerous and cruel is not hard to believe. I believe there are millions of Americans willing to kill fellow Americans to get what they want.
Another story detailed an all encompassing plan by our enemies to disable this country in a coordinated series of attacks. On the power grid, violent attacks on say movie theaters or other public gathering places all at once across the country, sabotaging our food supply, spreading disease - again - all coordinated, all simultaneously across the country.
Far fetched? Some, or maybe all of it, has to be true.
Another idea is the fact that many obscenely rich people absolutely hate "poor" people. Despise them, laugh about them and at them, could care less if they suffer or die and are dedicated to keeping poor folk "in their place." I believe that too.
Interestingly, I have two close friends and a brother who beat the system - who won at life - who are living comfortably above the fray. Very comfortably. $. They are all set. They earned that peace of mind, they deserve it. But even though I am surrounded by financially successful people, I believe it's the exception, not the rule. Most of us stumble around blindly until we inadvertently stagger into our graves.
Related point - The Desiderata says: "If you compare yourself with others, you may become vain & bitter; for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself." Those are wise words and pure truth. And although I believe in that wisdom, for some reason I cannot burn them into my brain, make them part of my overall philosophy.
The result? I am bitter, definitely not vain.
Fuck it.
