If we thought of our country as a Tribe and America as our home, would we poison the air we breathe, the water we need for life or the dirt we grow our food in? Would we rip up the house for the profit of the few and let the many go without shelter? Wouldn't we try to make peace with our neighboring tribes so our children would have friends in the neighborhood instead of enemies all around? If we were a tribe instead of a business, would we see that each person has worth in themselves instead of basing our idea of their worth on something external like money?
If we thought of ourselves as a tribe, we would honor all our people, men and women alike. I love the Celtic women, for they were as free and independent as the men. There would be no trying to control them, legislate what they could do with their bodies or leave them so destitute that they would turn to prostitution to feed themselves. Celtic women could take any lover they wanted, even if they were married. In this tribal America, women would have total equality with men and complete self-ownership.
Our children are our future. In a tribe, we would make sure that they were educated so they can grow up to be responsible men and women. We would teach them to use their imaginations and to use their critical thinking to solve problems. We would also teach them how to work. When they reached adolescence, with all the bodily changes that occur, we would free them from the classrooms and let them learn how to be in their new body in a new way. If all our communities grew their own food, our children would learn how to sow the seeds and reap the food. Then everyone would know how to sustain themselves. We would make them part of our community instead of trying to keep them ignorant and childish. During their high school years, we would teach our children the skills that they are best at, rather than making them fit into a rigid system that doesn't teach them about how to survive and thrive. We would send them off to "college' without fear that they couldn't afford it or would be in debt for the rest of their lives.
If we saw ourselves are one people, we would take time to balance work and play, contemplation and striving, creativity and experimentation. We would honor the Earth as the source of our life and honor each other for sharing our gifts.
I want to see America run like a tribe and not like a business!
So after watching the Republican National Convention and news commentaries, Jon Stewart and Aaron Sorkin's The Newsroom segment on Republican machinations, I'd be even more horrified by what's going on if I didn't feel so saddened by all those people being manipulated by a wrong-headed belief.
I stopped being angry when I saw Samantha B's interviews on Jon Stewart's August 29th The Daily Show. Samantha interviewed "the party's base' during the convention; she asked what they thought of Romney being against the party plank of no abortion for any reason. All their answers mentioned his right to make his own choice, and for all of us to have the right to make our own choices without government interference. The people interviewed said it with a straight face and really meant it. They couldn't see the obvious contradiction. They couldn't get past their blind belief system that makes them think they are saving little babies' lives and yet allowing all other "government-sanctioned' killing.
I feel sorry for them but that's no excuse. They're all asleep at the wheel! Their shadow is showing -- their fears, their unconsciousness, and at the bottom line, their hypocrisy. They babble on about being "real Americans' and yet they don't realize that what they're really being is the American Taliban.
And so, I will fight their stupidity in a peaceful and graceful way. I will stand up for the Truth. That's all any of us can do.
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