There is one float we never see. It never turns the corner. The one we never see honored in public, for there are no sponsors lined up. Its profit potential is nil. It is the float of Human Kindness.

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Oh, what a parade. Here they come.Watch them all go by. Hundreds. Happy New Year. See our beautiful bank and corporate sponsored floats, the smiling waving princes and princesses high atop with flag draped raucous bands playing our Star Spangled Banner, America the Beautiful and for good measure, "I'm Proud to be an American". See them all. And what a show it is. Support the Troops floats, Hope and Change floats. Health Care floats. Democracy in Action floats. Greenpeace floats. Climate Change floats. Higher Learning floats. Constitutional floats. It is breathtakingly gorgeous.

Yet, within all the stunning plumage of American awe, there is one float we never see. It never turns the corner. The one we never see honored in public, for there are no sponsors lined up. Its profit potential is nil. It is the float of Human Kindness. Not only do we not see it, we rarely even hear the idea of human kindness mentioned anymore. Its return on investment potential is a shareholders nightmare.

This lack of actively honoring our collective human kindness is, in my humble opinion as I traverse this life granted me, now at the lowest of the lowest levels. Lower even. For the moment please forgive my personal lack of wordsmith kindness in this broadly defined but sincerely felt rant. I promise you I am as normal as any imperfect human there is. I will feel better shortly after my rant and close with what I so believe we need. And that is....yep, human kindness. In spades. A rather large dose. Yesterday.

These days there is a global benediction being preached Mondays through Sundays. It is tireless, ceaseless and is openly silencing a well known truth with a darkness spread in daylight. It is a weapon of mass destruction aimed at an entire species. Us. It is The Great Lie.

Humans are bad.

We don't come right out and say "Humans are bad, details at 11". But the idea is woven into everything from Tiger's den to the Taliban two-step to the Great Climate Change tag team match. Woven butt tight. It's embroidered and embedded deep in the lead story, secondary story, the follow ups and tagged stories in print, on TV, radio, the net and everywhere we go. A cacophony of fear. Any and all convenient human targets are its fodder. Attention paid to the simplest acts of kindness are twisted and rung dry. To act with kindness is labeled low priority. I seethe.

The rant.

I have to begin somewhere. It's cheap and easy to start with this. So, what the hell.

Wall Street. Anger at these guys is a waste. But without apology, I'll have at it. Enron was a teen pregnancy test compared to this. And if that was a positive, this one is positively stunning. Enron pigeon dropped Cali and destroyed the futures of thousands. Now our own government is attempting and succeeding to pillage our entire country. The banking financials were bailed out with our money at 0%, then invested our money into treasuries at 3.25%. Made a profit with our money. Paid back TARP to get out of TARP and (drum roll) voila. Party Time Part II. Oh sure, I and a few others would love to see them get theirs, but really folks, you got to give them their due. The Lady Gaga Greed Shop of Horror (choice of words, nothing personal) is open for biz. Just look at these addicts. Working it for the fix. These guys are beauts. They're like rapists who when they're done, scrounge through your purse for cab fare. These fellas make Good Fellas look like Good Fellows.

Empathy anyone? Ever steal a piece of gum? I did. Remember what stolen gum tasted like? Like crap. Same deal folks. They're laughing all the way to the bank. We know that. They know that. Think about that. That is chilling.

I'm sorry my fellow easy marks, but we've been had. As much as I know what turns Mr. Hand into Mr. Fist, I'm not going there. You see, I've been treated with nothing but kindness by people who had nothing except kindness and gave me all they had. Sure, there are some good kind souls with some bucks out there. Most of them you'd not recognize their names. For good reason. Hey, I just heard Capone rose from the dead the other day. He wants back in on this spinner.

Drug of choice? Money. Ours. To add to their audacity, these guys (and gals) actually believe, and have convinced many of us they are actually creating something of value. It's the same crappy line I heard growing up in Frisco. I didn't buy it then and I ain't buying it now. The first one's free. None of it is.

Back to you. You tell me to my face that having more money than your neighbor and/or more than you need matters in life and I'll tell you you don't know diddly squat about life, or care to. You may have the $ game down. But as for life, you can't spell it let alone have one that's worth a damn.

At the end of my life I'm gonna go out with a smile because I have been shown how little money counts but more important how much people do count. Having a dollar creates nothing. Making money is not the same as making something. We (you and me) have found a way to allow them to turn the value of something into nothing because these guys have done exactly that. It's a sting operation gone global, brought to you by and sponsored in our own country by the very men and women who accepted a trust they themselves seeked from us and then they went and pulled this stunt. And now they are getting' high on their own supply. That we paid for.

I remember. In our little US of A neighborhood awhile back, it was the nasty red communists, the pinko-socialistic evil Russia. Nikita's "we will bury you" morphed into "Saddam is the next Hitler' and recently was replaced with Ahmadinejad's holocaust denial. Now it's the newest most hated Taliban, purveyor of the (among other things) evil opium which our guys sometimes guard. The Tali's actually got rid of a lot of the stuff, but noooo...that wasn't in Captain Americas plan. Hey Mr. Chavez. Watch out. You're next. The parade of the parade is on parade. America's reality show. The Fear Factor. But, without the Great Lie, this dog doesn't hunt. So they push it, bag it, step on it, cut it up and make sure we know just how scared we should be. And, how bad we are. It's the big bad wolf nonstop.

And as I said, the primary benefit of keeping this great lie alive is all about one thing. M-O-N-E-Y.

This is about us. We, the humans of the world, the billions who inhabit our sphere are to them, now just food. Food for the great lie. We are the feed. The fed. It eats. We are shot up with antitruths to keep the owners calm. If the truth ever got out that most of the world is made up of people just like you and I, who can actually get along and be okay with the burka or non burka issue, they would lose their lunch because their jig would be up. And until they do blow it, and I promise you they will, there is not a single human fear they will not sell us.

The 21^st century. The war related deaths of civilians is now not even an oops worthy of apology or even rethinking. Oh, they'll send a check now and again. Now it's just collateral damage. With US military bases in 132 countries now, is it difficult to see where we have been and are going with all this? Now it's necessary. Helping to keep the lie alive is our great United Nations. And it's punkass brother NATO. For the cause of peace you two were birthed. Good work so far fellas. Do you ever read your own mandates?

Bullies and Dweebs. Remember the kid in school who wanted a free (yours) ice crème or he was going to tear up your four page English lit essay? Yeah him. Well, he and his brothers and sisters are now in positions of merry-go-round power all over the world, threatening entire countries via the IMF with human eco-genocide unless they agree to perform genocide on there own people, namely their own public helps programs. Hey US of A, social security and medicare are next on our flow charts. Watch the purge. It's coming. It's actually here already. The next step is courtesy of the new it ain't perfect Healthcare Bill. Oh, It ain't perfect? Surprise surprise. We'll fix it later is just the first lance in the screw kindness movement.

Our great global drug of choice wizard. The IMF is the getting closer every day. The Fed's perverted uncle. While I'm thinking about uncles, hey Uncle Miltie. Great American? Okay, if you say so. Here's my take. You were a lousy human. Freidman, the free market genius. Thanks for Pinochet Milt. No wonder the Cubs don't win. Profit is #1. Always. The God. According to you, all shareholders are God. Well Milt, Jesus would say you suck, only in a nice messiah kind of way. There's a book out now in lots of languages unc. Has a lot of kindness stuff and do unto others stuff in it. I'm not sure if he is what many claim him to be, but I can tell you he would have had a field day with you my brother. The Naz cared. Man and/or God, this guy had the giving thing down.

War. It's historical us vs. them mentality is now continuous. A real world of 24/7 death. Can we at least see how that is so bogus.Like who funds them? Both sides. Read some history damn it. War is now fought not against a sovereign army of offensive evil, but against some porously presented idea of plausible evil. Fought on computers at a billion paces. A video game. The Mafia on steroids. But without the loyalty. Game time. Round the clock and round the globe.

Food. We poison our own food, then, we eat it. Farmers are now Monsanto's enemy #1. Check out the suits pending. GMO's are good for the people? Codex? What's that? Yeah, whatever. Hey, who's heading up our FDA now? Yep. The ice creme kid.

The Nobel. The Nobel Peace Prize is awarded to someone not for what he has done but for what millions believe he will do. He graciously accepts, as another drone heads out.

Boo! Yemen's in the news again. Yeah almost forgot about them. Jeez, those terrorists are freaking everywhere!

Hey, sleepyheads. In the Congo alone 12 million civilian lives have been redacted since 1997. For lots of bucks and coinage. Talk about low income housing. WHO uses Africa as its own private petri dish. Development? Hey, here's some light bulbs.

On the plus side. We do get a peep now and then of someone who risks life and limb to save someone. A peep.

Cindy Sheehan, a woman (balls included and intact), is yet still regarded by many to be another in a long line of whiny wackos. She wants in her own heart these wars ended, the one(s) that took her son and many others with the great lie. She wants some peace. An alternative. She does not go postal. She does however confront. Wants a freaking answer even. Demands even. So what do we do? We castrate her and then label her human call for peace in action as self serving. "Flogg that woman Bruno. Her kid freaking volunteered. We'll teach her where kindness leads." Peace is hard work folks. (Hey Cheney, you listening? When we both come back next time here's a deal, I'll let you do successful brain surgery on me okay? It'll help with that karma trunk you'll be lugging around).

Is it just me or does anyone else notice that when any un-self serving act of kindness is offered, yet another enemy is woven to deflect the act? When someone has the balls to tell the truth, they are ridiculed, attacked and many times (especially these days) labeled a terrorist threat. In public this is done. Just like JFK back in "63. Message sent. Loud and clear.

On top of that we now have 30,000 more troops going to Afghanistan plus a like number of paid contractors (Jeremy Scahill, thank you for not sleeping) sent in the din spin about defending the security of the United States. I call BS.

100,000 troops are still in Iraq with our Bagdad compound just a wee bit larger than the tax freeVatican, a sure sign our idea going in and getting out was planned for when? Hummmmm. How about never. We'll be keeping our groove on over there for some time says I. (recently Hillary said possibly 40-50 years, if we need to you see).

Since October '08, 23.7 trillion US taxpayer dollars that didn't exist until Henry The P Brain from Unkindness Inc. warned us and a few of our least worst congressmen and women we were about to be cooked. Then he cooked us. He siphoned and stole, from you and me, from our kids and their kids, all to protect our time honored capitalistic risk takers who dare not be allowed to fail capitalistically. Hey mathematicians. Check this. Half that amount would have paid off all the balance due mortgages and credit card debt in this entire country. Half that amount. I would not have chosen that option either, but I'm just making a numbers point to show they do not want the economy to recover and people to spend again. Thin the herd a little. A balance transfer if you will. Obama will again waste the opportunity to be da man and veto this worthless insurance industry healthcare giveaway. It will pass. He will sign. If you're between 10 and 40, good luck with the pie chart. Oh, government jobs are rising. Boy, these guys are something aren't they?

Today my friends, we are all Kunta Kinte. Paying the masters of the Great Lie. Slavery is alive. Like never before. Ridden by the jockey Buck Almighty, lead horse in our race to the hatred of the self. Oh praise the convenient death. Cut. Bring in the stunt society. Ready. Action.

Our Leader (the face). Obama regularly quotes Martin Luther King and is an honored and graduated Constitutional lawyer. Great. He can read, speaks his oratory ass off and cut class a lot. Studied the Constitution? Snow days I'm sure.

But, and this is the biggie. He tucks his girls into bed at night. God, I hope, I pray that that is working on him. Please O. Where it regards especially them (and us too), it's about all the hope I can see left to pin our hopes to. If you're going to go out O, smile inside damn it. Do what you really feel. Hug those girls like your life depended on it. Because it does. Not the good life. Your life. Here's what you can leave O. Two things. Children and art. Do it.

There are millions of acts of human kindness happening as I scribble this. People who don't rant boringly like me, those who really do put their asses in the line of fire daily. It is to these human gate keepers I say thank you. I don't know your names. But I know you are plenty. You are the humans, who are human first. Your stories and lives are out there. Kindness as you know is not an easy sell. Though buried on page 223, section triple D, or held until just after the weather and sports with a minute left to the deluge your acts are recorded. That it's not as inspiring or exciting as the latest scorching interview with someone who is sooooo sorry or not that he or she slept with someone else's someone matters not.

Once in a while we hear about a family who takes in an illegal immigrant. Or the neighbors kid who needs a break from dad. Or the lawyer who for years has believed in defending "those people', the ones who can't afford a pot to piss in but got pissed on plenty. Or the cop who takes time to just talk with the kid who gets caught with a joint at school. Or the teacher who stays after school and gives his or her home number to all the parents. And answers the phone. Or on and on..

..a group of 35 Israeli doctors and nurses who paid their own way into Iraq some four years ago to treat hundreds of children who were burned by depleted uranium weapons in another of those all too frequent collateral moments. (Note: The doctors and nurses were eventually forced by their own government to leave Iraq, told they were at risk and that their professional futures were in jeopardy. Risk or threat? Survey says....)

The tag. No folks, sorry. I am not an American. Well, yes I am. By birth, and for the convenience of the state I am. But not first. First, I am a human. Connected to all of it. To all of you. Yeah there are bad humans. What else is new. But come on, this is ridiculous!!!! Osama started this? Get real. Read your (our) Constitution folks. I believe somewhere in there it says they work for us.

So, since I alone and no one can fix this mess, I'm just going to build a little float. One act of kindness at a time. No parade. I'm just a mikel paul. I can do music and I can make a smile. I'm a schmaltzy dude.

Maybe also, I'm a lot naïve. Okay. I'll buy that. But, my fellow humans, I'm also just too far along to buy it anymore. We are better than this. Humans are good. I have proof. And, so do you.

Please. Take a moment. Take lots of them. Do something kind for someone. Think about someone else. At least once a day. Hug your kids. And kids, hug your folks. Don't let us BS you. We f'd up on this one. We need each other.

Show people how to love. Show them how love is a choice. And if enough of us do that, we'll get through this just fine. I promise you.

It will be the most beautiful float. We'd all be on it. Well, not everyone.

And, it won't ever need to be seen. It will simply be.

peace

Authors Bio:
61 years on this jumpin' green sphere. Musician. Own and operate a music store to help kids find a possible life long friend. I believe in the soul and the search. Two sons. Published songwriter. play bass, piano and gut string guitar. there are no solutions..only alternatives. Ask questions. Listen. Be fair and don't expect. Baseball is a mirror. Don't ask....unless you have time and a sense of humor. Peace is never easy, but worth it. Always.