what we're seeing is dogged racism,
persistent environmental harm and negligence, cultural erasures, weaponized
ignorance and the incredible mindlessness of an unchecked id; everything good
our past, great president did attacked by strategies to overturn it, all in the
name of racism. the focal point is the same with these attacks, the fear of
women's blood, the constant drum of misogyny, the heartless and incongruous
acts of stating you're for coal miners than allowing the waters where they live
to be polluted by the industry....these are not inconsistencies that are heard
above the din of hate; but the root is the same and you can trace it to the
threat to all our public lands and artifacts - Dakota pipeline, wetlands across
the country, New Jersey Pinelands threatened; you can trace the directed harm
to all, whether an infrastructure or system like Flint's water contaminated,
whether the drawing's of the native people, or when the animals that need
protection are removed from those protections, or when the children and elderly
that need clean drinking water and healthcare are threatened to have their
resources pulled, you can trace these harmful policies and threats to the same
source. all resistance and support for these causes helps. it makes a
difference. in action there is hope.
Sunday, July 2, 2017
Starts and stops
I never
realized that I was addicted to nicotine.
One of the only ways that I could get past the difficult beginning of
quitting was observing. They say the
observer changes what is observed so I’m willing to take full responsibility
for myself. Especially under these
circumstances. I did the journey. I found some valuable and arresting items
along the way. I recovered a large
portion of my history and I’m still exploring that archival find. Though this isn’t all about historical
reality. At least the kind of reality I
grew up with. In retrospect, my parent’s
world seemed as if it were vacuum sealed in a jar. I reserved nothing on this journey. Everything was used. Even the air in the jar.
I used
interpretations like a tool. Stories
took on personal meanings because I worked them. I was able to go down that bit of road, with
that tale or person, knowing how it was a part of me. I’ll be honest, sometimes
I still want cigarettes. But I crave
sugar and crunchy carbohydrates even more.
I have a strong desire to chomp and chew. The common wisdom is that this too will pass. I love the idea of wisdom being common
because then even I can have access to it.
What I
learned serves me now and served me at the most difficult part of the
journey. In observing what Nic’s pull
was doing to me, I had given myself power that I never had before. It’s like turning a light on to see it
better. He didn’t like this. It robbed him of some of his best moves. You
know he’d flourish in a nightclub atmosphere far better than a sunny room
filled with healthy people and holistic, environmentally sound surroundings. Though even there you can’t be sure that he’s
not lurking. Because much as I’d like to
say ‘Nic is this and Nic is that’, he isn’t.
He’s Nic and you gotta watch out.
All journeys
have their starts and stops. You have to
take a rest now and then, fill the water bottles. Eat.
Sleep a little. Even dream a
little to get those nourishing REMs. REM
sleep is to the brain what M&M’s are to the person craving sugar, just the
right sort of nutrient to make life worth living. Besides, some dreams, rich in symbols and
reconstituting stories, make it possible to keep on reeling in the real world.
If Nic
stretched my humanity it was because I was the willing participant in the
stretch. Or else it meant that I needed
to end the preoccupation I had with his pull on me and grow some on my own. Observing my behavior and inner dialogue
during the worst of my withdrawal symptoms actually diffused his pull. This effect, opposite from what I would have
expected, was something I explored and developed over the first few months. It’s a technique that I continue to learn
from when I remember to use it. It does
have that ‘dog chasing its own tail’ quality about it. No doubt any sort of introspection can have
that. But it also gives you the ability
to drop the damning cycles you might be putting yourself through.
I’m always
trying to get a handle on what it means to live in the moment. There are so many angles and so many
moments. It’s an important part of the
starts and stops because something pushes you through to the next period of
your life. Which could be just down the
road apiece. One rarely gets to see the
momentum in the moment that gets you going.
It’s like the movement of a glacier.
A lot of what we experience is like a cat’s jump, difficult to see the
steps along the way. But it
happens. They jump all the time.
http://amzn.to/14jUNUs Nic link to
Kindle copy
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