Pier One ‘o One
Greetings and salutations from the sand, sun and surf of Cape Cod, Martha’s Vineyard and the once again mild, windy and sun splashed, island of Nantucket! Great to be with you on this Thursday morning, the twenty-third day of October, 2014, drying out a bit from the heavy downpours overnight here in Hyannis/Hyannis Port–soaking the region with upwards of seven inches in some parts of Maine in the past 24 hours or so. Sun is expected for the week end however, if you should be passing by this way. I’m lookin’ at you Scott Brown! Take a break from your hor$e$hit campaign stylings of fear and exclusion in New Hampshire and come on down! For love of sweet Jesus, please stop by and say hi! We’re always open your philosophical edification, leaving the proverbial LIGHT on for ya!
It seems in this digital age, with information at our collective fingertips, most of that knowledge is passed down from ‘on high’, decimated through various ‘channels’ and spread throughout the Universe of our 7 billion plus human race, at least those with an Internet access point, with very little in the way of interpretation…
We all witnessed, as if we were really there, yesterday’s new terror attack on Western soil, this time in Ottawa, a quaint little city in the middle of a very large (land mass) country north of the United States, Canada. Eh?
At high noon on Wednesday, a disengaged young man, only 32, opened fire on another young man, only 24 (a Ceremonial Guard at the “War Memorial”, only meters away from “Parliament Hill”, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper in the building where the gunman was eventually shot to death), killing him because some insane Islamic radical group in Syria/Iraq known as ISIL told him it might be a good idea. Apparently being radicalized in Quebec only a few days earlier, near the time frame of another terror attack which took the life of another man. This time the terrorist used a car to make his point.
This unholy act against perhaps the cutest little town in all of North America is horrible and roundly condemned by all good citizens world wide. The 64,000 dollar question is however, what are we going to do to stop this growing trend of terrorism? Terror being fueled by a slick group of low tech thugs who now know they can shut down an entire North American city at will.
Members of the Canadian Parliament were in session yesterday, with an iconic image passed around ‘the Twitter’ of that group barricaded inside one of the meeting rooms, a scene right out of the movie “The Blues Brothers” (circa 1980) as John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd, the “Blues Brothers”, similarly tried to stave off the Illinois State Police in their successful attempts to get “the Penguin’s money” (the nun who brought them up), roughly 5000 bucks she owes to the Board of Education via back taxes, payable in full (by Monday) to the Cook County assessor’s office so they don’t shut down the Nun’s work with the poor inner city kids on the South Side of Chicago. As “Jake” (John Belushi) states whenever he can to whoever may be listening– “…we’re on a mission from God”.
The answer to that expensive question poised a few moments ago may lie within the question. If society wants to throw away kids, and not give them hope, opportunity and LOVE, what do they think will happen?
We need to embrace all of our youth, not shun them away. Bringing people TOGETHER, not apart, IS the answer to that question. It’s not sexy, nor will it sell a bunch of ‘Ad space’ over on FOX, but inclusion will eventually solve all problems over time.
Generational change is what is needed, not more bombs and guns. Understanding that it is a POLITICAL and DIPLOMATIC effort, over the course of decades, with constant patience and a common purpose, a common goal, is what is most required ‘at this juncture’ (credit, again, George H.W. Bush) that is needed. With “all boots on the ground” so to speak, diplomatic boots.
We are all diplomats if we choose to be…
Our ‘friends’ (my friends? maybe former U.S. President George H.W. Bush’s friends at one “juncture”) in the Middle East, e.g., Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Emirates, Kuwait, and others in the (ally/middle east=oil), need to put some skin in the game here. For if they want to live in a world that does not have terror, we need to understand how these terrorists come about to begin with and why killing them all won’t solve the problem.
We need more compassion and kindness in the regions, expanding out ideas of peace and prosperity, a feeling of INCLUSION. A 180 degree turn from what we have now, namely a world that is increasingly EXCLUSIVE, the gated community world we now live in…
Keeping young people out of the loop, such as what we have going on in Hong Kong. China taking away what students are learning right as we speak at the University of Hong Kong, you know, the birth of democracy with that little letter ‘d‘, the thoughts and actions of men like Thomas Jefferson in History class 101…
Chinese officials surprised at the unrest and vowing to ‘crack down even harder’ on protestors who are simply trying to have their voices heard like their friends in America they just “Tweeted” after watching an episode of “Veep” on HBO. It seems social media and the old world order are coming to a head.
Combating this radical, criminal, horrible group known as ISIL must take brute force I am sure. Finding the leader of this group is a start, but fundamentally, the world, for it truly is a WORLD problem, like climate change, must begin to embrace it’s young people and not alienate them, as well as the poor at large.
Take America for example. Ferguson, Missouri in particular. Those protestors are not radical, they simply want Justice for an unholy act on their streets by an ‘officer of the law’ named Darren Wilson, who by all counts now, looks like he is going to get away with killing an unarmed black teenager in broad daylight.
Much like the shooting of that Canadian ceremonial guard yesterday in Ottawa. It did not make a whole lot of sense then, and it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense NOW!
Instead of treating our youths as terrorists, especially the African-American males under the age of 30 in the United States, perhaps we should embrace them, lo, celebrate them, for is that not what you Mitt Romney and your religion cherish so, this thing called LIFE?
The unborn are protected in this country, but are the BORN?
Have a nice day folks, steering clear of the insane hysteria produced daily by the corporate media hounds, none so loud and obnoxious as FOX “NEWS”. Side effects still include, but as always are not limited to, that nasty blurred vision, those severe cramps, and all of that horrible nausea, diarrhea, convulsions, hallucinations, heart palpitations, and the overwhelming desire to bake Bill O’Reilly a cake. A nice carrot cake for bringing us such a wonderful show on that old scallywag station of Fox . Give it up for “The FACTOR”, truly a must SEA television event, moreover, for the dry drunk himself, you know, for being such an all round great guy! Hey Bill, you’re a writer, you pin head, put this in your talking points memo–
‘…we’re all on this Pier together, better get used to it.’
PRESERVE THE WILDERNESS! Peace~M
