DEATH to AMERICA

[blizzardmusic]

i hate to say this but....

only the privileged in this situation get to turn an altruistic effort into a pissing contest to see who is more benevolent. i fully admit to my complacency. i can tell you why too. i am desperately impoverished. i don't own anything or hope to in the near future. i haven't bought new clothes in about a year and a half. new shoes in about a year. there are several weeks where my diet consists of rice and salt. i work hard. every single day. for half of what i am due but i can't find another job because no one wants to pay and the job market isn't moving. i don't really go to shows or go out to movies or lots of activities because since i got my car (really necessary in tampa) i can barely afford to get bread once every two weeks. not counting the $50K worth of debt I have for a college degree thats not counting for shit. sure i smoke herb...even with a copay, medicine is expensive. and thank goodness i have insurance, even though i really can't afford it, because if i got ill, i would be ass out. i'm beyond living paycheck to paycheck. it would be nice if i could afford to be consumerist but i can't. and as for involvement in the system, the fact that i haven't turned a trick, had to serve, or had to strip to earn my keep proves more of my dedication to the cause than switching to canvas bags for groceries or complaining about people i do not know and their effort.

i don't have to pee for anyone to be validated. i don't have to explain my behavior or actions to anyone. i am satisfied because even though i am in a rather desperate situation, i still hold my head up high and work towards constantly learning and understanding. and yeah, it might not be a march on Philadelphia. I did that when I was younger. But a few things have changed since then:

1. I graduated college
2. Because I graduated, I had to work for a living
3. Because I had to work, I had to worry about rent and groceries
4. I no longer had the freedom or the liberty to pursue little more than minor pleasures in between days of droning.

when i was in school, one of the things we would discuss was this problem of privilege. And we realized that we were also part of this, because we had the liberty in life to pursue theorizing and pursue radical action and pursue canvasing and campaigns. But don't ever forget that if you have true liberty to discuss, and to a degree, corrupt and turn into a power struggle of one up manship, then you are equally privileged. Not everyone enjoys the liberty to pursue lofty goals. Some only have the liberty to survive.

If you are privileged enough to see the problem, then do something and do it because in your heart, you believe it is the right thing to do. Don't do it with arrogance and don't do it for ego masturbation. Do it from a pure place that needs no outside validation. And if you have the privilege, do the work for those who can't. Remember....you're not doing the work to eek out a measure of social dominance. You're doing it to improve your situation. And you're doing it for those who can't.

I used to do volunteer work at nursing homes, fed homeless in soup kitchens, handed out flyers for socialists in Harvard square, went to rallies with unions and taken buses for miles for protests. But I can't do it now--I'm too broken financially. But even if the only thing I'd ever done was voted in the primaries, I shouldn't have to explain a goddamned thing to anyone who isn't paying a bill. If you're involved its because you're trying to make a better place. Not to prove you are the best grassroots protester or most compassionate as long as it can be codified.

You wanna help? Then do it. Thats all thats required of you. The will and the freedom. Will is easy. Freedom isn't. And if you have both, then do your part to make this place a better place to live. Trust, I will be doing the same in ways I can't ever explain or measure but equally invaluable.

Bellybelle for president

[von]

I duno if that'd be a good idea.

Chair throwing wud probably be the new "hello"

[bellybelle]

I duno if that'd be a good idea.

Chair throwing wud probably be the new "hello"

awwww Von....you read my mind....

[von]

S'what I do babe.

S'what i do's.

[psyolopher]

Why care?
2012 will take care of America anyway!