Special Election

Post election nausea. Massachusetts gave Ted Kennedy's seat to a Republican. People are excited, like some tyrant has been toppled. I hear this buzz and I don't recognize the people talking. They think somehow the Democrats are responsible for our current troubles after being in power for a year. The last administration's 8 years has nothing to do with this? I always choke when I hear the thought process of people interviewed as they leave the polls. Their reasons for choosing a candidate often reduce me to temporary despair. Will we ever grow into the power the right to vote has afforded us? We either blow it off or we wear it like a t-shirt to reflect some lifestyle choice. Political affiliation is now a package deal that we readily adopt, digest and become. One against the other. Solving problems is trumped by seizing and keeping power. The result is inertia.

NASCAR or NPR? What do you claim?

Haiti, days after.

On the news tonight, they showed a woman discovered under a crumbled bank in Haiti. An earth moving machine was above her working it's steel claw not believing that anyone could still  be alive below. Her husband was standing by unable to believe that she could be otherwise. Each time the machine took a break, he rushed in to see if he could find some sign of her. A voice called out from under the rubble. She was alive under there with her fingers caught under a concrete beam. It was incredible how well she looked, like she'd only just a few minutes before crawled in there. When they pulled her out, she started singing. She sang about not fearing death. The reporter asked her if she thought she would live while she was buried under there. Her answer was an almost defiant, "why not?" She had this look in her eye.

People like that are hard to beat.

Haiti Earthquake Pictures: Devastation on the Day After

Haiti Earthquake Pictures: Devastation on the Day After

Haiti

The experts say that there is
a window of 72 hours
when you are a terrified child, or woman or old man
buried under cement slabs
and other rubble hoping
someone will discover you.

There are thousands of you, now
gone beyond the window.
Still under there.

I can't imagine that your heart will ever heal from this.
That your children will ever feel safe again.
That any one of you will ever believe in anything
Anymore.

I would offer you something, but...
I'm as ashamed to look
as I am to
turn away...

Sitting here.

Everything I might say
is cheap and weak.

Maybe the god in this is in the rescue effort.

Maybe if it were me feeling the impossibly heavy slab moved
off of my broken body
the sudden rush of air and blinding sunlight,
strong human hands pulling me free...
maybe then
I'd be able
 to say something
without
shame.

Again

Circles again.
Find a solution.

Listening to this now. Henry Rollins on the Radio.

http://www.kcrw.com/media-player/mediaPlayer2.html?type=audio&id=hr091212kcrw_broadcast_41

1st Day

The New Year begins. Are you tired? Refreshed?
Do you feel more like Father Time or like Baby New Year?
May we never believe it's too late to try, to start, to begin again.
May we never believe we have all the time in the world and nothing is urgent.
I can't help you much
or protect you from anything.
I say with caution and my own frail version of faith,
Happy New Year.