Musings: Spontaneous Combustion

It’s a clear, blustery morning in Colorado, with the temperature edging toward 60 and the snow covered peaks of the Rockies visible since the first time I got here.

Took a walk with my sister around McIntosh Lake yesterday, and while the honking Canada geese and gliding hawk of the day before were gone, the sun had tempted a colony of prairie dogs to emerge from their burrows, where they squeaked loudly to sound the alarm of our approach before ducking for cover into their holes. Crossing a stream, what on first glance appeared to be a rock turned out to be a muskrat, which swam gracefully toward its den in the brush that lined the bank.

Then last night, the crescent moon, Jupiter and Venus formed a triangle in a sky streaked by the deep red of a western sunset. Can anything be more soothing, more satisfying, more restorative, than to recognize and appreciate the existence of the natural world?

That connection is part of our DNA, because for all the time that humans have been alive we’ve needed to interact with nature — know it intimately — in order to survive. And in that sort of mindset, all land, all creation, is sacred, because it’s part of the great web, as are we.

It’s only been relatively recently in mankind’s short tenure on Earth that we’ve forgotten that cooperative relationship and adopted the belief system that domination and destruction is progress, and the best course of action is to bully our way over and through.

And that, of course, is the stuff of genocide, racism, intolerance and colonialism, and it remains alive and well, as expressed in all its sordidness in the comments left on ”Driving Over the Remains.”

But many of us still remember a different way of being, and we can and do say, “wait, this isn’t pono,” because there’s absolutely no way that it is. We also know that those of us who don’t want to clamber after the gold aren’t “losers,” but have simply chosen a way of being that has other rewards.

I often wonder, as I read the almost hysterical comments left by some, just why it is that they’re so deeply threatened by the idea of sovereignty or independence in Hawaii, or the cultural and traditional beliefs of others.

I know that their views won't be changed, but it's important to keep an alternative voice out there, which is why I write this blog. As for some of those who comment, my brother-in-law, a computer wiz who had a blog before people even knew what they were, said a lot of folks just go searching for "flame wars."

So who knows. Maybe the flamers will spontaneously combust, much like America's capitalist system, which is now officially in a recession. And predictably, the stock market tumbled once folks were jolted out of their mass denial.

Now the talk is: how long will it last? What more can be done to save the wealth and privilege of a few, while pretending it’s all for the benefit of “Main Street?” It’s no coincidence that the phrase “bail out” is used repeatedly; it fits the sinking ship metaphor aptly.

I’ve mentioned the desirability of passing the reins over to the citizenry. While it’s unlikely government is going to make that move, Richard Cook, a contributor to Global Research, is advocating another approach to give consumers some relief: stop paying credit card bills.

He writes:

So until real relief is forthcoming, citizens who are in distress should simply destroy their credit cards and stop paying the monthly bills. People are already doing this. Arrearages and defaults are climbing, and credit card debt is starting to be viewed as the next bubble to burst. But so what? If people have to use a credit card, that means they can’t really afford to buy whatever it is they think they want. If they can afford it, they should use a debit card instead.

Then tell the credit card company you cannot pay. Ask them to write off some or all of the debt, and if they want to take you to court, go on your own and defend yourself. You don’t need a lawyer, and you don’t need anyone’s permission. You also don’t need to go through the horrendous “reformed” bankruptcy system the credit card companies got Congress to pass in 2005. Failure to pay credit card debt is not, thank God, a crime in this country, and there are no debtors’ prisons—yet.

Besides, if people do not pay credit card debt, that money remains in circulation. So default is actually a form of patriotism in today’s trying circumstances.

Hmmm. Maybe cutting up credit cards and opting out of the consumer frenzy will become the 21st Century's symbol of a new form of liberation, much like burning draft cards and bras back in the '60s. Just don't torch 'em, because burning plastic is toxic, sorta like the system that worships them.