Back to the suburbs... Part Deux

Well, I went out to Banks again today. Turns out I forgot a lot of stuff at my old house the last time I left. The most important bit was a Master combo lock I have had since either junior high or high school. I've had the combo memorized for 17 years now... that's more than half my life. I memorized that combination before I had memorized my own social security number, if you can believe that. It kind of blows your mind.

Franz has started a blog. The blog fever is catching!!

Franz and I went to go see "Fahrenheit 9/11" yesterday. WARNING: The following comments on this movie may be long and disheartening. If you don't want to hear it, stop reading here...

O.k.- for those of you who are still with me, let me open with this thought. I knew that the Bush family was bad when one of George Bush, Sr.'s last official acts as outgoing President was to sign into law a bill that made it so people under the age of twenty (freakin') four could not declare themselves independent of their parent's income for college financial aid purposes, unless they went before a judge and had themselves declared emancipated or got married. If they got married, though, their spouses income would be considered in the financial aid formula. So, I knew he was a bastard. I knew the war the first time around was about oil. I knew that Saddam Hussein was simply a junkyard dog that the CIA had helped to gain power in the Middle East in the 1970's so they could help keep other oil producing nations in line by providing protection *from* him and his Tikrit junkyard dog ways. It's like having a Doberman on a leash... he's on the leash, but people still cut you a wide berth and are thankful when they don't get bitten.

But, I guess it is true that the sins of the father are visited upon the son. For this new George Bush is an even bigger bastard than his father was. And he is so much more blatant about it, he doesn't even try to hide how big of a bastard he truly is. The alacrity with which the younger Bush has manipulated the media, the American people and the world is not only shameful, it is incredibly frightening.

Many of you may not know that I actually studied Islam at one time. I even considered converting because at the heart of it, it is truly a beautiful religion. Of course, like every other major religion in the world, it has been bastardized and twisted to fit human greed and social agendas, but at its most basic, it is a beautiful and incredibly simple way to live. You pray five times per day, you make a pilgrimage to Meccha once in your lifetime, you believe in the Oneness of God (who they call Allah), you give a certain percentage ( 1/40th) of your net worth to the needy each year, and you purify yourself through fasting. So, simple, right? Prayer, belief/faith, charity, travel and health... what more could you want?

And Islamic literature is beautiful, too. They speak very often in metaphors and using language which is so heartrendingly simple and beautiful, it can sometimes appear complicated and artistic. They have a phrase I ran across many times in my readings to describe the feeling of disappointment, disenchantment or disillusionment- especially when it comes to love or the loss of it. The phrase is, "And the world darkened before my eyes." Beautiful, right? And a pretty accurate description of how the world changes when you see something you love for what it truly is. The whole world seems to darken before your eyes, and suddenly things seem so much more sinister than you ever imagined they could be.

Islam is not the problem. Some of the people who have changed it and taken it to extremes are a small part of the problem. But an even bigger problem than them is us. The U.S.A.- and our unwillingness to see what is right before our eyes. The corruption, the greed, the immeasurable amount of unfeeling, uncaring ease with which our leaders are sending our poorest off to the slaughter, and along with them, the poor in other nations as well. Michael Moore's film, unfortunately does that. The world darkens before your eyes as you watch this film. And once you see how deep the conspiracy goes, how truly powerful the people and families involved are, and how easy it was for them to dupe us all... how could the world ever be filled with light again?

This film was painful for me to watch. I cried at the beginning, I felt physically ill somewhere in the middle, and I was unbelievably angry and at the same time almost catatonically numb at the end. What can we possibly do in the face of all of this evil? What difference do our votes make if the ones in power can arrange to have them not counted? If/when I vote in the next election, will it ever even be heard? Or will 16,000 more voters (most likely of a different skin color than mine) be thrown off a crucial role at the exact right time, again? Because that's what they did, you guys. The Bush people made it so 16,000 predominantly black people in Florida could not vote. They had them listed as convicted fleons and thrown off the voter rolls at such a late date that they would not have time to re-register and clear their names. They even have a name for it... disenfranchisement. Bush won Florida by 537 votes. Now you tell me if you think those 16,000 votes might have made a difference.

George W. Bush stole the presidential election, has sent hundreds of our citizens off to die in another country for no good reason, has killed thousands of poor people in other countries, has limited our civil rights with the Patriot Act, has jeopardized our foreign relations with the rest of the world, has single handedly turned a budget surplus into another huge deficit (a la Reaganomics), and has likely turned back the social growth of this country 50 years or so. I used to think that things like spying on citizens happened only in places like Russia. Now I know it happens here.

There is NOTHING patriotic about the Patriot Act.

So, what are the alternatives? John Kerry? How do we know he isn't in bed with big business and big oil, as well? Just like the Bushes? Will our votes even be counted? Are they even listening to us in Washington? If I don't have a million dollars to invest in your campaign, how can I be heard by you, Mr. Candidate?

I said to Franz on the drive home, "It seems to me that the only options are to stay and fight for a better country, or to leave America and start over somewhere else. My gut tells me to stay and fight. But in the face of so much evil, what can one person do? Which would you choose? Stay and fight or leave?"

He replied, "Well, I would leave." Then he paused. And then he said, "But not if you won't come with me."

America has darkened before my eyes. I used to think of this place, this country, as home. The only home I would ever know. Now I think maybe it is time to re-define "home". Maybe home should not be tied to beliefs and ideology... like freedom, democracy, truth, and justice. Maybe home should be tied to the place where the people you love are... no matter where in the world that place is.

I haven't deicded yet, though. Which would you do, Sherry's weblog readers? Stay and fight for a better America? Or leave, if you could? Maybe we should do this the "American way". Maybe we should take a vote. I promise to count them all.

Please, see the movie. Think about it. And let me know. Click on "comments" below this post and let me hear from you all.

Love (and peace) to all,

Sherry