Awakened Life

First of all, Congratulations Mr President,  I know there are a lot of folks who think you don’t deserve the Nobel. But I for one do, not for what you have done so much as for where you are going. Your Heart Sir, is in the right place regardless of what the “haters” say. Here is a great article from AlterNet by Jonathan L. Walton, entitled Conservatives Are Really Afraid of a Black President. This is a great article I believe, because it points out that we still has some work to do as Humans, and especially Humans who call themselves Americans.  Here is an excerpt:

Ever the statesman, and often candid to a political fault, former President Jimmy Carter said recently that much of the animosity directed toward President Barack Obama is “based on the fact that he is a black man.” A lifelong Southerner, Carter acknowledged that the inclination of racism still exists, and that “it has bubbled up to the surface because of the belief among many white people, not just in the South but around the country, that African Americans are not qualified to lead this great country.” Though courageous, the former president’s pronouncement will surely be considered controversial to many Republicans and Democrats alike.

Some will view Carter’s comments as politically inexpedient. The topic of race in general, and charges of racism in particular, is political dynamite that typically explodes in the hands of the accuser — just ask [Harvard] Professor Skip Gates, [New York] Gov. David Paterson, or Obama (whom I will return to momentarily). Unless someone is wearing a Klan hood while yelling, “Nigger, Go Back to Africa,” the charge of racism seems to offend the accused these days more than the actual victims. This is true, in part, due to the most prevalent view of the problem of race and racism in this country.

In the eyes of many, the responsibility of moving beyond racial conflict in America is placed at the feet of minority communities of color, as opposed to the dominant society. We’ve all heard it. America will move beyond race to a colorblind society only when minority groups cease dwelling on difference. Such a view permeates the melting pot ideal of American folklore, the myth of meritocracy and even the “post-racial” dimension of electoral politics. Thus, for Carter to call out this segment of the white community, he is disrupting the conspiracy of silence concerning racial injustice that demands the allegiance of politicians on the national scene. Think about it. Is this not the racial bargain that Obama accepted to become the nation’s first African American president? Matters pertaining to race have been avoided unless absolutely necessary (cough, cough, the Rev. [Jeremiah] Wright). And in terms of policy, obstacles faced by any particular group, like disproportionate unemployment among communities of color, for example, are obfuscated by anemic and ineffectual broad-based prescriptions. Rising tides lift all boats, right? Yet Obama’s enormous success in life, whether as a highly educated community organizer or as America’s commander in chief, exposes the paradox this sort of faux post-racialism presents.

It’s a one-sided deal for people of color; as “post-racial” in effect means post-black, post-brown, post-red and post-yellow, while leaving the normative racial framework of whiteness intact. Race is the challenge people of color must confront and, dare I say, “get over.” But a post-racial America does not demand the same of those who identify with, and claim the social construction of, whiteness and perceived privileges and cultural superiority therein. This is why, it would seem, Obama’s body standing behind the American presidential seal has a critical segment of America losing its hold on reality — a reality, I would argue, few have ever been forced to acknowledge up to this point. Whether it’s the birthers, tea-baggers, deathers, indoctrinators, or “You lie!”-ers, they have neither veiled their racial animus nor cloaked their white nationalism. The prevalence of racist images of Obama brandished by protesters juxtaposed with calls of “taking our country back” are reminiscent of D.W. Griffith’s fictional America as depicted in the film Birth of a Nation.

Here is the Article in its entirety We have much work to do here. As long as we see each other as separate we will continue to war, hate and divide ourselves on the razor of religion, race, wealth, etc. Before we can transform our society we must awaken to the fact: WE ARE ALL HUMANS FIRST. If I see you as a human first, that is to say

We are not human beings having a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having a human experience.

Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

Further

We are one, after all, you and I. Together we suffer, together exist, and forever will re-create each other.

Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

We can begin to build a society that focuses on the care of Us vs. Me first and “Frak” you! Otherwise we will continue to create a world driven by control and fear. Think about it, if we see ourselves as humans first, would we be talking about providing health care for all vs those who can afford it.  Or leave our health care up to those who would put profit and  self interest above all, an embracing of Objectivism and unbridled Capitalism. How has the worked out for us thus far?  A society based on and driven by a Monetary System will destroy itself in order to preserve that institution under the guise of freedom.

No form of government will stop this implosion, only awareness and a willingness to move to a system (See A Resourced Based Economy) that will work for All Humans. Wake up! our problems are not the creation of others, rather the creation of  all of Us.  We can start by just becoming aware of who we are

Peace and Love