Who is us?
Us is renewable. Us is mendable. Well, at least once a year, us believes, us really believes, that us gonna be better next year. Us do. Us makes resolutions. I know I do. I don't know that all us humans do. Maybe only people who grew it in English-speaking countries do. Maybe only Christians and ex-Christians do. But I suspect most anybody anywhere deep down knows he or she can be a better person and he or she really will be, tomorrow!
Who is us?
Us is inventive! Us is! It starts when us're little and us get caught doing something us're not supposed to do. Maybe it starts earlier than that. Us get here without a language and invent how to communicate with those pesky, irritating grownups us need for everything. What a prodigious feat! And every one of us did it! Did it so well us take it for granted by the time us're three or thereabouts! Us invented the inclined plane, the spinning top, hammers, levers, the wheel! Us figured out how to recreate fire, and mostly how to control the fires us set. Us invented dances! Us invented swords and armor, the bow and arrow, the javelin, the lance. Fireworks! Oh my goodness! Us invented the plow, and the dam, and irrigation canals!. Us invented boats and ships. Us figured out a compass - either meaning. Us invented a helicopter! It wasn't nearly as simple as Leonardo thought, but Sikorsky (I think) finally got the details right. Us invented the automobile, the submarine, the airplane! Us invented kings, aristocrats, priests, engineers. Us invented writing and scribes! Us invented geometry. Just that short list prove us is inventive. Us awes us.
Who is us?
Us is well-intentioned. No one, I think, sets out to raise a criminal. Well, a corporate executive maybe, but not a criminal criminal. No one sets out to raise a juvenile delinquent even, I'm pretty sure. No one intentionally pollutes the planet, us just does little things that poison it. Without thinking. No, if one polled our intentions, most of us anyway, us wouldn't find an intent to murder, torture, rape, ravish, steal, thieve, rob, plunder, loot, harm, or even hurt. Somehow they just happen. But really, us means well.
Who is us?
Us is ignorant and proud of it. Us knows that science is when you have a laboratory. Us knows that critical thinking is something nice people don't do. Us knows that cops are our friends. Us knows that rape happens outside the family. Us knows that humans are the only animals who think. Us knows that the sky is way up there, and holds little tiny, bright stars. Well, those of us who don't live in cities know about stars in the sky. Those of us who live in cities know stars are people in Hollywood. Us knows drugs are made by evil people, and only bad people take them, except the good drugs, of course, those made by huge corporations who only have our best interests at heart. Us knows that guns are bad, and if it weren't for guns, none of us would ever kill another of us. Us knows a lot! And us don't want any facts to confuse us.
Who is us?
Us is amazing. Us really believes, or us says us do, this universe has a God and His responsibility is to make the world nicer for us. Where have us been the last 50,000 years? Or even the last 2,000? Did us not notice the Black Death? World War I? The Depression? The Dust Bowl? World War II? The Cold War? The rise of autocracy? Were any of these examples of nicer? Us is amazing. Us don't need no hoaxers. Us flimflams ourselves!
Who is us?
Us is maybe a little goofy. Maybe more than a little. Us invents our holidays. Us celebrates the founding of our country on a day when it wasn't founded. (Thirteen colonies, not one nation, declared independence on that day in 1776.) Us commemorates the end of World War I and us calls it Veterans Day, or us gets confused and calls it Memorial Day, which celebrates the end of May. Us celebrates the beginning of September and the beginning of the school year and calls it Labor Day, flying in the face of Labor Day as celebrated in much of the rest of the world on Mayday. (We can't do that because it's communist and whatever the communists do we have to do differently.) Us marks one day for giving thanks, and choose that day according to some story about one of the few times the Pilgrims were decent and civilized to the neighbors who had helped keep them alive. Us is many things, but logical or reasonable us is not. And us is defiantly proud of that!
Who is us?
Us is flimflamable. Yep, nonsense ignites us. We let the NYT tell us that rising inflation puts heat on WDC, and we wonder, "Wait! Should I have my knickers in a knot about inflation?" We don't even remember what inflation is - that merchants screw us out of more money this week than they screwed us out of last week. We think there's an actual bug called "inflation" and somebody somewhere - evidently in WDC - has the job of stomping on it. Oh my people! You shouldn't worry about critical race theory - you don't know what that means either, you should worry about our lack of critical thinking.
Who is us?
Us is intelligent. Us is! How else could us juggle the set of lies us tells us about us? How else could us espouse ideals and principles so against our own self-interests that they're practically suicidal? Yet some 40% to 45% of us is Republicans. How could the rest of us win an election, and squabble away the time us has to do something maybe useful instead of just doing it? How could some large group of us argue about whether to stifle or maybe end a pandemic? How could some of us want to keep any cure or vaccine us comes up with close at home? Does us not understand pandemic?
Yes, Pogo, We have met the enemy, and he is truly us.
Who is us?
Us is a gloomy subject. I guess us needn't be. Us has potential. Us could change. Us haven't changed much for millennia, as well as I can tell. But us could, Us cowld wake up tomorrow generous, kind, thoughtful, hospitable, sharing, amicable, empathetic. Us could! Us is halfway there anyway, isn't us? All us has to do is delete a few habits, right? Like jealousy, murder, war, maiming, rape, rioting, torture, gaslighting, ratfucking, those. But damn! They're so much fun! Probably not, huh?
Who is us?
(Remember Pogo, "We have met the enemy, and he is us.")
Us is many contradictions. Us would rather see children starve than feed them. Us claims to be the most generous country in the world. Us claims to be for law and order, and us riots when people who don't look like us express the freedoms that laws give them. Us turns a planet into an oven, and us denies the temperature is rising. Us refuses to use any other source of energy than petroleum or natural gas, and us denies what science shows they pollute the atmosphere with. Us would rather invade and occupy other countries than convince them, and us wonders why other uses think us're warlike. Us proclaims freedom of speech, and threaten to kill anyone who disagrees with us, or even doesn't agree with us loud enough. Us is good people who rape, maim, molest, and demean other uses, and then oppress them. Us sings praises to the Lord us has created in our own image.
Who is us?
Us is damned near almighty. Us've cured diseases, in some cases almost eradicated them. Us've hunted into near extinction animals that used to prey on us. Except ourselves, of course. Us've dammed mighty rivers, and damned those we couldn't dam. Us've turned almost limitless sources of fresh water into sewage ponds. Us've built highways that crisscrossed the Chinese Empire and the Persian Empire, the Roman Empire and the U.S. of A. Us've imagined ourselves rocketing about the universe like American families vacationed in the 1950s. Us've erected buildings us claimed scraped the sky. Us've triumphed over so many adversaries! But us can't seem to triumph over ourselves. Now, in the day of rockets, airplanes, ocean liners, and automobiles, us gets along with each other about as well as in the days us used bones for clubs.
Who is us?
Us is a nation who incarcerates more of its citizens than any other nation in the world, then can't control or even manage its prisons. Us is a nation who has not been at war in five of its two hundred thirty-two years of existence. Or was it four? Us is a nation who abolished slavery publicly and loudly, then sneakily brought hit back through its prison system, and even more sneakily brought it back in its black market sales of girls, women, boys, and men. Us is arsonists, rapists, extortionists, and thieves who go to church, synagogue, mosque, or temple. Us is "normal" people who haven't yet participated in any of those crimes, but ignore them, or pretend they don't happen, not really. Or deny them. Us is also victims, scapegoats, or school children fed misinformation. Us is parades, speeches, fireworks, and church bells.
Who is us?
Us is nice. Us likes nice. Nice is convenient because us can torment, torture, rape, maim, and kill, and still be nice persons. Us can drive a marriage partner or a business partner to drink, madness, or suicide, and still be a nice person. Nice doesn't constrain occasional meanness or viciousness. Us does those passing through a room, and us smiles sweetly or brightly as us enters the next. Nice is a gift to humanity. Viva nice!
Who is us?
Us is good people, good citizens. Us goes to church at Christmas, Easter, and the Fourth of July, or whatever the Holt Days are in our faiths. Us votes, ua goes to Support Your Local Police rallies, Us stays no more informed than we have to be, or need to be. Us are shocked to learns our government tortures, Us never quite make the connection that our government supports dictatorships outside our country. Why would us want to know unpleasant things like that? Besides it's none of our business, right? Us has a hard enough time keeping a job or jobs that give us some pocket change, let us feed the kids, and keep our automobiles running. As long as the world out there leaves us alone, us is just fine with what they do among themselves. Us is not busybodies.
Who is us?
Us is a nice people, a clean people, a pretty people. And us is. I think us breeds for those. (Fortunately, us can't tell. We have to wait for archaeologists or at least anthropologists to get some perspective on us and our behavior to guess whether we do. But consider a current amateur anthropologist's verdict: we seem to.) But mainly us breeds for lying. Most of us is pretty good at it, and some of us is outstanding. Us tells ourselves us is peaceful, kind, loving, gentle, thoughtful, et cetera. But deep down us knows = I think us does - each of those holds a nugget or kernel of truth exploded into a lie. When us studies history, what does us study? States. Wars. Empires. Religions - which mean pogroms, tortures, burnings at stakes, "civil" wars, slavery, annihilations, all that good, kind, merciful, loving stuff. Us may be nice, clean, pretty, but that's not the record us leaves behind!
Who is us?
Us is Biden scolding us for not living up to who us claims us is, sometimes, if us can do it anonymously, like singing it in church, or hollerin' it at a political rally, or better yet, cheering on the guy or gal who's declaiming who us is at a political rally. Or "Amen!"ing a preacher on or near the Fourth of July! Yup! Us avoids risks as well as us can! Even by protecting our anonymity when declaring how good us is! That doesn't commit us to much, does it? Us is cagey, clever, and obtuse!
Who is us?
Us is, maybe, who we say we are? Nah, I can't get there, not yet. At least, us is also who we do we are. Us is the bullies who tease the little girl with the broken leg. Us is the principal with the unlivable rules of conduct. Us is teachers teaching "history" as the school board requires instead of as it happened. Us is church people storming the streets for black, brown, or tan people to terrorize. Us is a car industry so locked to petroleum that it doesn't even try hard to convince us to go electric. Us is an oil industry that won't quit, not until it's sucked Mother Earth dry, one way, or filthied her unlivable another way. Us is singing hosannahs to our own sweetness and generosity while incarcerating over two and a quarter million of ourselves. But on top of all that and more, us is nice, us is polite, us abides by the law, us sings in choirs. And some of us, universe bless us, sings alone.
Who *is* us?
Us is a people who complain about ending a war after only twenty years of accomplishing nothing. (Yes, I know President Biden claims we accomplished something - we killed ben Ladin in Pakistan. How does that count as part of our war in Afghanistan? I guess that makes as much sense as attacking Afghanistan because nineteen Saudis attacked us.) Us is a people who fight a war for twenty years without ever finding out whom we're fighting, or whom we're aiding whether they want it or not. Us is a people who fights a War on Drugs that triples and quadruples and may ten-tuple the drug problem. Us is a people who fight a War on Poverty by incarcerating two million (going on three million) of ourselves. Heaven help us if we ever fight a War on Ignorance!
Who is us?
Ah, Pogo! Who *is* us?
Us is a beautiful people admiring our own naivete. Us is a people admiring our own gentleness while we hurl grenades and fire machine guns. Us is a people smug about having abolished slavery in 1865 while hosting an estimated 417,500 slaves in 2021, 80% of them women and children. ("If men could get pregnant, abortion would be a sacrament.") Us is a people who refuse to learn science or logic, too hard, besides we got "makes sense" and "works for me!" Us is a nice people, us is! Mostly! Us just needs laws against rape and murder and tormenting each other, and occasionally, us even has to enforce them. Darn. Us is what's left after evolution tried a lot of experiments, so us is the cream of the crop, right? Us is the best? All these characteristics is how us got here, and how us is gonna stay, isn't us?
Who is us?
Oh, for heaven's sake! Besides tonight's, I have twenty more of these to do this year! Have I already exhausted my material? Maybe not.
Who *is* us? Us is Joe Biden lost in a word he can almost remember, or perhaps almost knows. Us is a newscaster on MSNBC getting lost in a sentence and saying not when he or she means the opposite. Us is a normal Amurrican using an idiom that doesn't quite mean right and becoming an idiot. Us is a poet preaching. Us is a politician promoting a needless war - oh, wait, is that a redundancy? Us is us describing our country without a fact or truth in the description. Us is not replacing a thermostat because it costs less to just walk over and turn the A/C or heater off and on manually - or because the replacement wouldn't work any better than the current defective one. Us is the designers and non-testers of thermostats.
Who is us?
Who *is* us? Us - by our own assertions and doings - is a good people, generous, kind, thoughtful, brave, resilient, artistic, even outstanding. But also by our own doings that we try to hide, us is mean, petty, stingy, cruel, thoughtless, cowardly, wilting, dull, and commonplace. Most days we don't do much to show the universe, "See? We were here! We made a difference! We mattered!" If the universe notices us, its glance travels on, still looking for a reminder of why it bothered.
Who is us?
https://library.osu.edu/site/40stories/2020/01/05/we-have-met-the-enemy/
But it isn't just pollution, and in particular pollution of the forest, us is the enemy in adopting clean energy, in learning to live comfortably with each other, in adopting generosity and kindness, mercy, and forgiveness as a way of living. (I have to admit to struggling with that "forgiveness" - see my seppuku wish for certain enemies - but I think it is necessary.) "Humaneness ought to be part of being human," I wish. What a silly idea!
Who is us?
Us is the couple down the street who don't come out now except to drive away or to hurry from their car back into their house. Not since she was "visited" by a deputation of male neighbors allegedly protesting her shorts and her tie-tops and their bad influence on their daughters. Us is the teenaged boys who mostly stay inside now and don't play pickup football any more after one of them was called faggot and the other tried to defend him. Us is the neighbor who moved to Sarasota after police botched their investigation of her rape case, and the prosecutor suggested she was hysterical. Us is the family who moved their four daughters to a fortress after the second one was kidnapped and returned after a week. Us is the nice lady who still visits her husband in prison, convicted of kidnap, assault, and attempted murder. Us is the Sunday school teacher who so fastidiously helps girls rearrange their skirts to tempt him less. Us is the preacher whom God leads to a more affluent church after he, the preacher, not God, is accused of sex with an unmarried woman. God revels in that accusation, remember?
Who is us?
Ah, Pogo! "We have met the enemy, and he is us." It wss funny-sad then, it is funny-sad now. How could three hundred thirty million good intentions go so wrong? How could seven and two-thirds billion good intentions go so wrong? I focus on us, us the UnitedStesians, the self-declared cream of the crop, the self-declared "exceptional" humans. How are we exceptional? Well, we have clean streets, but Canadians have cleaner. We're rich, but the Saudis are richer, and the people of Dubai may be the richest. We're democratic - except we never even tried for that; we did try to be a republic, and appear to have failed at that. We tell the biggest and the loudest lies? Maybe. I'll not argue against that. But anyway, us did it with good intentions. Us was gonna be good people. Us was gonna be clean people. Us was gonna be pretty people. Us was gonna be generous, kind, hospitable, and especially "nice" people. Us was gonna be, and us sometimes claim we made it. Us do. And us didn't. I think us proved the old adage about good intentions.
Who is us?
Us is the critter who hopes. As well as I can tell, a frog doesn't hope, a lion doesn't. I can't hold my breath long enough, but I think a whale doesn't hope. As well as I can tell, a redwood doesn't care. A rock doesn't, at least not until it's carved into the image of a man or a woman and declared holy. Then, apparently, the rock cares and may hope. So in my world, us has hope to ourselves exclusively. And us uses it well. Us do things we know are stupid, wicked, or evil, and us hopes for good consequences. Us hopes for good weather. Especially if us has sacrificed to a rock. Us hopes for a marriage without strife of bad times. Us hopes the rich won't ride too roughshod over us, and sometimes they don't. Us hopes for wars without casualties. Some of us even hope we'll give up wars. No wonder us designates ourselves homo sapiens.
Who is us?
Who is us indeed? Us smiles. Us shows us is happy. Us has a pretty world and us wants others to know it. Us has a house and a car, us has kids in school and doing well there, us has a job and us fits in, God smiles on us, whoever and whatever God is. Us has the best country in the whole world ever! How could anyone argue with any of that? Lucky us!
Who is us?
Us is nice people. By and large, us is. Us don't intentionally live in a world of rape, robbery, torture, and murder. It just happens somehow, and somehow we're there. What kind of world would I wish us made? A world of respect for each other, thoughtfulness for each other, generosity for each other, kindness for each other, a world in which us didn't each know how superior he or she is to the rest of us. Yeah, right. What fun would Little Red Riding Hood be without the Big Bad Wolf and the mighty Woodsman? What would be the point of Snow White without the Evil Queen? Oh, those stories don't have anything to do with our own? Well gol-ly!
Who is us?
(A gentle reminder: my guiding theme is Pogo's famous dictum, "We have met the enemy, and he is us.")
How is us our own enemy? Us pollutes our own drinking water, our irrigating water, our playing-in water. Us pollutes the air we breathe. Us pollutes the soil we grow food in. Us builds perfectly good dwellings and line them with poisons, poisons that kill, and poisons that slowly undermine our physical and mental health. Us knows we need job, jobs, and more jobs, then us don't create them, or us creates them and pays chicken-feed for people who do real work. Us makes drinks that make us feel wonderful, and then us drinks them till they stupify and kill us. Us assert and affirm that our children need education, and then us provides our children with a substitute for education that teaches them no-history and not-quite-science and factless civics and pretty sociology. Us keeps on stepping on the rake no matter how many times it hits us in the head. Us keeps digging holes to order without noticing how much they look like graves.
DoY 161 (10 June 2021)
who is us?
Could us be unknowable? Could us be so self-contradictory that a rational being could not understand us? Could us be so generous, kind, merciful, forgiving, petty, rageful, vengeful, raping, torturing, maiming, and murderous that no one who uses logic could figure us out? Is that why us prefer "makes sense" to logic? Can us "get" each other even though us can't predict ourselves much less another? If us is unknowable, does that say anything about our ability to survive as a species? To thrive?
for Doy 154 (3 June 2021)
Who is us?
Man! Us is Israeli "other" parties combining to dump Netanyahu. Us is Biden planning to spend $6T to reinvigorate the US. Us is Biden delegating so much to Kamala. Us is Texas trying to restrict the right to vote so Blacks, Mexicans, Asians, Jews, and old and young people can't vote. Us is Arizona trying to recount the votes in Maricopa County. Us is a major tennis competition getting their underpants in a knot about a star not submitting to stupid questions like "How do you feel about...?" Us is rounding up refugees in concentration camps. Us is pretending us is kind, generous, hospitable, and altruistic. Us is being convinced us is.
(splanation: last week I could not find my way here)
DoY 147. (27 May 2021)
Who is us?
Us is amazing! Us is mean as hell, and us is so generous we would flabbergast any alien that chose to land among us. Oh, us wouldn't necessarily be generous with the alien, but we might be. I posit that the same woman who kicks a homeless woman downtown goes home and bakes cookies for her kids and wears the nightgown that is her husband's favorite. The same preacher who makes life nearly intolerable for his sons is adored by his congregation for his sympathy and thoughtfulness. Us is magnanimous and warlike, torturing and gentle, loving and vicious. Well, what the hell. It's gotten us here and now when a lot of species didn't make it.
Doy 140 2021 (20 May 2021)
Who is us?
When I returned to this country, I learned about how generous it was. The kids I had grown up among in Brasil would have been surprised. They knew Americans as loud people who smiled and made warm, friendly noises but always had battleships, or later, aircraft carriers, standing behind those noises. Americans, more properly UnitedStatesians, invaded Central and South American countries when the direction of the breeze changed. The United States claimed to protect Central and South America, but it protected them kinda like cops protect us. Surely you've seen pictures of bloodied heads, stoved in ribs, and damaged feet? That kind of protection.
Now, yes, we did have the Marshall Plan. Britain, France, and Germany thrived with its help, and so did a few other countries. And every year Congress made a fuss about how long we must support all those handout countries. That's generosity, isn't it? Until Vietnam came along and we spent ourselves deaf, dumb, and blind trying to liberate people who just wanted to be left alone. In the end, all we had to show for that war was the debts we had accumulated fighting over there. Oh, and pretty much the end of any Marshal Plan talk.
Except the talk about how generous we are. Surely the rest of the world must see that and thank us, right? Right?
DoY 133 2021
Who is us?
Who *is* us?
Is us the people we see on TV? The ones with freshly mowed lawns, new cars, unchipped fingernails, and a never-empty wallet? The ones who are shocked to learn their neighbor screws his daughters? That some cops are crooked? That the principal found a way to move some of the school's budget into his bank account? That a minister of the Lord sins?
Oddly enough, some of us are. Most of us are wannabes, I think. Most of us are not so surprised, just a little. Or maybe a little shocked that someone finally said so out loud. Some of us are those people getting away with whatever until some snitch makes a fuss.
But you know? Several times in my life, I have learned that a few of us really do live innocently. Those folks don't harm anyone and don't really believe anyone else does either. Treasure them. The rest of us don't deserve them, and some of us take advantage of them, but they help us believe in ourselves and in the potential of us.
Doy 126 2021
Who is us?
Us is a very nice people, a very clean people, a pretty people. Us is a people whose males take no advantage of their superior physical strength over their females. Us is a people whose rich take no advantage of their ability to outbid poor people. Us is a people whose powerful only seek power to improve the nation and make the rest of us more comfortable. Us is a people of generosity, kindness, benevolence. Us goona take good care of you. Wanna buy a bridge? How much? How much you got? No, sorry, not enough. Borrow twice that, then maybe us can talk.
DoY 119 (for 29 April 2021)
Who is us?
My running theme is Pogo's statement, "We have met the enemy and he is us."
I cannot speak for your neighborhood, but in the neighborhoods into which I was thrust when I was brought back to this country at twelve (in St. Louis, in Perryton, TX, in Clovis, NM, and in Albuquerque, NM), us believed a pack of lies. Us believed men were basically decent and only occasionally erred. Us believed the government was composed of representatives of us, instead of politicians bought and sold by the wealthy. Us believed our government only did generous things in other countries. Us got teary-eyed and indignant about us being "the most generous country in the world" and how people didn't appreciate our interfering in their governments. (Us never said it quite that way.) US fought a war for over fifteen years to show little brown men that they couldn't get away with fighting for independence from white folks (yes, Vietnam). Us fought for years to delay granting civil rights to black folks, to women, or to non-cisgender folks. Us is still waging surreptitious fighting to prevent their exercising those rights. And us is still lying to ourselves about it. Us don't like truth very much.
DoY 112
Who is us?
Just a reminder, Pogo famously said, "We have met the enemy, and he is us."
So how is us the enemy?
Us are complacent. Whatever politicians do to or for us, we grumble and keep going. Us don't ever throw the bums out. Sometimes us shows a bum or two out, but us replaces him or them with another bum with a prettier smile or a more chic hairstyle. Us are not very thoughtful about politicians or what they do.
Obviously that's not entirely true. Some of us get worked up enough to offer to be the prettier smile or the more chic hairdo. Thank goodness for those of us, right?
But the rest of us grumble. Like about police misconduct. Even if a police officer is arrested (highly unlikely) and brought to trial (unlikelier), us on the jury give him a walk. "Oh, he meant well. He was excited. He has a tough job."
Viva us!
DoY 105
Who is us?
Some of us are U.S. citizens, but all of us are citizens of the Earth, the third planet from the Sun. Isn't that a wee bit odd? That we have names for many of the smaller stars in the heavens, but the biggest by far, the nearest, the one we depend on, we simply call The Sun. Other cultures have named that star also, usually while imagining it a mostly benevolent god. "Mostly benevolent" is about as good as a god gets. After all, any god we can take seriously also has to be whimsical, vengeful, jealous, petty, amusing, and tormenting. That's how we see the world. It takes a lot of seremity to see the world as different. An indifferent god would be pointless. But all of that only addresses "Who s us?" from the side or at a slant. Us apparently needs gods. Us has created them for as long as us've left records of ourselves. Well, that may be an exaggeration. But for at least as long as we've left written records of ourselves, us have had gods. If nothing else, the gods of commerce and of thievery.
for DoY 098
Who is us?
Us is ignorant and proud of it, defiant about it. Oh, I didn't mean illiterate. Us can read, but us don't. Us scorn folks who use words of more than two syllables. Who know what arugula is. Who wear masks to prevent or at least slow the spread of an airborne pandemic. Who like or even appreciate literature. Us toss out technical terms when us speak, but us change the subject when someone asks us what those terms mean when us use them. Us make fun of folks who do know and can speak with authority. Don't misunderstand: us sometimes show compassion, hospitality, and generosity, even if us don't admit to knowing those words, but us get nasty about folks who show expertise. Us don't like getting called on our ignorance, but us cling passionately to it.
DoY 091
Who is us?
Oh! Oh! Oh! Woe is us! No! That's inaccurate. Glee is us! Glee and zest. Look at the Serbs in Croatia. The Serbs are us. Look at the Israelis in Palestine. The Israelis are us. Look at the Taliban in Afghanistan. The Taliban are us. Look at white folks in the South. Now look at white folks in the United States. See the no difference? White folks are us.
No! Someone else might plead. See the Red Cross? The Red Cross are us. See FEMA back before George Bush II? That FEMA are us. See Doctors Without Borders? Doctors Without Borders are us.
Yes, I admit, that's true. But when we tell ourselves about us, we pretend us are Doctors Without Borders, us are FEMA before George Bush II, us are the Red Cross, and we pretend us are not the Serbs, the Israelis, the Taliban, But us are, and us forget it to our peril. A thin tissue holds us back on the kind, generous, humane side of behavior. If us drop our guard a minute, us unleash the torturers, the slavers, the tormenters us are too.
DoY 084
Who is us?
Us is 328 million UnitedStatesians, or 7.9 billion humans on the earth. Wow! Either way, that's a lot of people! Either way that's a helluva lot of people! And us are not very well informed. And us are not trained to do critical thinking. Most of what us call thinking is emotional or sentimental reaction to the few facts us know, and all too often to pseudo-facts us are fed. Our masters have no reason to tell us what's so. They have plenty of reason to tell us platitudes and outright lies. Heck, if us knew about our masters and how they manipulate us, us might revolt! Revolutions are so untidy! And unpredictable. Compare the Glorious Revolution in England to the French Revolution. Yes, left to our own devices, us are probably better off being led by our likes and dislikes than trying to make important decisions on our own.
Funny then that I'm an ardent supporter of republics. "Democracy" is just a lie. It requires slavery, and it fully occupies all citizens voting about trash collection and clean water and armies and wars and all that. No, better to let a few politicians amuse themselves with all that so the rest of us can go about the daily business of house cleaning and making a living and having a good time. Or a bad time if that's your preference.
For DoY 077
Who is us?
Us is a clique of mean and petty-minded girls who drive a classmate to suicide. Us is a bunch of boys who torment a classmate into suicide. Us is a bunch of boys at a party who get a girl drunk, serially rape her, and post pictures of the event on social media. Us is a collection of fathers in a neighborhood who gather to burn and scare a new family out of the neighborhood. Us is a mob who gather in a church for the preacher's blessing before us go out and wreak havoc. Us is a white cop captain condoning a white killer's bad day. Us is people who invent a god who gives us a list of commandments on how to behave, then commands us to break them. Us is 7 billion people working to make our planet unlivable.
Who is us? DoY 063
Who *is* us?
Last night I attended and participated in a poetry workshop and open mic that has existed and met weekly since 1990. It is a staple and a feature in the lives of more than a generation of us. The group brings hospitality and generosity to their work on the art and practice of writing poetry.
So that gives us another piece of who is us: poets and other writers.
And it gives us another example of us granting us kindness, encouragement and generosity.
Sometimes us don't look so bad, do us?
Blog entry - DoY 056
Who is us?
Pardon me. I'm still a little in awe. I know us includes a lot of murderers, rapists, thieves, and misdemeanor-ists. But Lord love a duck! Us includes a lot of others-serving people! Yes, they get paid for it, but that's how we do things in our economy. They probably don't get paid enough for the generosity and kindness and caring they ladle onto us patients. And they do it knowledgeably! They go to school to learn what works and what doesn't in dispensing generosity, kindness, and caring!
Just know, as much as my attention is usually on the viciousness, greed, and stinginess of many of us, I am also impressed by the humane-ness some of us live by.
For 18 Feb 2021 - DoY 049
Who is us?
Well, us includes some mighty generous people. On the night of the 11th, I had my 8th cardiac incident in a week. In this case, a cardiac incident means my pulse shot up to 125 and I had trouble breathing. So I called the EMTs and they came to get me and took me to Providence Tarzana, a hospital. I was there less than 24 hours. Kaiser sent an ambulance for me and moved me to Kaiser-Permanente Woodland Hills. Kaiser has since sent me to Kaiser Permanente Sunset for cardiac procedures (diagnostics).
The EMTs, the nurses, the doctors, the nurses' aides generously cared for me as if my life mattered. I could not have convinced them it did.
Us includes some mighty generous people, us does.
for 11 February - DoY 042
Who is us?
Y'know, we must have an awful lot of get-along-ability! How long is it we've lived in cities? 50,000 years? Only 10,000? What? Only 7000? (I Googled.) How embarrassing!
Even so, for most of the latest 7000 years we've mostly kept from braining our neighbors by entertaining ourselves with distant wars! We've mostly let the few (our armies) kill, rape, and pillage for us, and been content to celebrate their glory. (In times of austerity, we burn witches and heretics and other anti-social types.)
And for most of us, most of the time, being more-or-less nice to each other isn't an effort. Sneakily, we even sorta like our neighbors, despite what we say about them.
So clearly, we must have an awful lot of get-along-ability!
Who is us?
Us is procrastinators - us put off doing things, and sometimes that works out. Us just leave things like that, permanently put off
Us is do-ers. Us claim us are human beings, but us know ourselves best by what us do. Some of us build bridges, either literally or figuratively. Some of us build highways or at least roads. Some of us build buildings, or houses, some of us build homes. Some of us build dams, raise horses, do science, guard structures or property. Us do and us do and us do, so us are at least as much human doings as human beings.
Us put together too many of us to live equitably or peacefully, so the ones who have robbed the rest of us most successfully hire thugs from among us to keep the robbees under control. Us find it most easy to go along with being robbed and being thugged because we live in nicer houses than we did before and we have running water and maybe even health care. Us call this civilization, and are happy for the entertainers who come along with it.
Us are good at lying to ourselves.
Us is white supremacists. Us learns it at our granddaddy's knee, and our granddaddy is the most gentlemanly, most real-manly man we know.
But white supremacy is avowed also by our uncles.
I want to say "No! No! No! No! No!" For a lot of reasons. I want to absolve my granddaddy. I can't. I want to absolve my aunts, and I don't remember learning it explicitly from them, but like so much of what went on at the time - 1954, let's say - they went along with it, good women, good citizens, good conformists. I want to absolve black people, but they were terrorized into accepting it.
It's just part of who us is.
I would like to absolve the hippies, but suspect they were oblivious to it and bore it like they bore white privilege. Poor children! They really believed the ennobling and generous descriptions of us that us had taught them! They somehow thought they could just excuse themselves from us and live like us had said us did and us would leave them alone, maybe even support them in admiration! Us taught them! Us beat the bejesus out of them! Us killed enough of them that the rest went into hiding, or gave up and conformed like the rest of us. Us took care of them!
Now you may not have learned it from your granddaddy. You may have learned from your daddy or your momma, but you learned it. Else how would it still flourish? I didn't do it all, and it plays a major role in what makes up the Trump-folks. Trump didn't do it, he just gave them presidential permission, and they eagerly accepted. He saw them lurking in the shadows and invited them into the light, and here they are - us.
What was it Wordsworth promoted? Writing after quiet contemplation, writing calmly and carefully. I ain't there yet.
Learning how strongly white supremacy burns in me embarrasses me. Learning that I can't just deny it revolts me. I think I live as if I had none. This is an improvement over my uncles and granddaddy, I think.
But I don't know, I don't know.
I do know us is white supremacists, and us needs to not-be, and I don't know how to get us there.
Us has a calmer, more thoughtful, more celebratory aspect than those I've addressed so far. Us do. Us takes time, us makes time, for ceremony. Weddings, funerals, birth days, wakes, celebrations that a city has lasted 250 years, and every four years, in the United States of America, we inaugurate a new President, or re-inaugurate a sitting President. Yesterday we inaugurated Joe Biden after four years of Donald Trump.
May Biden have the will and the commitment to undo what Trump did.
But about us. Us were mostly solemn yesterday. For some inaugurations, us are almost silly. But yesterday was only two weeks after an insurrection seized the Capitol and wrought havoc inside it. I think us are still cleaning up and repairing what the insurrectionists did. Mostly us glossed over that. Us celebrated 232 years of a continuous government wholly invented on this continent, with the birth papers to prove it. Us celebrated a more or less peaceful, even more or less harmonious, transfer of power from one president to another.
Us watched in delight and awe as Amanda Gorman marked the occasion with a fierce poem.
Yea us! Viva us! Long live us!
Who is us? DoY 15 0f 2021.
It's complicated, isn't it?
To begin with, there's us, the good guys, folks who aren't necessarily doing anything good, but we have good intentions, good will, even well-wishes for the human species. We don't do anything much to make the human species the good guys, but we don't do anything to make us the bad guys either.
Then there's us who actually do good things. Doctors Without Borders. Human Rights Watch. The Red Cross and its sister organizations. People like that, who actually work to manifest kindness, thoughtfulness, benevolence. (I'm a little leery of that word, benevolence. It too much smacks of a superior doing good to his or her inferiors.)
Then, I think, there's most of us, who don't really give a damn. We're perfectly fine with people who do good, and we're perfectly fine with people who cheer them on. But we're busy, thank you. We have lives to maintain, jobs to promote ourselves in, we may have hobbies, or civic activities.I think what I mean is we really don't give a damn. "You go ahead and do good, or you go ahead and do bad. Either way don't bother me. If you do, I may make you very sorry. Or I may just ignore you.)
But some of us go beyond that. We're not quite ready to do evil, but we kinda get a kick out of those who do. We don't murder, rape, or pillage, but we don't get in the way either. We may even actively cheer for murderers, rapists, pillagers.
And then there's us who work at making the human species the bad guys. Murderers, rapists, pillagers, Republicans, some or many capitalists, proselyters, thieves, deceivers.
Did I miss any of us? If I did, let me know.
Us.
Who the hell is us?
Walt Kelly, the cartoonist who gave us Pogo, had him say. "We have met the enemy, and he is us."
But it's more complicated than that, isn't it? Yes, us is our own worst enemy, but sometimes us is our hero or heroine too. Like the couple hundred or even couple thousand cops they sent out to deal with the insurrectionists yesterday (WDC, 6 Jan 2021). Us gotta admire them for going out and doing their job, even if they did it softly and gently instead of with their usual bravado and insolence.
Us for the most part isn't very brave, and us likes our comforts. Us would just as soon someone else took any risks. Us admires courage at a distance, like maybe in binocular range.
Us complains about masks, but complains more about the coronavirus. (It's just damned inconsiderate.). Us prefers our eclipses on television, and not in real time. Us ducks out of marriages when they become inconvenient.
Hm. Perhaps I exaggerate. Perhaps I'm just in a grumbly mood. Perhaps.... No, I don't think so.
This probably is a good start at coming to grips with who us is.
