I try not to think about getting older too much, but in a
week when two famous people, exactly my age have died (prematurely, I think) it’s
hard to not think about one’s mortality.
At this time in my life, age does not bother me (well,
except for the various aches and pains that sometimes remind me), but the idea
of time running out does. There is so
much to do! How much can I do? Will I see any of the changes I so
desperately want while I’m still here?
All of which leads to the nagging question “Am I doing
enough?” There will always be those who
do more than me, and those who do less.
I sometimes envy people who remain oblivious to the wrongs in the world
and exclusively focus on themselves and their own little space in the
cosmos. These are the people who “don’t
care about politics” and dismiss everything by saying “All politicians are
crooked”.
Like the hard line right wingnuts, these people are
impervious to logic, reason, discussion and information. What they don’t know is irrelevant and
therefore can’t hurt them.
Frighteningly, many of them actually do vote. They vote via the
Pavlovian rule of politics—if it rings a bell, it must be the right
choice. For these people, a candidate
needs to be in the news (read—Fox News) a lot or invest in a lot of huge
campaign signs.
The question often asked by my friends and by me is what can
we do to push people into the real world; how can we help them see what is
killing them and what can save them? As
my clear-thinking friend Tom Strait pointed out in his recent blog, if we don’t
recognize the danger being done to our earthly environment on a daily basis and
take significant action to stop it, everything else really doesn’t matter. How can anyone think for a nanosecond that
global warming is a theory? Each new year
is the hottest—globally—on record. “They”
say it is a natural fluctuation; “They” say what about the snowstorms? “They” don’t take the time to understand what
climate change entails or how long it takes to occur naturally.
And then there’s everything else—health care, wars,
corporate control of our country…… This
election year is probably the most significant one in my ever-growing-longer
history. What can I do? What can you do?
The 4.2 people who read this will probably agree with
me. In that case, I’m speaking to
you. The only thing you can do is speak
out (calmly and rationally) all the time—and join others that do! Become active in the political process in any
way you can, by joining a group that is doing things and support your
candidate. Post on social media and
write letters to any and all editors that will print them!
In recent years, my passion has been theater as a medium for
messages; “Purlie Productions” is our modest way of carrying on the work of
hometown hero Ossie Davis for the current and future generations of our
community. Ossie, like so many others,
left his hometown years ago so he could actually achieve his goals. It’s a sad fact that so many home towns do
not allow that to happen. So many, right
here, have no voice in their present or future.
So many think that change is not possible. I truly wish I can see the proof that they
are wrong.
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