Carrying the Fire

Many of us bloggers ask ourselves why we blog...what’s the point...it’s all going to hell anyway...the bastards don’t appreciate it...if they are hell-bent on their own destruction, then why waste my time…

Then you get posts like this one  at Troy’s.

I love Troy’s Scribbles. It’s raw, honest to the point you feel like corrupting Troy just on the sheer principle of human frailty, and most of all, it is a constant reminder of the individual human beings that are the whole reason for us giving a damn about the big issues.

Reading Scribbles is like reading Cormac McCarthy’s The Road. The journal of a very difficult, at times seemingly hopeless personal journey within a larger world state which seems equally hopeless. Troy tells us of his own travels, of local politics, of the unending struggle of First Nations in a country that largely would like to relegate them to history – and a whitewashed history at that- and he writes of larger, universal issues, told with a raw style that often makes them appear bleak as well.

Oh, lovely, 900! Yeah, let’s just all go read more bleak shit!  Why should we?

Why? Because Troy is a Good Guy and he Carries The Fire.

I asked him awhile back how he manages to stop from exploding in a violent rage. To be honest, I couldn’t remember exactly what he told me because I didn’t entirely get it. I thought I did, but I never really understood until his post of December 1, 2010.

(excerpts)

Got mean and dirty, low down and nasty. Went and accused a brother of 'running off to the white man to solve our own problems'…

…I'd like to hide under my bed, now, but it's not raised off the floor. Anyhow, it's complete bullshit. The government doesn't care about First Nations. It's openly advancing a policy of assimilation. Thus, when I witness a brother using the government's propaganda concerning our people, leaders, and nations, I wanna explode.

I'd like to smack 'em one, but hurting my hand on someone's thick skull doesn't serve my agenda.

Insulting my brothers who have beliefs counter to mine doesn't serve my purpose, either.

Or does it? I just don't know.

Argh!

Such isn't what I wish to be, though. I want to be as my ancestor, Chief Kinbasket, who stopped a war with dialogue. I want to be as Chief Joseph whose appeal to the US people saved his people from a military massacre at the hands of the blue coats.

Anyway, I'm gonna try to be the change I wish to see in this world.

Reading that brief, informal post, I understood several things. Being decent, not losing your temper out of frustration, using words rather than a fist…these things aren’t done as a courtesy to your opponent, and they aren’t even done because of some ingrained sense of morality. They are a way of fighting all the crap that’s out there by preserving what’s best in our humanity.

By living it rather than preaching it, people who do this also show others what is good and worth preserving. It certainly shows me. If we give up and give in to negative ways of dealing with people and situations, we have already lost an important part of the battle against the undermining of those better aspect of humanity.

That there is sometimes a struggle in a person to act as they would like the rest of the world to act is even more commendable in those who persist in maintaining the best of what is human, because it shows us that being decent is a conscious thing, not an innate ability that a few fortunate people are born with. Seeing someone who has not had an easy time and who faces more hardship make the effort to be decent causes us to slow down and ask why they bother.

It gives us a chance to question and determine that there is value in being decent. There is value in carrying the fire.

So thanks, Troy.

The alternative should include the universe and all it contains

I went to a Liberal fund raiser/idea exchange last week.  Dave Remington, Liberal candidate for Lanark/Lennox/Frontenac was there, but David McGuinty was the main speaker.  We were all invited to ask questions, give suggestions, voice concerns.

McGuinty (that’s David, federal MP and Environment critic - not to be confused with his brother Dalton who is Premier of Ontario - a provincial politician :) ) was, as most in attendance said, inspiring.  The biggest lift the group got was from his desire to hear what we had to say, and his intentions to continue holding meeting such as that one - but free- to see what direction the Liberal party should take, and what Canadians would like to see for Canada by 2017.

A common concern/question dealt with having no clear alternative to the Harper government.  People asked why Harper could not break out of his 30 something percentage of support, and why the opposition groups were stalled.

I think one big reason is (other than Harper being a creepy fuck), that the conservatives have settled into a very concrete, boxed in mentality which is reflected in their speeches, policies, and platforms.  The past few months, we have heard over and over that the economy is the number one priority.  Most other policy suggestions are interpreted through their dollar value; goals are short term with concrete, shiny results (cutting the GST); and less physically tangible ideas such as tolerance, compassion, quality of life, creativity, fun(!), and even research without a concrete, specific goal are given little attention.

Space research is a good example of how the right and left differ in the concrete/abstract.

One of my co-pilots believes we should not spend money on space research.  He believes there are more important things needing funding.  While space research may not be a top priority, I don’t agree that spending money on it is a waste, or even something we should sacrifice at this time.

Besides the obvious scientific knowledge we gain through space exploration, there are those less tangible benefits that carry us forward as a species.  Space exploration reminds us that there are far more possibilities in our future as a species than we perceive here, focused on and ound to this little planet.  It also encourages us to imagine, and imagination is an essential tool in developing ideas and creating new technology.  It helps us to understand that the universe is larger than our planet, and causes us to explore our own place and role in time and space.

Look at how so many people got fired up over the Olympics.  Many said they felt inspired, encouraged by what human beings could do.  The achievements of a few helped others to believe in the power of the human spirit, in wonderful possibilites, that a person reach should exceed their grasp.

Space exploration helps us to understand that there is more, far, far more to our future and our world that our day-to-day existence.  This is why the arts have value, why education must include literature, philosophy, music.

That reach for something better, that grasp of the importance of the abstract is what keeps, in part, the conservatives in their self-made box.  It is what the opposition parties need to promote, not merely to win more seats, but because without feeding those wonderful abstract apsects of Canadians, we become more drone-like every day.  We focus on getting by, not on excelling.  We focus on existing, not on experiencing all that it means to be a human being.

Concrete policy is absolutely necessary, but reminding us of what we are capable of as creatures with imaginations and beings with compassion would fire up a population that is sliding into the state of the living dead.  It offers hope for something better, and isn’t that what so many Canadians are calling for?