Jack Burns Lives!

Of Good Cheer

My long suffering and loving wife tells me I’m too negative. That I view the world through a very dark lens, always finding something negative in what most see as something positive.

I usually respond that I’m simply a realist and simply try to call it like I see it. Tell it like it is.

For example, she sees a barbecue fest. I see a large congregation of humans feasting on a bunch of slaughtered pigs that lived shit lives in small cages, jacked up on hormones and antibiotics before having their heads cut off by a mechanized blade, after being hung by their feet. Thousands of drunk rednecks listening to Free Bird for the one millionth time.

And I’m not even a vegetarian. More than happy to devour a good elk steak with refried beans and a cold beer. Or two.

She sees a baseball game. I see a bunch of supplement taking, overpaid jocks that fly all over creation burning tons of fossil fuel.

And I used to love baseball. Coached it and played it. Now I can’t stand it.

So what’s happening to me? Am I simply too cynical? Have I become a grumpy old curmudgeon at only 44?

I think perhaps it’s the news. Children are dying in Iraq, ice sheets are melting and aquifers are drying up. Yet, the media seems obsessed with reporting on American Idol, Anna Nicole and thousands of other ego maniacs desperately trying to get their artificially dyed, tanned and suctioned bodies in front of a camera.

We’re also embroiled in the national charade known as a Presidential election. Each day, it seems one of ‘em screws up, forgets to read from the cue card and says what he or she really thinks. Once we find out they’re really a misogynistic, racist, bigoted, greedy, war monger, we vote them off the island. At least until we think we’ve found the one that’s the least misogynistic, racist, bigoted, greedy and hungry for war. We put that one in charge.

I suppose in the case of the Republicans, it’s finding the one that is the most misogynistic, racist, sex starved, greedy and hungry for war. Almost always a white dude with a Prussian hair cut, white shirt, baby blue tie and dark suit. They all look the same.

Other headlines? How about these:

Arctic Icecap Melting 30 Years Ahead of Forecast

followed by:

Climate Momentum Shifting: Prominent Scientists Reverse Belief in Man-made Global Warming

and these:

Is Bush Leading Us to Nuclear War?

Navy Launches Show of Force Near Iran (Isn’t this sort of like the big bully kicking sand in the face of the skinny kid and then standing around and flexing his muscles? When is someone going to kick the U.S. in the balls?)

The FBI May Have the Inside Scoop on You

Dems Cut Trade Deal with Bush; Poised to Throw American Workers Under Bus

We’re No. 1! America Leads the World in War Profits

Population Growing by 76 Million Annually

World’s Forests Continue To Shrink

World’s Water Resources Face Mounting Pressure

Las Vegas, Nevada: fastest growing metropolitan area in the country (least amount of water)

Yes, there’s much to be encouraged about.

I guess the real question is what the hell can we do? I guess there are several things, done more or less for your own peace of mind than anything. Beginning with the usual laundry list of recycling, buying less, using your own bags for shopping, eliminating plastics, cycling, growing food, conserving resources, turning off lights and AC…basically living as light on the land as possible. Reducing the old footprint.

Beyond that? Pick an issue and dive right in. Commit yourself to being involved. A contributor and spokesperson for that issue. Air, soil, rivers, energy, chemicals, habitat, sprawl, extinction, social justice, stopping the war, etc. Don’t worry about just picking one. They’re all interrelated, so if you pick one, you’re contributing to the good fight on the others as well. I think it should be community based, if possible. Find something going on in your bioregion and be a real badass monkeywrench. Stay on the issue until the bad buys cry uncle.

We need more Rachel Corrie’s. People completely committed to placing their hearts and minds on the line for the future and for standing up for what they believe in. More Chico Mendes‘. Average folks willing to do not so average things.

It will be a lonely path, I might add. Most folks are in La-La land, blithely consuming their way in a life dominated by dead end jobs, credit card debt, mortgages, prescription drugs and cable tee-vee. Everything is fine to them, and in their eyes, you’ll be an eccentric. A Chicken Little. A doomsday dude.

Take gratification in knowing you’re informed, and you’re right. And as Abbey said,

“Be of good cheer: we’ll yet live to piss on the graves of our enemies.”