In Death There is Life
Alarmed by all this talk about attacking Iran, I recently wrote to my friend and fellow Abbeyeista, Hayduke. I would have preferred a discussion over a couple of pints at the local pub, but seeing how we’re on different continents, I settled for a typed correspondence.
Hayduke’s been on the planet a bit longer than I have, and he’s a wise old owl. A sage of sorts. Whereas I’m a Southerner known for my often hasty, emotional responses and a quick, hot temper (must be those Irish roots), Hayduke is a pragmatist. A rational Midwesterner turned Left Coaster that thinks before he speaks.
But in this correspondence, it was he who was quick. Quick to point out the Good News, where all I could see was bad. As I cry out in frustration “Who’s going to liberate us,” he calmly reminds me that climate change, Peak Oil and shrinking aquifers are massing on the borders of Washington, prepared for invasion.
Yes, Houston. Help is on the way.
Oil climbed to $93 per barrel yesterday for the first time ever. Hopefully, it will go higher and force more people to consider alternative modes of transportation. For those of you pissed off about high prices, all I can say is do something about it. Quit buying gas.
Thanks to Peak Oil (not terrorists or nukes, as is commonly believed by the duped masses) the war drums are rising to an almost deafening crescendo, as the Bush propaganda team maneuvers to soften up a citizenry incapable of resistance to its devilish desires. It won’t take much for the profit motivated junta to get its way. Case in point, Presidential candidate McCain jokes about it, singing “Bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb Iran,” and everyone chuckles.
Maybe more people will give a shit when their kids are drafted, hauled off and sent back in body bags, blown to smithereens.
Our activities in the Middle East, and perhaps very shortly in Venezuela, are akin to the spasm of a human in the death throes. Gasping in the last hours, it thrashes about, incoherent, incapable of controlling its own bowels, writhing in pain. Even in the precious moments of rest, you hear the death rattle. It’s the final attempt to pad our pockets with wealth via the expansion of militarism and markets and to control the precious, natural resource upon which our society depends.
Thanks to the growth maniac cultists, global warming continues. Polar bears drown because the distances they now must swim are too vast. Elephant seal pups clamor at ships in distress. The entire Arctic ecosystem appears doomed and will have reverberating results for the humans and non-humans that inhabit our much abused planet.
Despite all of this, I raise my mug to October, the fairest of all months, and to Mother Earth. The leaves are peaking in Tennessee and the chickadees and chipmunks are busy gathering food for the coming winter. The hummingbirds have left but soon the juncos will return. Blessed with brilliant blue skies and cool temperatures, we await the great pagan festival of the last harvest, the winter slaughter, the death of the crops and the rest cycle of the land.
Winters Eve if you’re a Saxon. Samhain if you’re a Celt.
In nature, death means life. Rebirth. The continuation of the cycle of life. So take heed of all that’s happening in the world and realize that ultimately, Mother Nature is in control. She bats last and will right the ship. The oil party will end, and since there’s no known energy supply than can replace it, the out-of-control party that’s waking up all the neighbors will also end.
The death of the grownth-maniac economic cult is assured, and in death, there is life.
I can’t imagine a world full of SUV’s, housing developments and large coal mines/oil fields to power it all. If there is one good thing Abbey ever did for me, it was to make me realize that one person can be a catalyst for change. Luckily I’ve found websites like this and others which share similar ideas about life and culture. I’ve even gone so far as to only buy meat out of the expiring bin at the store just because I figure if I’m going to eat it, it might as well be something that will be wasted if not bought. I’m also going to venture into the world of dumpster diving. A local guy here who is part of the bio-diesel co-op , started a blog about local eating, and in that is dumpster diving which he said he’s been doing for awhile and gets some really good stuff. Slow, small changes…I’m even going to start brewing my own beer…yippeeee!