Just Another Beggar
American Legion folks had donation cans and poppies, being passed by (just another beggar)
May 31, 2019
“The captain told us to ford a river,
That's how it all begun.
We were -- knee deep in the Big Muddy,
But the big fool said to push on.” Pete Seeger 1967
Another blabbering of words
Some mean nothing
But some mean something
Another day of spew and splutter
Transporting to lands absurd --- ShireSteve May 2019
.... Was it to acquiesce and accept the fate of a cosmic lottery ticket or stand in protest by a refusal to perpetuate a wrong? Many months I meditated and debated that question, yet I left it unresolved. Fate and timing made the debate moot.
Memorial Day always brings back ghosts not of PTSD as it will for some, but of the inner debate of my teens. Where is honor? What is duty? When are you a follower of Jesus? What is it to defend America? Is any war just? Isn’t service required in an existential war? Who has the right to call a war just or unjust? What course and decision requires the greater courage? The inner debate returns loud enough to dull the hearing of the jingoistic and simplistic speeches. I can simply observe, sing the patriotic songs and hymns. I can honor the sacrifice. I honor the tragedy of humanity. The great potential to live in a higher plane of consciousness, but the continuing surrender to our low base being of fear and greed.
Eugene Pratt -- Mason Proffit
I have thought and prayed about duty and what is the right?
Once again, our society is fraying. We are choosing sides. The culture war left simmering from Vietnam now careens through our history. A large segment of our population has pledged allegiance to delusion. They worship the sedative of unquestioned belief. They celebrate the lie because it justifies their sin. They seek the easy path treading towards the mirage of self-righteousness. The old norms are failing, and we have no common unifying experience of shared values. We still try in our small communities. The communities the majority of Americans consider stagnant backwaters. Sometimes backwaters are really estuaries that spawn new life. I have no illusions they will. We have few communal requirements or ceremonies or traditions. Nothing draws us as one people to share the same identity. I make an observation not a longing for the past. Change is inevitable. The present is always as much past, as it is future.
American Legion Poppy Day
My wife and I went to Chicago on Memorial Day Weekend. It was my birthday and we had tickets to Hamilton. Before the Amtrak home we attended church and walked the Magnificent Mile. American Legion folks had donation cans and poppies. They were being passed by. I never saw anyone make a donation. I also had my excuses. I had no change; my only cash was a fifty-dollar bill. I actually never used cash during the entire weekend. The poppy holders were bypassed just like any other beggar. We view all charity with skepticism. Name a charity that hasn’t had its scandals. We have lost faith in American competence. We no longer believe someone knows what they are doing and doing it well. The core of Americanism is lost. It seems we view everyone outside our inner circle as just another beggar. Even Memorial Day cannot draw us to celebrate our oneness. As the circling camps are formed once again, we must all debate: where is honor, where lies duty, what is justice? Where should the patriot stand when a choice must be made? Jesus might ask with our abundance of wealth why are there beggars? When we cannot seek truth or demand equality and justice in this age, then the poverty of the American soul is the answer.
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