Look, I try and walk the walk not just talk the talk. For many years I railed against injustice, but I never did anything about it other than argue and vote. However, recently, we have changed all that.
Our family has believed that global warming is a problem for
a long time now so we put solar panels on our roof and guess what? We saved
money!
We were tired of wars about oil and being virtual petroleum
slaves to countries like Saudi Arabia, Russia and Venezuela not to mention the
fact of all the carbon produced by the process of extracting oil and then the
carbon produced from the process of burning gas in our cars. So my wife and
mother-in-law purchased electric cars that are, guess what, powered by the
solar panels on our roof. And Guess what again? We are saving a bundle.
- We saw Americans eating fast food and suffering from the side effects – High blood pressure, more heart attacks, obesity, cancer.
- We saw groceries that tasted bland and were covered with e-coli.
- We saw huge factory farms of cattle and chicken in cramped cages living in their own crap.
- We saw incredible amounts of energy used to move food from around the globe to my supermarket when I have perfectly good local produce right here in my own backyard.
- We saw corporations pushing out the small businessman.
- We saw large corporations making every town in America look the same.
- We saw the homogenization of America with the same restaurants and stores in every city.
- We saw the end approaching for the local café, bookseller, grocer, and restaurateur; taken over by Starbucks, Barnes and Noble, Safeway, Outback, Olive Garden, Chilis, & Maggianos etc.
So we started to eat healthy -less meat - more veggies and
we cooked it all ourselves. When we do go out, which is rare with 3 kids and
plenty of homework to do, we go to locally owned non-chain restaurants. We buy
our groceries from small local merchants or co-ops. We make sure those
groceries weren’t grown in Chile, New Zealand or even Mexico but instead were
grown locally and organically. We even choose to only drink locally brewed
beer. Although we do drink coffee which comes from far away we drink it at home
or from the local independent café/roaster where we ensure the coffee is fair
trade and shade grown. We probably should buy all our books for a Kindle or
iPad but that only helps Amazon or Apple so when we do buy real paper based
books we do so from small neighborhood merchants.
So I guess I felt I was doing my part. I felt good about
myself and tried not to appear smug or self-congratulatory (which I probably
failed at). But
either way I thought I was putting my money where my mouth was. Sure I was mad
about Banks and Investment firms getting a bailout, sure I was angry so many
people were be thrown out of their homes, sure it was a shame that the global
economy is tanking because of bad decisions by bad politicians and bad CEOs.
But I can feel self-assured I am doing my part to make things better.
That was until I saw the police in Oakland teargasingAmericans. Throwing Flashbangs at the head of veterans. Hitting women and menwith batons. Shooting rubber bullets. The minute I saw that I felt that all
that I was doing was nothing compared to the people “out there” getting beaten
by our police force. It looked like a third world country. Something on TV in
the Middle East. It turns out that “out there” was a 20minute drive away; or
possibly even less than that as I learned that a similar event was about to
happen in San Francisco. I had to join them or feel a complete failure. I had
to see if “they” were me and I had to stand up for what I believed in. I had to
be one the people that everyone calls, “them”. And guess what, they are not
“them”, they are US!
Old people, young people, conservatives (yes actual
conservatives), liberals (or if you prefer, progressives), anarchists,
politicians, moms and dads, nurses, teachers, veterans, pilots, hippies,
firemen, taxi cab drivers, software engineers (grin), in short Americans. Mad
at the state of affairs. Mad that so many Americans had to pay the price of
losing a home, a job, a loved one in a war, or just money via taxes sent to
bail out billionaires and CEOs. Many of which should be in jail.
This was not a dirty or unsafe encampment. It was clean, it
was organized, it was legal. I support #OccupySF and #OWS because I was taught
as a kid to be fair and honest. Our present system is neither fair nor honest.
PS: Props to John Avalos - you just won my vote for sitting
down with us.
OWS and its children (occupyyourcitynamehere) is not a
platform based protest. It is not run by a group, organization, person,
political party or political entity. It is average Americans who are angry and
have had no group that they trust to speak for them because they feel the
system is broken.
They are angry at the unfairness of a system that rewards
bad CEO's with golden parachutes after they almost kill a company and get YOUR
money to bail it out. Angry that a corporation can patent genes of a plant and
then prosecute farmers whose plants get pollinated by bees from a nearby field
for violations of intellectual property. Angry that the Supreme Court said that
these same corporations have the same rights as an average person; except that
when corporations break the law, they don't go to jail. Angry at Financial
fraud that has cost us jobs and our standing as a nation. Angry at political
talking heads who maneuver, twist, spin and scheme for some small advantage to
make the other guy look like an idiot instead of having a real discussion about
real ideas. Angry at hearing that their own government is spying on them. Angry
that we torture. Angry that we invade. Angry that we spend enough money in the
USA on guns that could end global hunger in a week.
I wish that most news outlets didn't have an anti-OWS
stance. They do it on purpose. If you watch any news broadcast, local or
national, you may occasionally see someone you can relate to with a real
grievance, however, it is so much more fun for them to take pictures and videos
of the one asshat who crapped on police car or the good-looking hippy chick
dancing to the bongo beat or the pot smoking rasta. Taking pictures and videos
of me or you isn't very "colorful" or interesting. I saw people in
suits, I saw people in work uniforms and military uniforms (retired, or so I
was told). It just doesn't make for "good TV".
Lastly, most of us work for a living. Trying to make money
to pay for stuff. Even at these protests, many people had to come after work.
So the only people who can accomplish the actual "occupation" part of
the protest when the rest of us are working are people with no job and no
future. Guess what they look like? Mad as I am, I do not think I can take a few
days off to camp out in Justin Herman plaza. But I am glad they are there for
me.
