Saturday, September 05, 2009


A REVOLUTION OF BELIEFS

We are indeed living in interesting times. The years of 2000 – 2008 were years of domination and control here in the U.S. In all my years, I had never experienced the trashing of the U.S. Constitution. Now that we have a new president, there is a new freedom of expression in the news media. This can be good, and it can also bring out the worst in a segment of people.

The inauguration of President Obama was inspiring, and the responses of the public were awesome to view. It was a call for a change for the better. It was an expression of love. Obama has been in office for a little over eight months and now we are a nation at odds within our population.

Many were shocked by the radical strategies the President initiated and fear reared its ugly head. It knocked most of us out of our comfort zones. If one were to reason it as I did, there would be a realization that many of these measures undertaken were necessary to break the hold of corporate world on the people of this country.

It takes a shock to move people out of their beliefs. This happened to me when Nixon's Watergate affair was exposed. I had been a Republican up until that time and this expose cracked my beliefs egg. All of the cherished ideals I had held on to were suddenly stained. It isn't that I was truly naïve. No, I knew Lyndon B. Johnson was a scoundrel from the politics of Texas where I grew up. Nixon's fall from grace was the tip of a buried iceberg and I am thankful that I was able to examine my beliefs and make changes.

What I am observing now after the dust of the inauguration has died down, is the emergence of beliefs and the resentments of the policies of President Obama. The old anger of racism and prejudices has reared its ugly head and is fueled by possibly the Republican Party and/or Corporate World. What better way to chop at the beanstalk of freedom than to fuel the fans of racism, bigotry and prejudices?

An example is the current health care bill that Obama wants for the American people. Who stands to lose if it is passed? I call it the "Big 3" made up of the pharmaceutical companies, health care insurance companies and the American Medical Association. The larger and greedier these Big 3 have gotten, the sicker the population has become. One only has to stand back mentally and observe.

One can also trace the effects of racism in this country back to the days of slavery. It has been ingrained in the psyches of people primarily in the South by religions. Recently there was a news item on ABC News of a pastor in Phoenix, Arizona who vocally calls for the death of Obama. This pastor's website states this and then thee is a place to click on for a prayer that says: Jesus Loves You. Another pastor urges his parishioners to pray for Obama's death. Both of these pastors claim allegiance to the Baptist Church.

I was born in Texas and grew up there amidst the segregation, bigotry and prejudices. I know it well. Fortunately, I left the state when I was 23. This is when my real education began. These diehard racists use the Bible as the word of God. They bypass the teachings of Jesus as if they did not exist. By doing so, they dumb-down the minds of their parishioners.

They do not realize that at the time of Jesus the skin colors were dark. The people interacted with Egypt and at that time, many of the Egyptians were black skinned. One only has to research history. Apparently, what most religions want is to have power over the minds of the people. They emphasize the crucifixion and bypass what the teachings are. They allege that Jesus died on the cross to remove their sins. These beliefs turn people into blatant hypocrites. I understand that Jesus said "woe be unto you hypocrites."

Where is the practice of "It is done unto you as you believe." "Love your neighbor as yourself." "Judge not, lest you be judged seventy times seven?"
Another biblical saying is "As a man/woman thinketh so it is." Somewhere down the line of centuries, most religions have replaced God and Jesus with the Devil or Satan. This instills fear in the minds of those who follow the dictates of a preacher, priest, pope, pastor or minister. When we strip away the bigoted beliefs, we have only fear. Fear spawns hatred. Fear spawns wars. Fear spawns lack. Fear spawns poverty. Fear spawns ignorance.

There must be a change of consciousness in this world for humans to survive. The Earth will survive, as Mother Nature will see to this. We are on the cutting edge and to survive turbulent times we must rise above the issues of war and enslavement. Let this change begin with the women and those men who are open-minded. Change will come with a change of attitudes along with a revision of beliefs. This is the true revolution.

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