Money

"Get a good job with more pay and you're OK"

That's what it's all about.

Money

Solver of all the tribulations of a civilization.

Fame, friends, flattery....

All bought with the stuff.

I lust after it too.  I need things otherwise out of reach without it.

Things needed to continue the chase for it.

I'm denied life in its absence.

I'm judged by my accumulation of it.

My happiness a function of it.

So wrong.

Not a tool, a master...

So many promises, so many possibilities, so easy for some.

Never easy for me.  

Sociopath, Greed, Selfishness,  all kindred to it.

Communist?  Hardly, the stench of the beast without benefit of the struggle.

But the struggle.

My value defined by it. 

My simple desires outstretched by the need to retain my soul.

My idealistic philosophy beaten down by its lack of a listing on the NYSE

Do your best and the rewards come naturally

Naive

The rewards come only to those undeserving, without conscience.

I've known rich people...They give nothing without a profit motive.

More is all that is enough.

Modest desires, modest means, meaningless dividends.

Altruism, humanity, love....

Stained with the prerequisite of liquidity.

Peace of mind never a reality.

Even those with more can never rest.

Those with less never rest for want of more.

My value my own.

Meaningless to the rest.

Something's wrong here.

Generosity of spirit subjugated by generosity of wallet.

That I had riches to transcend us above this petty thing of paper.

That I could bring joy without a profit/loss statement.

That I could be so right but so wrong to survive in this.

That you didn't mock me for the truth.

Money.

Money,

Chains of gold, Diamonds and excrement.

My freedom has a price, so does yours.

We, all of us, commodities...Human resources.

Denial of the truth only at a price.  

What's your soul worth.

Mine, whatever they pay by the hour.

Is this what God intended?

You say no but you can't deny the game all the same.

 

Yay! you reproduced!

The greatest thing you can do for the world is add to its population...

Or at least that's the message I've been getting.

It shows up in all those "Awww" moments when the talking heads on the morning news feel compelled  to share the baby pics.

Or the defiant rhetoric of the far right proclaiming it's most solemn duty is to protect the sanctity of marriage by limiting it to those with opposing genitalia.  Seemingly to ensure procreation of course...

Even the growing acceptance of same-sex marriage can't escape it.  Those folks want a gaggle of kids too even if the biology of the situation makes the whole thing somewhat difficult.

It seems the endless drumbeat to perpetuate the species is intertwined with the culture.  The bulk of your population may be living in the streets but nothing is more critical to a society than ensuring its numbers continue to grow.  

As though all ills would solved by simply creating more generations.  

Which of course is ridiculous.  More of anything is just more of the same condition.

Hey, I'm not against kids but I admit I don't have any so I suppose that shining moment of achievement will forever be lost on me.  It seems most parents have a belief that whatever personal failures they've had in their own lives will somehow be rectified by their offspring.

Or perhaps it's much simpler than that.  

Paris Hilton

Let's face it, unless you're one of the fortunate few who enjoys a lifestyle of fame and/or fortune there isn't much to compare to participating in the creation of life.  

I mean, c'mon now!  How can you deny the most tangible of mortal accomplishments!  We are no closer to god than when we create a child...

Right?

A point of view I both understand and recoil from.  Sadly, regardless of your religious indoctrination the reaction is purely biological.  Arguably no different than a mother housecat's reaction to her litter of newborn kittens. 

And by the way...Some of you are actually having "litters."  19 and counting?  For such devout piety it seems like you're in competition with the cat.  Supremacy of all those lower creatures is kind of taking a beating here. 

I'm not so arrogant as to believe that reproduction is any great feat.  As the song goes, "Birds do it, Bees do it" etc. etc.  In fact I'd suggest that for humans, it mostly happens by accident.  Once it does, however, somebody's got to step up to the plate at least until junior or little miss gets through college.  

An event that signals to society that a contractual requirement has been fulfilled.  You are now free to die having accomplished successful procreation and taxpayer replacement.
.....

I don't mean to be flippant about parenting or imply that the rearing of a human child is easy.  In fact I'm cognizant of the fact that I'm probably not the best candidate to participate in the practice.  I like kids, I like talking to them, teaching them but then I like to send them home.

I guess I'd be a pretty good grandparent then except for the whole "Parent" prerequisite that is.

But the truth of the matter is that after many millennia of human generations we still judge people on the color of their skin, social station and who they choose to sleep with among other trivialities. 

So much for "fruitful and multiply" being the cure for all our evils.

Ah ha! you say, The children are our future!


No they're not.  In fact I despise that phrase for all its selfish baggage.  Their future is their own and you've got nothing to say about it aside from how badly you screw them up with your own insecurities.

Our children can be nothing but a reflection of ourselves.  Even if they reject most of what you try to teach them, at their core they have you to thank for who they are.  Not just that they...are.

So I'd submit that the only way to ensure succeeding generations be better than their progenitors is to admit that there's nothing divine or particularly unique about having children.  

Until we drop all this religious and cultural pretense, we as a species will never rise above the petty concerns of 30 second sound bite sensationalism.

Saddling  our kids with dogma and ignorance does nothing for the species.  Want to give your kids a brighter future?  Stop thinking the greatest gift you gave them was existence.  Stop falling back on the cop out of ancient religious dogma and prejudice and prove that humanity is more than just the sum of its biology.

That or start scoping out caves, clubs and bearskin boxers.

What a Supreme Court victory says about us.

This week's Supreme court ruling on the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) was a victory.  That said, it's sad commentary on the state of humanity.

That societal norms in the United States are so backward as to allow a  government to tell a woman what she can do with her body while in the same breath proclaiming individual liberty is laughable.  That we have legislative debate on the proper parties to a committed relationship is embarrassing. 

That it's official state policy to condemn other cultures for similar beliefs is nothing short of hypocritical.  Is it any wonder then that the United States is so hated.  "Do as I say not as I do" has never been good policy.  We need to lead more by example than sound bite.

I've had a sort of epiphany lately or perhaps just more able to express what I see.

I've always been very open minded but admit that when it comes to topics dear to the Rainbow coalition I've been a bit annoyed by their medium. 

I find it distasteful for an entire community to define itself by whom it chooses to share their intimate moments with.  I could care less what gender you find arousing to be honest.  As a straight man I've resigned myself to additional criteria before approaching an interesting member of the opposite sex.  That being, "You like guys, right?"

I'm the first to admit that I wouldn't be caught dead marching in a parade with a banner reading, "We're here, we're NOT queer, get used to it."  

So much for the "You don't see me marching in any heterosexual parades" argument.

But I get it now...

Polite society is so caught up in advancing its imperfect vision of normality that you literally have to be outrageous just to be heard. 

It's not just the concerns of the LGBT community either, it's a concern for the rest of us too.  To disenfranchise anyone contrary to our better selves diminishes us all.

Look, if you believe that a loving couple of the same sex is going to bring down civilization any more than the sexual escapades of your favorite televangelist you're just not being honest with yourself.

Please don't hold up biblical references as proof either.  The text has been corrupted by human ambition for eons and if we really chose to take it as literally as some would have you believe, we'd all be hanging from crosses on some Roman hill.

Our greatest cultural influences, providing us with the foundations for our literature, government and conduct didn't concern themselves with the specifics of our most carnal nature.  Shakespeare's most impassioned sonnets were focused on a young man.  Roman culture didn't even bother to subdivide acceptable physical relationships based on gender but rather on acceptable conduct.

It's not that I advocate anarchy or debauchery, I'm just tired of humanity spending more time on their genitalia than advancing the species.  By the way, the act of procreation isn't enough to advance the species.  If it were cats and rabbits would be ruling the world from their flying cities.

Even as a straight man, the fact that I choose not to prioritize procreation above all other pursuits can have a debilitating effect on my societal position.  I've never been an advocate for doing anything for its own sake and the traditional family construct is one of those tenets for me. 

The concept is simple if not self-evident.  If you don't endeavor to improve the world you walk through then what chance can your offspring have?

The simple state of being is not enough to correct the inadequacies of a narrow minded progenitor.  I see far too many lost souls imprisoned by the limitations of their procreators.   For the few that escape,  freedom comes only after unbearable pain and isolation.

For the others, the "normal" ones, the same disdain and disrespect handed down from parent to child  only advances an imperfect world view through yet another generation . 

And humanity stands still.

Until we can rise above concerns of our lowest desires humanity will never reach its full promise.  Love, sex and relationships regardless of the participant's gender should be as accepted as breathing but they're not. 

That's why this week's legal victory is so critical yet so reflective of our own immaturity.