Category: Blogroll

After the Wall

smoke and mirrors
Smoke and Mirrors

Over the millennia, wars have fought to resist the wacky notions of arrogant, small minded, greedy, selfish, bigoted, and racist individuals.

In those instances, the followers were found to be duped or conned by charisma, and their own wishful thinking, greed and arrogance. Laws were created to further mandate expected public behavior.  These requirements gave force to proposed goals and gave “validity/legitimacy” to claims that had no basis in fact.

Reality was literally manufactured.

Many people stayed silent even in light of the absurdity of it all and succumbed to threats, peer pressure and legislated reprisals.

Surely no one was ignorant even if some were innocent.

In this time, 2016, there must be many people who, deep down inside, wonder about some of the arguably strange and implausible things stated by our projected Republican candidate.

Adding sexist to the list of qualities should not further his case.

A quote from the candidate that perhaps says it all: “One of the key problems today is that politics is such a disgrace. Good people don’t go into government.”

I see no indication he will be the first exception to that.

This is NOT the time to stay silent about those concerns.

After the wall is built will be too late.

 

Charles Buell

Remember?

350Could we see the first door?
And was it “really” the first?

No one ever remembers.

Even so,
We are thrown into the world—
–kicking and screaming,
Sometimes sickly—
–barely a whimper—
–or worse!

After that rude first door,
We could choose the doors along our way.
Or at least we like to think so.

Where would we be without delusions?

Many doors were but illusion.
We only wish they were there—
–or not there.

Sometimes we were forced through.
Sometimes we crawled through.
Sometimes we leapt through—
–chased by fire.
Many times we only realized we had gone through—
–when we heard the latch.
Sometimes it slammed shut—
—like prison.
Other times we didn’t even know—
–until we passed through the next one—The next door
–or until we heard the hinges squeak.

Sometimes we confused windows—
–for doors.
And weren’t the doors with windows a great help?
Sometimes doors opened to regret—
–other times to longing.
Sometimes they were easy to open—
–other times hard.
Sometimes they shut on our fingers—
–with swearing and screaming.

Sometimes we sweet-talked others,
Arm-in-arm through doors–
–and sometimes they refused.
Other times we followed like shy puppies–
–and sometimes we were smarter.

Sometimes doors were entrances—
–sometimes exits.
Sometimes doors provided refuge—
–other times a means of escape.

Sooner than later,
There is one last door we all go through–
–in spite of all the doors we can still see ahead.

There will always be unfinished business.

Window or Door?
Window or Door?

The friends,
And family,
The ex-wives,
And, ex-husbands,
And all the others we leave behind,
Will be the ones to hear that last door close
(If we are lucky).
And it will sound,
To them,
Like all the doors of our life.

And again,
We still,
Will not remember.

Charles Buell

 

It’s a Jungle out there! (ie: The Jungle IS us)

Anyone living in Seattle would have to be living under a rock to have not heard about “The Jungle.”
The Jungle is a fairly large piece of vacant land under and around the highway south of downtown Seattle.homeless2

It is an area that has pretty much been taken over by the homeless. Driving along the highway, their encampments are easily visible.

This is not a political post about how pathetic this is, while indeed there is ample pathos to go around.
The pervasive attitude from people who seem to have no clue about how easily this could be them living under blue tarps and cardboard boxes, is these people should simply “get jobs” like any decent human being would do.

I am not even interested, at least in this post, in discussing all the various reasons that result in this being people’s lives in the 21st Century. In King County alone, somewhere around 4500 people live on the streets, and close to half of them are under the age of 17—just kids. Heartbreaking for any parent.

Politics and ignorance keep solutions in the realm of dreams and denial.

One of the things being considered is how to fence this area off, at a staggering cost, so that people cannot get into the area. How many methadone clinics could be set up and operated for the cost of such a fence?

I instead propose that all of this space be turned into a Homeless Park with campsites, portable toilets, running water, needle exchange boxes and police patrolled paths throughout.  This would leave the door open to solutions instead of closing them.

homeless1

Make it a safe place where people can be treated humanely and allow them to sort out their predicaments without being booted from one encampment to the next.  Otherwise the title of this post could just as easily be:  “Coming to a Doorway Near You.”

People seem to be delusional if they think excluding the homeless like rats, from one area, will mean the problem will cease to exist and won’t just pop up somewhere else.

The Jungle is just one small area of Seattle where this is happening as well. Take a good look at the steep wooded area on the east side of Queen Anne, and you will see dozens of similar campsites like the ones under the I-5 Bridge. And these are just the ones you can see.

DSCF3154

There are similar areas at many of the small patches of woods along I-5 through the University District.

They are even present in the heavily wooded parks of Shoreline. Although, it seems that most are located closer to downtown charity services.

The Jungle is us.

Charles Buell

Waste

DSCF1564I have read the books, seen the movies, looked at the pictures and heard the stories, and yet I find it impossible to wrap my brain around the arrogance, ignorance, depravity, insanity and stupidity that found its way into the hearts and minds of perpetrators and proponents of slavery and the holocaust.

Now I am watching the news and realize we are still not immune from arrogance, ignorance, depravity, insanity and stupidity.