I was about eight or
nine years old and curious about the world in many ways that should
have been left to their own devices.
When I was young, we
lived on a street that backed onto a forest. I've been back to that
neighbourhood since then and it's completely different. The forest is
gone and is now occupied by a row of houses intended to differentiate
themselves from one another only by the siding or brick colour. Other
than that, it's a collection of postage stamps sold as a piece of
real estate to families with a neighbour on one side who uses
tweezers to cut his lawn while the one on the other side chugs onto
what used to be his lawn with his mud ridden monster truck, two four
wheelers and a plethora of kids bikes and toys.
Anyway, there used to
be a nice forest there.
I was out in that
forest one day with a friend and happened across a hornets nest. I
was watching the tiny black and yellow busy-doers wander in and out
of their paper nest when my friend thought it might be cool to toss a
rock at it. This is the children's version of one friend saying to
the other, “Oh yeah? Hold my beer and watch this!” Generally
speaking, those words are followed by a visit from a panel truck with
red lights, a screaming warning signal and the words “Emergency
Vehicle” plastered everywhere around it's gleaming white hide. Next
stop, the Emergency Ward and the detox centre... not necessarily in
that order. Unless you're a kid... then it's the Emergency Ward and a
stern talking to with a smack on the ass.
I threw a rock.
I'm ashamed on two
levels. Firstly, I was behaving badly by disrupting the lives of
creatures for my own enjoyment. My only defence is I was eight or
nine and dumb as a clump of cat litter. Secondly, I wasn't very good
at throwing things then and couldn't purposely hit a stand of maple
trees with a fist full of pebbles.
My friend, who was much
more accurate than I, hit the nest.
For a moment, the
hornets were confused. Then... they organized. I started running. The
hornets saw the movement and decided defending their territory was
the best course of action. As it turned out, I wasn't much of a
thrower but I was really fucking good at running. I got a few stings
while my friend, who wasn't such a good runner, took the brunt of the
assault.
Yeah... I haven't
bothered with hornets much since. I have chosen to live with them
rather than piss them off.
I've been looking at
this whole thing since the election. Disturbing as it is, there are
some who are applauding the actions taken since inauguration day.
Others are appalled at the lack of humanity. Those would be the
hornets. The hornets have finally become enraged enough at the
establishment that they elected someone who was willing to tear down
the shroud of the inner workings of the government regardless of
consequence.
To purposely mix
metaphors, the pendulum has swung as far to the right as it possibly
can and has clunked on the side of the aged wooden cabinet of the
grandfather clock with an unceremonious thud.
This is not a bad
thing. That sound you hear is the bone crunching machinery coming to
a grinding halt.
What we have been doing
up until now has not worked. Not for everyone. While ninety-nine
percent of us toil because we have to, the other one percent bandy
about the planet in their yachts and jets while eating exotic foods
like dolphin and dog and chocolate covered ants. Eight people have
the same financial resources of 3.8 billion others. Firstly, does it
seem right that anyone should be wasting those resources like the one
percent? Their carbon footprint is larger than some small towns in
any G20 country.
This carbon footprint
extends to those we place into power in our illustrious institutions
as well; presidents of country and corporation, mayors of major
cities, business leaders, envoys to other countries, music and acting
stars, TV personalities, sports stars, etc. They all have a larger
footprint than most small corporations.
It has to end.
What Donald Trump is
doing is necessary. Short of launching a ballistic missile assault on
Denmark for not setting a good pyramidal example to its citizenry,
the current system of haves and have-nots has to be abolished. And,
unfortunately, the only way to prove to the masses that the old
system will never, ever, ever work for them is to blow the fucker out
of the water.
This pyramidal,
top-down experiment has run its course. It doesn't work simply
because of greed.
What Donald Trump has
done during his first week in office is not palatable to most of us.
He is crude, ignorant of international policy, intolerant of others
points of view, protectionist, narcissistic, homophobic and
illiterate. He's exactly what is needed to tear apart what is,
surely, a one sided scheme. Our job, as socially responsible humans,
is to work on what is going to replace what he is tearing apart.
For decades (centuries?
Millennia?) we have had a hierarchy which pandered to the few while
making empty promises to the masses. (Trickle down economics, my
ass.) So? What are we going to do about it? Some ideas would be a
good start. And those ideas need to start now so, when The Donald is
booted unceremoniously to the curb, the pendulum can swing back
toward the middle where it belongs.
Donald Trump is no more
than a kid throwing a rock at a hornets nest. The hornets (us regular
folk) need to sting back and set our boundaries. And, while that is
happening, we need to reorganize and not go back to what we
had.
It's time to build a
new nest.
It's time to do things
differently, equitably and for the protection of the Eco-system of
the third rock from the sun... our only home.
It's time to break down
the system that clearly doesn't work and build a new one.
While we're hating on
Donald Trump, we need to secretly be thanking him for tearing the
system down. For exposing the inner workings of a corrupt system.
Now we need ideas.