CAN WE PLEASE BE CIVILIZED?

Too often I have heard it said of the African, in whatever region he or she may dwell, needs to be more civil. But pray tell me, what is and who gets to define civilized behavior?

England considered itself cilivized yet it raped and pillage 1/2 the world and has never been called to task for it. Instead they named streets and scholarships after their mass murderers. Rhodes Scholarship anyone?




The Catholic Church considered itself civilized as it sanctioned the annihilation of native people around the world while serving the weekly sacrament of Jesus' body and blood in its attempt to export their version of civility. Pseudo-cannibalism anyone?

THIS TORTURE EQUALS

THIS SNACK

70 years ago Europe considered itself civilized yet the Germans systematically killed over 6 million Jews, Gypsies and Gays while they watched.

So pray tell me where is civilized properly displayed? Please do not say the Buddhist monks as they are currently killing the Rohingya in Myanmar.

Civilized behavior is simply code for "whoever defines a thing, gets to sell you the bottle it comes in".

Being "civilized" as we've seen throughout history, is unattainable, a myth, maybe even a hoax. Why? Because no one has been able to pull it off. Why? Because the very idea ignores the duality of human personality, pretends that our baser instincts do not exists. It requires that one suppress fear, greed, shame, lust, and all those qualities that sometimes, sometimes help us survive. To be civil is to pretend that the world is a Utopia and we all have what we need so there is no cause to rage against the machine. But we know this is a falsehood, so we add an escape clause called it civil disobedience. That is an oxymoron. Disobedience is untamed expression of oneself. Civil is tamed expression of societal expectation.

We must start to admit that there is something scary and "ugly" about us and sit with that! Sit with your uncivilized self and maybe, just maybe we will finally understand what it means to be civilized.

Letter to BFF on FB

--> Dear BFF on FB?

It pains me to send this note to you but I am beginning to feel VERY undervalued.  I noticed you have 859 friends! In all the 25 years we have know each other, I have only seen you with the same 25 people. Think I'm kidding? check your wedding pics, THE SAME 25 PEOPLE! So was there a 10 for 1 sale on friends that I missed? I'm like totally pissed right now, I could blow a nerve in my eyeball or something.

I have been your best friend since we met in kindergarten when I rescued you from Sammy "Bogger" Kapinski's snort attack. Except for the 4 year college thing we have always been inseparable. And I doubt that in those 4 years you could have made 859 friends, not that you are boring or anything but 859! That would be like a world record anywhere. Besides, you were home every weekend anyway, so I know there were no 859 people banging at your door to be friends, coz if there were, I wouldn't have been holding your hair  every time you puked at that dingy club we loved back in 07. And BTW, I never told you this, but you missed the toilet bowl by like a lot, every time.

 And what about all those miles I put on my vehicle to drive down to San Diego every weekend while you were pregnant just so I could break bread with the family? Or the rides from the airport to the valley at 11:30pm on a Tuesday when you know Wednesdays are hell for me!? And if you have 859 friends, why am I still the emergency contact on your cell, for 10 years running? Explain that to me. Why am I the one you call when the sitter has Bronchitis and you and T**** totally need a shug night. Coz I am legit!

 I have earned your friendship, but when I look on your page, my name is not even on the first page on your friends list, the freaking thing never defaults to me and I have ALWAYS been there. And who is this Angela Avernasian? She is always upfront and center with that bright "I-bleach-my-teeth" white smile. (Seriously, who is her dentist? Can you check for me? Thx). What did Ms. Avernasian have to do to get on the first page? Meet you at a Hollywood mixer and hand you her email address? Is that what qualifies her to daily updates on lil T**** whom I have baby sat on numerous occasions? I don't remember her being there when P*** damped you for some exchange student and we super glued her books to the desk? (What was the bitch's name? She needed Avernasian's dentist more than I do...LOL). See, we share memories, what do you share with Ms. Avernasian? A gynecologist? Did she give you a kidney? Is that what qualifies her to see your vacation pics with T*** (Girl, that diet is totally working, I told you it would.) Did she drive you cross country coz you just had to follow Springsteen on tour! NOPE, THAT WAS ME!  So what qualifies her to know what is on your mind, the same time I do?

You used to call me and we'd talk for hours, now all I get is status updates. LAME!

Oh shoot, gotta get invisible on here, there is this guy who is totaling stalking me on FB. He's cute but way too eager.

From your REAL BFF.

P.S. Super drank right now...wait, that's you calling me..

I SAW THIS ON MY WAY TO WORK THIS MORNING AND FOR SOME REASON IT MADE ME STOP AND ASK....



"What does this say about US, who don't see a problem with letting someone else die so we can continue to live our lives? When your living requires someone else's death shouldn't you stop and ask why?"

LET THE SOLDIERS SPEAK FOR THEMSELVES! Let them tell us what they want coz civilian platitudes and rhetoric is nothing but noise.

SHADOW

The wind was warm upon my skin. I dug my toes into the sand as we sat enjoying the sunset. We laughed when a soft-shell crab run up my leg then realized its error and leapt off my knee to the sand below. Something about that was funny, something about that remains in the tingling of my skin. I reached out my hand and gently placed it over hers, in that cool spot where the sun’s fire is kept at bay. I let it linger there, let myself enjoy this brief touch. Then the sun broke through the horizon and disappeared to a place my eyes could not follow. I felt her leave me then, felt her slip into the earth at that same moment. But this was not uncommon, she abandoned me every sunset. This great companion, this shadow of mine.