On Wednesday night, the first presidential debate took place on the tube in my living room while I became sicker by the moment with some kind of disgusting flu that blossomed into a bronchitis and the feeling of an elephant sitting on my chest. (interesting image) I felt assaulted by the debate. It reminded me of my teen age years sitting up in my third floor bedroom listening to my parents argue. I distinctly remember the coldness of the house...doing my homework under my covers...wanting to barf because of the absurdity of my parent's repetitive arguments and the feeling of helplessness to offer something that might shed light and create peace so that I wouldn't be forced to choose between them. I felt the old pain in my ear canals, the pressure in my head...especially behind my eyes. The TV sound was noise assaulting my oversensitized mucus membranes. Perceiving the 2012 Presidential debate as parental disharmony is taking things just a bit too personally. Oh. But I was getting sick. This whole political polarity makes me sick. As if anything will change for a 60 year old unemployed woman by choosing either candidate. Sorry folks. You make your own reality based on the choices you make minute by minute...day by day. And so do I.
I'm going to vote for Obama because I truly believe he needs another 4 years to rectify the situation that Bush created and he is clearly making progress even if it doesn't fulfill promises made, he is moving in the right direction. But when Obama referred to "clean coal" in his debate, my jaw dropped. That and his coziness with Monsanto causes almost as much discomfort in my heart as Romney's pompous idiocy and his affinity for the big money. Of course Romney is bought and paid for and by people who could give a shit about me, or folks like me who work hard but earn low wages and care more about our quality of life than having intercontinental bank accounts. The value difference between Obama and Romney is the word "care". I want to vote for a man that cares...and not for a man who could care less. But every human that is handed the power of President Of The USA, is susceptable to corruption. I want a president that can address the big issues...the environment...climate change...protecting wildlife...keeping house for Planet Earth so that our children's children have a place to live. Unfortunately, I've yet to see a politician who is brave enough to get to the heart of the matter and strong enough to assume leadership in the environmental arena. Big oil owns them all and Romney was downright scary in his debate...he is a ruthless moneymonger and a threat to basic freedoms of press and broadcasting. Destroying public radio? Firing Big Bird? Come on. There are issues on the table here and now...why focus on destroying living things...like PBS? He doesn't care about the arctic..he doesn't care if Tar Sands pipeline covers the country. He wants more oil and gas and coal. His focus is on American fossil fuels and lacks imagination for safe sources of clean energy. He also lies and cheats. Did you see him using a cheat sheet at the debate? Not kosher.
I don't think it is Snuffleupagus that is sitting on my chest. It feels more like a circus elephant who is chained to greed going round and round in familiar circles because that is the known and familiar. When I can take a deep breath, I cough up green stuff and there is a whole feeling in my heart. I definitely empathize with Big Bird. I empathize with the oil slicked Eagles, gulls, dolphins,seals,and the polar bears seeking ice flows so they can feed. All of these creatures...like PBS...are living and offer every human who wants to partake, a piece of their wild magic as long as they have a place to live in peace of this planet. I empathize with the dying oceans, the crumbling reefs and dying habitat for more species than can be counted because we are destroying what we don't even know. And there isn't any time. The clock stops ticking soon on the ability to rectify some of the human damage done to Earth's creation. We are very nearly too late.
I'm going to vote. I'll vote for Obama. Even if he thinks there is such a thing as clean coal. There is a way for wildlife and people to live peacefully on this planet but only if humans care. At least he cares about people's access to healthcare, education...like any elephant worth her weight, the small and frail among the herd are protected by the big and strong. It's natural. Many countries provide healthcare for their citizens. It is not communism or socialism...it's CARE. So if you are one of my many Republican friends, do what you will with my blessing and I will try not to hold your choice against you. But someone please tell me what you see in that smug uncaring individual that is running against Obama? And please, don't try to change my mind. My heart is green and if you've ever planted a seed, you understand that growth takes time and patience to blossom and fruit...and if you neglect the seed that is planted, you will not find sustenance in it's fruit. It's up to all of us to care...about Earth and about each other...no matter what color we are...no matter what we believe...no matter who we love. We are all here for a reason...two legs, fourlegs, trunks and roots, fur, feather and we are all at the mercy of our human capacity to foul this planet to a farethewell. The least we can do is care.
Mister Rogers knows...there are many ways to say I love you...and here he tells the senate...you just have to copy the link and paste to your browser because I'm a techtard. Ooops. Is that politically incorrect?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yXEuEUQIP3Q&feature=youtu.be
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