Once upon a time, there was a creature called Man...

Once upon a time, there was a creature called Man.

Now Man, having been created as the last of all God’s living beings—given a conscience and awareness unparalleled amongst all other earthly creatures and forms of life, was then given dominion over the Earth and over all of the things that existed upon it—from the plants to the animals. And God stepped back from His Creation to see what Man would do with such a wondrous and incomparable gift.

In his inestimable wisdom, Man immediately began to kill and to dominate and to destroy. And his-story began.

So, here we are, now, at the close of another year—2008 CE, to be exact. By some calendar reckonings, we are approximately seven thousand years into our “civilized” existence. And my, how far we have come in that time.

It seems somehow appropriate to look back over this past year, to look at our collective “triumphs” before we break out the champagne, party favors, treats, and ritualistic “new year resolutions” and pat ourselves on each other’s back for what we’ve accomplished. It seems all the more fitting—now, more than ever—as we prepare to enter a time of absolute uncertainty and mounting tensions throughout the world.

Here in the United States of America, we’ve seen our share of troubles as Wall Street turned to us for financial aid—and we gave it to them, no questions asked, no conditions given. We dutifully signed away what remaining illusional rights we had remaining, and agreed to become the indebted slave-class to the rich and the powerful. How that will continue to play out remains to be seen. We gave them money, and in return, they are slashing our jobs and repossessing our homes—and then asking our government for more money. Poverty, unemployment, and homeless numbers are rising at an alarming rate—and still the American people lack the motivation to do anything more than whine and complain about it. Nobody is leading a march on Washington D.C., nobody is demanding much of anything except that they have lower gas prices so they can drive to sports events, the latest Hollywood blockbuster, the malls to buy more things, and the list goes on.

See, in spite of all our whining and complaining, the bottom line is that we really don’t care much about what is going on with anyone else—we’re concerned only with our comforts and delusional “standard of living.”

Something like 20+ million people tuned in to see who won Dancing With the Stars. Some 31 million people tuned in to see who won American Idol this year—and 97.5 million called in to make sure that David Cook won it! Another 97.5 million people tuned in to watch the 2008 Super Bowl. And that’s not to mention the millions of people who tune in faithfully to their favorite television shows every week, right on cue.

Did we really care about violence in Kenya?

One has to wonder, then, with just those three shows garnering so much attention and zeal on the part of people across America, where all that zeal and watercooler talk was as the horrendous, heart-wrenching images started coming out from Kenya. Hundreds of people were being killed while hundreds of thousands were left homeless by rioting and tribal killings. Reports of rape and other forms of savagery likewise made their way into the headlines and television news. The majority responded with nonchalant shrugs.

Appeals to the international community, including the United States, fell on deaf ears as it became painfully clear that unless there was oil fields to be harvested, or some other exploitable resource, there simply was no motivation for anyone to do much more than offer complacent pity for those enduring unimaginable pain and suffering.

And amidst it all, there was no discernible interest to be found in the same population of the same people who felt absolutely compelled to call in to a television show to declare who they wanted to see win one of the most popular singing television programs of our generation. To put it simply: we just didn’t care about the problems going on in Kenya. We had bigger issues to contend with in the showdown between David Archuletta and David Cook.

Some might argue that Kenya is clear on the other side of the world, that it’s simply too far away for us to care. Now, if it was something that happened a little closer to home, maybe then we could care a little bit more about what was happening… maybe even care enough to actually do something about it. At least that is the reasoning cultivated by some who live among us.

Did we really care about the struggles in South America?

So where, then, were the self-centered, ego-centric people of America in March of 2008 as Amazonas state policemen expelled 200+ members of the Landless Movement from their homes located on the outskirts of Manaus in the Brazilian Amazon? The distressing drama unfolded in our evening news broadcasts, as well as cable news networks. Yet we, the people, seemed perfectly content to go about our lives, more concerned with the rising cost of gasoline.

It never ceases to amaze me how utterly and wilfully ignorant a nation can be, all the while continuing to operate under the delusion that it is the greatest nation on earth, a beacon of hope to everyone else. Maybe it was true, once upon a time, but the level of inaction and disregard for the plight of others across the world is a clear and incontrovertible proof that it is true no longer.

It takes something of enormous magnitude to grab our attention today—and then, only to hold that attention for a few days, at most.

Take for example the natural catastrophe that occurred this year in China. Much like the massive tsunami that destroyed an incredible number of people in 2006, the earthquake was of sufficient enormity so as to grab our attention, if only long enough to say to ourselves and each other, “How terrible! That’s so sad!” before we once again returned to our slumberous state of consumption, tv watching, video game playing, and retail purchases.

70,000 lives were lost in China in May 2008

The ironic thing is that earthquakes happen every day somewhere in the world. They just don’t “warrant attention” from us unless the numbers announced as to how many people died or were maimed is high enough to justify our attention. For example, estimates place the number of people killed in that May 2008 earthquake in China at around 70,000 people. Once we attach a big enough number to an event, we then can place importance on it—albeit a momentary importance.

There simply isn’t enough time and space to go into the numerous other tragedies happening across the world. There are so many that it can be overwhelming to contemplate the plights of our human brothers and sisters—at least to those of us who actually take the time to think about such things for longer than the 2-minute space alloted in our evening news segment.

But we are the last remaining few. The majority simply do not want to be bothered with others’ problems because they have their own—like how they’re going to pay for all those Christmas gifts they bought for their kids, who have already set them aside and started pining for new stuff.

Many are placing their hopes in a new administration

Others are placing their hopes in a new presidential administration as Barack Obama ascends to the highest seat of power in the United States of America next month. They hope that help will be coming their way, that he will be able to set matters straight and restore a nation that has lost its way.

In watching his speech in Chicago on election night, I couldn’t help but take note of the optimism and hope that flooded the faces of the onlookers as he spoke to them, promising change and hope for a better future, albeit with what amounted to blood, sweat, and tears. The throngs were enamored of this man in that moment in time—not only because it was the first time that an African-American was on the way to becoming the president of the nation, but also because he was able to touch hearts in his every speech.

If, somehow, all of this finally motivates a slumbering nation to rouse to action and actually do something—not only about their own direction, but in regards to the plight of others across the world who are far less “fortunate” than we are—I will go to my grave relieved when my time comes.

Unfortunately, Man has established a long and unmistakable record of maintaining the status quo in his ineffable determination to drive himself to nothing less than absolute extinction—with nothing less than God’s own stepping in to prevent it.

2008 has proven to be one of the most defining years ever in exhibiting how far we’ve managed to come as a species, with record-level disregards for suffering and tragedy, willful rewarding of greed and corruption, an ever-increasing tolerance for violence and immorality, and a startling disconnection with what it once meant to be human.

It’ll be even more interesting to see what 2009 brings.

In Debt We Trust

By the time you find this, you probably will have already unwrapped those gifts you bought this year as part of your Christmas celebration, taking advantage of low prices and enticing deals, all the while obeying the mantra to keep the economy going by doing your part: buy, buy, buy, consume, consume, consume.

In a few weeks, the credit card bills will start rolling in, a stark reminder that the current financial situation of this country has hit your home as well. But it was nice for these past few weeks to pretend that it would all be resolved by our leaders in Washington D.C., by the new administration that will take over come January, and by the injection of some $700 billion of the tax payers’ hard-earned money into the pockets of financial giants and their CEOs and executives—even as a major sector of the working class—the auto industry and all of its associated businesses and suppliers—faced the onslaught of haranguing from government leaders of the Senate and House of Representatives. It was a relief to see fuel prices drop to their lowest level in recent memory, so that we had more money to put toward our escalating mortgages, rising medical costs, insurance premiums, and medical supplies. Not to mention that wonderful new big screen TV sitting in our family room, at the ready to serve us up hours of mindless television filled with violence, sex, and gratuitous moments of everything in between.

And all this, even while the newspapers and the news programs remind us that we are in dire straits as a nation. Stocks rise and fall with neither rhyme nor reason, responding to the latest reports and rumors, whether employment, housing price slumps, futures trades, or the latest announcement by the incoming administration. The problem is: nobody’s listening. Or, if they are, they don’t care. It’s becoming abundantly clear that as we watch this country plummet over its cliff, it is every person for themselves. Get while the getting’s good is the order of the day.

It’s irresponsible, and everyone knows it. But they don’t care. Keep buying, keep spending, keep consuming the goods that they want to feed us. They even sweeten the pot by lowering the price to the point that you feel like a fool if you don’t buy their goods. Even if you can’t afford it, you’ll sort it out later. And why not? After all, everyone else seems to be getting a piece of the financial pie with no regard for us less fortunate, non-Wall Street folk. So why not take advantage and enjoy life a little?

What seems to be escaping everyone’s notice, however, is that Wall Street executives and conglomerates will not be footing the bill after this is all over. The giant banks that are collecting those billions of dollars, free and clear, from the U.S. government while at the same time hoarding that money and unapologetic for doing it, thumbing their noses at those who are drowning under mortgages, escalating credit card fees, and diminishing hours at work—they aren’t going to be footing the bill either.

It will be the taxpayers. Plain and simple. And it looks like the way it will work is that if you lose your job because your business decided to keep a little more of the money pie for themselves, the next administration will “create jobs” so that you can work off your share of the national debt that you never had a say in raking up. In effect, you will become an indentured servant in order to put food on the plate of the financial giants. If, after Wall Street and its associated banking conglomerates get their entitlements through your blood, sweat, and tears, there is anything left over, then you might be fortunate enough to have something left over to feed your family.

Sound impossible? Are you still under the delusion that this is America, and such a thing could never happen here? Then continue to do nothing.

Uncle Sam’s Gift to You

By the time that President George W. Bush and the 110th Congress go their happy way, the U.S. citizenry will be finding approximately $8.7 trillion dollars’ worth of potential taxpayer-funded commitments for loans, guarantees and other bailout niceties for businesses. Somewhere amidst that insanity, U.S. citizens will find more than $1.5 trillion in FDIC loan guarantees that have been put into place; $1.8 trillion in cash, tax breaks and loan guarantees that have been gleefully handed out from the Treasury Department to financial institutions and credit companies—no strings attached whatsoever; $300 billion for homeowners from the FHA (nobody has seen that money, however, and experts have made it clear that even if that money does become a reality, it is a pathetic pittance for what is really needed); up to $25 billion in assistance (“bridge loans”) for auto companies; and $5 trillion in new money, loan guarantees and loosened lending requirements from the Federal Reserve Bank.

One expert, James Bianco, did the math and came to the inescapable conclusion that this amounts to more government aid and assistance than nine other historic bailout programs and outlays combined.

Take, for example, the New Deal. It cost approximately $32 billion in its day. Today, that would translate to around $500 billion. The Marshall Plan cost $12.7 billion when it was enacted, yet in today’s dollars it only adds up to $115.3 billion, give or take. The Louisiana Purchase paid out $15 million to the French—an outlay of about $217 billion today.

So do the math. Better yet, go ahead and throw in the adjusted costs of the race to the Moon, the savings and loan crisis from not so long ago, the Korean War, the Iraq War, the Vietnam War, and the financial assistance NASA gets, and you’ll see that it all adds up to a paltry $3.92 trillion—not even half of what American taxpayers are on the hook for right now, as Bush prepares to leave office and settle back into his comfortable easy chair back on his ranch in Texas.

And there’s no telling what Obama and his incoming administration will be doing in addition to this! For example, headlines are already showing up that they are working on a massive stimulus package for early next year that will make the $168 billion given away last Spring look like pocket change.

Hope you’re enjoying those new gifts, because Wall Street is sure enjoying that gift you gave them.

Stuffing Wall Street’s Stockings

Borrowing your money, no strings attached

According to a study made by Associated Press, a whopping $1.6 billion went to bank executives of financial giants in the form of salaries, bonuses, and other benefits. Even though some of those institutions made various cuts, they still made sure to pay out multi-million dollar executive pay packages. It should come as no surprise that the total amount given to nearly 600 executives of bailed-out banks and financial giants would have covered the entire bailout costs for as many as 116 entire banks!  The average pay to these same executives was $2.6 million in salary, bonuses, and benefits. If that wasn’t enough insult to injury, the Associated Press also found that the very banks that received bailout funding also paid out millions for home security systems, private chauffered cars, and club dues.

In one instance, Wells Fargo (which got $25 billion in taxpayer-funded money for their bailout) gave its top executives up to $20,000 each to pay personal financial planners. In another example of blatant disregard for responsible spending, Bank of New York Mellon Corporation’s chief executive, Robert P. Kelly’s stipend for financial planning services came to $66,748—and that was in addition to his $975,000 salary and a tidy $7.5 million bonus. Personal car and chauffeur: $178,879. Plus, he received $846,000 in relocation expenses, including the purchase of a home in Manhattan.

And there were several other discoveries made in AP’s study. Many of those findings had already made the airwaves. Large parties after bailouts, for example, in AIG’s case. And the list could go on.

We Don’t Have to Tell You Anything

A couple days ago, Matt Apuzzo of the Associated Press wrote, “Think you could borrow money from a bank without saying what you were going to do with it? Well, apparently when banks borrow from you they don’t feel the same need to say how the money is spent.”

The double-standard that is at work on Wall Street just goes to demonstrate how far the U.S. citizenry could care less about what is transpiring.

The AP made contact with 21 banks that had received at least a billion dollars in taxpayer money and asked four simple questions: How much has been spent? What was it spent on? How much is being held in savings, and what’s the plan for the rest? It should come as no surprise that not a single bank provided a direct answer to any of the questions.

And, thanks to exiting President George W. Bush, an over-eager Congress and House of Representatives, and a nation of uncaring Americans, there’s no way for taxpayers to find out. See, when Wall Street came asking for their bailout, we gave it to them—all $700 billion—no questions asked. No strings, no conditions. All because everyone bought into the blatant lie that if we didn’t, bad things might happen. We might, we were told, see another Great Depression, for example. If something wasn’t done and fast, people might not be able to buy that new car, or get a credit card. So, the blank check was signed and handed over to our Wall Street benefactors, who promptly went out and celebrated with parties, year-end bonuses, and frills the likes of which are beyond the imaginations of most working-class Americans.

What About Us?

We need to be bailed out, too!

Once the doors were opened for monetary handouts from the government, backed by good ol’ U.S. citizenry’s taxpaying dollars, the lines grew at the front door of our government. The government was so excited about getting our congressmen and representatives to sign the blank check that they quickly decided that instead of using those funds to help struggling homeowners, the funds would instead be given to the banks and financial institutions of Wall Street, pretending that that wasn’t the goal all along. They also announced that anyone who wanted a piece of the monetary pie simply had to apply as a bank or financial institution and they’d be added to the party guest list.

It was a strange twist of fate, however, when the Big Three—Ford, Chrysler, and GM—showed up at the door asking for a handout. They were swiftly escorted to the smoke-filled inner chambers of Washington and skewered before the entire nation. The manufacturing giants’ CEOs were publicly shamed and humiliated for arriving in private jets, receiving bonuses and high salaries—and it all played out on live television and via internet video streams. In effect, the CEOs were sent packing with their tails between their legs.

According to public opinion polls, the Big Three shouldn’t be helped in any way, shape or form. They should be allowed to implode under their own mismanagement and years of opposition to demands for higher fuel standards and innovations in alternative fuel forms.

It’s a fascinating example of misled masses. For one, these same Americans who are against any financial assistance going to the Big Three bought into the lie that Wall Street should be helped. Further, while the Big Three CEOs got harangued bitterly by leaders in Washington D.C., this was a markedly different treatment from what leaders in Washington gave to Wall Street executives and representatives who similarly arrived in private jets, received extensive and costly salaries and bonuses, and don’t even have to explain a single thing or render an accounting for the money they were given from the taxpayers of America. Again, a double-standard is at work, and the U.S. citizenry could care less.

It doesn’t help that the Big Three have made themselves an easy target for our disdain. As mentioned earlier, they have strong-armed Washington D.C. a number of times, fighting against new regulations and guidelines in order to keep the U.S. automotive industry competitive in the world market. And they’ve leveraged their political power in numerous other ways as well. Further, the automotive unions themselves have wielded a tremendous amount of power, and secured for themselves some of the highest wages in the world’s working class, as well as insurance benefits the likes of which the majority of working class Americans have never seen.

To many Americans, this is an opportunity for the Big Three and its unions of workers to get their comeuppance, to be taken down a notch.

Unfortunately, it is just another piece of the delusion that has been spun for us.

See, while it’s true that we have reason to be angry and resentful towards the mismanagement and greed of the automotive industry, it’s a clearcut case of distracting us from matters of greater import: the ongoing, unchecked greed, manipulation, and haughty oligarchy taking shape in our midst. So long as our disdain is directed at the Big Three, against the unions therein, our eyes aren’t on Wall Street.

Further, if the Big Three are going to be given help, it is absolutely essential that the money be given with strings and conditions attached. But then, the same should be demanded of Wall Street. Immediately. If we’re going to harangue, shame, and ridicule the Big Three—then shouldn’t the same be done for Wall Street?

Yet somewhere, somehow, people are making a distinction between the Big Three asking for and getting money, and Wall Street asking for and getting money. Americans have bought into the lies and propoganda, hook, line and sinker. The rich class has placed itself in the ideal position over us, and now delights in our resentment and bitterness towards the working class—specifically, unionized workers. If unions are broken, along with them will go any power that the working class holds in today’s society. Even Walmart, the nation’s largest retailer, fights hard against its workers forming unions, because once the workers achieve that, they have a consolidated power to make demands that is impossible to make otherwise. It’s no different with the automotive unions, or electricians unions, or any other union of workers in existence.

But, break unions and you then regain power over the masses again. Suddenly, they are at your mercy and have to do what you say. Let me be absolutely clear about this: if the Big Three are allowed to go belly-up, so will some of the largest unions in this country. Are we really willing to lose what little foothold we have in the upper echelons of power in Corporate America?

And that’s not even to mention the loss of tax dollars, should the automotive industry fail. Someone is going to have to pay for that $8 trillion dollar brainchild that our exiting U.S. President is leaving for us to deal with. In a report released just today, Reuters is reporting that jobless claims have surged to a 26-year high. Those are individuals who will not be able to pay their “fair share” of the $8 trillion debt, and the burden will subsequently fall greater on the rest of us. Are you really prepared to pay more than your own “fair share” so that Wall Street executives and others of the rich class can have their luxuries and frills while you continue to try to figure out how to keep your house, keep your family fed and healthy?

How is it that we as a nation have come to the point where we are more than willing to bailout the rich class and turn our backs on the working class? How is it that we bought into such an excusable delusion? We are the working class, and without us, the rich would have nothing at all. Nobody to buy their goods, borrow their money, pay their exorbitant salaries and bonuses. But they have us believing that we need them. At the same time, they have us hating on the automotive industry, and laugh at us as we talk to our friends about how the Big Three should fail, how those greedy unions are “getting what they’ve had coming to them for too long now.” It’s abundantly clear, at least to me, that Wall Street got away with it and will continue to get away with it because we’re too busy tearing at each other instead of seeing what’s really going on.

Before long, we will be nothing more than indentured servants of the rich and civilian slaves to the government that indebted us to the rich.

And we’ll have only ourselves to blame.

Carol Boss, 1945-2008

I remember when I first met Carol.

It was in the middle of winter, it was snowing pretty hard, and Deb told me, “I have someone I want you to meet.” We were courting back then, and of course it was early enough in the relationship, when you really want to do everything with the other person, even when you may not really want to. I’m not the sort of person who is at all comfortable with meeting new people, but I agreed to do it because I got the impression in how Deb said that to me, that it was important to her.

So, off Deb drove, on a night much like Friday was. Heavy snow, slippery roads. Cold and colder. Somewhere along the way, I remember asking my wife, “Who is it?”

“My mom.”

I don’t remember if I gulped like guys usually do when they find out that they’re about to meet their loved one’s mother for the first time-I’m sure I did.

But I will tell you what I do remember. I remember walking into that small house on the north side of Lansing that evening, just behind Deb, and immediately feeling the warmth of that house. Any dread or apprehension that I may have felt was stopped in its tracks.

That warmth that I felt that night came just as much from Carol as anything. She had the ability to put anyone at-ease. She was and still is the most warm-hearted person-although my wife Deb is a close second-that I personally have ever had the privilege of knowing. In fact, I think everyone here might even agree that she was SO warm-hearted that in her later years, she had to keep every room she was in as cool as possible.

But from that night onwards, Carol became a part of my life. And you know, she never did let me forget that I was her son-in-law and that I was as much a part of the family as anyone. That’s the sort of person that Carol was, wasn’t it? She had a way about her that just let you know that she cared.

Not only that. She was amazingly generous. I’ve heard stories about how she helped with special needs children at a hospital, gave generously to the homeless, and when she was in the Ovid Healthcare Center, she gave of herself encouraging others there. She was always willing to help others out.

She had a determination about her as well. Some people confuse determination with stubbornness. Being married to one of her daughters, I admit to sometimes getting it confused, too. But it requires a certain determination for a mother to raise three daughters and still do the things that needed to be done. To find the time to teach them how to be women, and mothers, and teach them how to do that without sacrificing their own sense of morality and responsibility.

She had a wicked sense of humor, as well. She enjoyed life to the full, every chance she got, and it showed in how she handled certain situations. There was when an orderly was helping her to get situated, and she was holding on to his arm, and with a twinkle in her eye, she turned to say, “Look what I have.” To be able to express humor and laughter in life’s darkest moments just goes to show what an indomitable spirit Carol had.

And she had such love in her heart, especially for her grandchildren. She adored them and doted on them just as a grandma is wont to do. There was never a shortage of hugs. There never was a shortage of memories being seeded in the hearts and minds of her grandbabies.

People sometimes say that so-and-so “lost” the battle with cancer because they died from it. But nothing could be further from the truth in Carol’s case. Quite frankly, the cancer never stood a chance with her. It took her body, but it could never take who she was. Everyone here is a living testimony of the fact that she had a wonderful ability to touch and affect lives, to make a lasting impact on whomever she met.

Which brings me to the thoughts that I want to close with.

See, Carol believed that God was punishing her because she was no longer able to paint her pictures, for whatever reason she had in mind. Maybe for the choices she had made, for the things she had done. We’ve all been there, we’ve all done it.

But you know what? God said, “No, Carol. I would never do that to you. I’m just giving you a bigger canvass to work with. And it will be a living tapestry.”

There was a program on WKAR years ago. Every show, this man with curly hair would appear, standing before a blank canvass. He’d start talking to us as he turned to that canvass and start stroking it with his brush–every once in a while, he’d dab that brush into the paint and return to his gentle strokes. Here, there. Down there a little. All the while, he would talk to his audience in that gentle voice of his. And before you knew it, you could start to see what it was that he was drawing.

And that is what has always amazed me about artists. They see what is already there on that blank canvass, and all they do is help us to see what’s really there. There’s a certain magic about it when you see it.

That living canvass that God gave her, that living tapestry that she wove with her unique, delicate touch throughout her life…  well, part of it is here today. We are that canvass.

Bill was talking to a gentleman last night as they were looking at a picture that Carol had drawn. Maybe you saw it, too, when you were here. Anyhow, at one point, Bill told the gentleman that you need to step back to see it better, which the man did.

And that’s what we need to be able to do, too. We need to be able to step back so that we can see this beautiful portrait that Carol has been working on her entire life. This woman who thought that God had taken her artistic gift away eventually became one of the greatest unsung artists you and I will ever have the privilege of knowing. With colors of kindness, generosity, determination, and love, she brushed and stroked that canvass, and we became a part of it. Not only us here, but every life that she touched is a part of it. And as we sit here today, we can’t help but admire the beauty of it all.

Yet we can’t help but sense the longing that a canvass surely feels in the absence of its artist, either. We long for those gentle strokes of Carol’s brush on our lives, her delicate yet determined touch here, there, just where they are needed.

Carol, too, surely felt that loss for us. “But Father, I’m not finished yet. I have so much more to paint.”

And that’s when God rested His hand on her shoulder and said, “Carol, it’s okay. You go rest for a while. I’ll finish it for you.”