A Letter to the Baby Boomers from my Generation

Dear Baby Boomers,

We would like to take the time to thank you for all that you have done for my generation. You gave us the Civil Rights Movement, Martin Luther King Jr., Women’s Rights, Hippies etc. You taught us a lot of lessons that no doubt will be useful for years to come. Lessons like “All you need is love…..” and you spoke out for the downtrodden. Which is why it saddens me to say this; with all due respect, you’ve lost your way.

Where did it all go wrong? When did you become fine with being the same establishment that you loathed all those years? Was it too much self love or were all those things fake? Is this who you really are or did you just get fat off the nicest piece of the pie?

It certainly appears that way when you consider the huge National debt that we have right now and the current state of the economy. I find it ironic that while you were spending and mismanaging the money, you never once thought of us. Now all of a sudden your big bubble has burst and now you don’t want to pass on “this huge debt to our children”. A little too late for that isn’t it?

Well don’t worry, we’ll be just fine. We are going to change things and they will be for the better. We still remember those lessons and we know that money isn’t everything. We still remember that what made America great was not her government, rather it was her people. People who were willing to sacrifice and to share. People who were willing to give and yes, to love. So while you argue over policy, we’ll still be here. Look up the statistics, we are mentoring people younger than us more than ever before and we are taking up causes like you used to a long time ago. When Katrina happened, we were there to help and we’ll continue to go where we are needed.

There is a revolution coming and it won’t be legislated. You won’t be able to call it “Socialism” or “Capitalism” or put it in a box. We are going to change the world and we are going to do it by affecting one person at a time.

So thank you for the final lesson you have taught us. Greed and selfishness never pays. Money comes and goes but people remain.

I am not political

I am spiritual, I am moral, I am social but political I am not. And there is a method to my madness. I am not here to claim that I refuse to vote. That part is my right as a moral American. What I am more interested in is how to change for the better on a social level.

I take that back. I suppose that I am political to a certain level. On the level that the vote can change things for the better, I am there. But the part about repping a party or relying on my congressman or congresswoman to make my life easier, I am not waiting. I see it as my place and my birthright to not just be about myself.

I believe that if we fixed our morals, then our politics will follow. The revolution I speak of is not one of war, but one of a change in understanding. Call it a “Moral coup d’etat” if you will. I dream that people will become empowered enough to seek the truth. I dream that people will constantly seek to be better as human beings and not to own more. That we will appreciate what we have more and as a result, give more. That we realize that the unemployment rate is not just a number but that they represent people. That we spend more time asking questions like “who are we” and “why are we here?” and less of “what is Britney Spears up to” and “is Alex Rodriguez with Madonna?”

Thus I laugh when people insinuate that I should be happy that Barack Obama is now the President because I am black. They act like my battle was one of politics all along. I am glad that Obama is president and all but that doesn’t fix our deeper issues. Like the one about all the homeless people, or the one about the poor who can’t have access to a decent education. Obama can’t even pay my bills for that matter. No my friends, I am happy when I talk to people and share my vision and the lightbulbs pop on in their head. When their eyes light up because they realize that their life can have purpose. Thats my life. Thats my fight and that fight may never ever be won.

A year and some odd days

Just about a year ago I started this blog. Back then I didn’t know it would last this long. I hoped it would but I just didn’t see how it would. I had a lot of enthusiasm and a lot of fire. I knew that I was too intense at the time and I ran the risk of burning out before I started to see the benefits I longed to see.

I started out like gang busters and I thought that I was going to take on so many problems at once. I definitely bit off more than I could chew and while I tried recruiting others to help me, it was very difficult for me to articulate my vision enough to share it. So, it didn’t work like I thought it would and I figured it was doomed.

Yet here I am a year later and the dream is still alive. Above all, I have grown more in this last year than at anytime I can remember. As a result, I am more focused in on what this is about, what I try to be about. The Round Table doesn’t have all the answers. It is about a search for the answers. It is about a sort of think tank. My vision is to get people interested and involved and by doing that, get them thinking of ideas and solutions. I am also about bringing people on board that have their own ideas since there are other viewpoints and perspectives that I might otherwise not think of.

Here’s to another year and better results than the past one.

When enough isn’t enough

Juliet Schor in her book “The Overspent American” talks about the current American culture being one of over consumption. She makes her case by providing evidence that the “average American now finds it harder to acheive a satisfying standard of living than 25 years ago.” She points out that despite the fact that we are working harder and for longer hours, making more money and buying more stuff, we aren’t satisfied with what we are spending it on. She also argues that consumption in this country is social, we are trying to keep up with other people or we simply buy things because it is the thing to do. A country as rich as ours shouldn’t be looking to get more money, instead we should be spending time figuring out how to spend it more wisely. Of course this is made infinitely more difficult because billions of dollars are spent every year to convince us to spend money on what we don’t need. Schor’s book came out in 1999 so things are probably worse now than they were with her research.

It can clearly be seen in the economic mess that we are in. It wasn’t that people didn’t know that something like this was bound to happen. Instead, we were all content on trying to accumulate more and more stuff with every single extra dime we made. You might think that you are immune to this because you didn’t lose your house and could afford to pay for it, but just consider just how much debt you are in. Americans are up to their eyeballs in debt and for what? A bigger car with speed and power that we don’t need? A house that is bigger than what we actually use? How many countries around the world actually have a full fledged storage business? Think about that for a second. We have so much stuff, that we actually have to pay someone else to store it for us.

I am not going to keep harping on all our excesses. Smarter and much wiser people than me have written about that ad nauseum. My focus is on the what now? Is this something we can’t fix because it is too much a part of our system? Is it just the curse of capitalism? I don’t think so. I think we can take back our wallets and fight this extreme consumerism. The first step would be changing our priorities. We need to get away from trying to find self worth from what we buy. We need to stop trying to keep up with other people and focus more on what we need. It doesn’t make sense to me for a father to pull 60 hours a week working just so he can afford a huge house when he can cut those hours in half and spend more time with his family. We should put our money into things that matter like our schools etc., instead of buying that new car. Or maybe I am just in denial.

Drill baby Drill? Really?

I know I have been staying away from discussing politics and dealing with the pending election but after I heard the Republicans chant “drill, baby, drill” over and over again at the Republican National Convention I couldn’t resist this post. That chant gave me chills and not in a good way.

I honestly don’t believe that the republicans really want to drill. They just can’t possibly believe that this is the solution to the energy problem we have right now. They have to be using this as a ploy to get their base energized and hopefully pull out this election. Right? I mean there are just so many reasons not to drill that I don’t even know where to start. Perharps this analogy will help.

Imagine a woman that is morbidly obese. Her weight is at the point where her Doctors are starting to worry about her health. She literally has to lose weight or she’ll die. Obviously she has to start exercising. She should probably also get on a diet. That would be the smart way to go. Now imagine that instead of her Doctors advicing her to lay off junk food they encourage her to eat more of it. Infact they insist that she triple the amount of junk food that she consumes. They figure that if they encourage her to keep on binge eating and even provided her with more junk food she would somehow realize that she is eating herself to death and lay off the junk food and eat healthier.

How much sense does that make? We are in this mess because of our dependence on oil and the rate at which we consume it. We were bound to run into this problem at some point. Our cars these days are packed with Horsepower. Even vehicles that traditionally didn’t need that amount of power now have it. In the bid to make faster cars we sacrificed efficiency. Back in the day, 25 miles per gallon was regarded as an efficient car. These days, people eat it right up. Factor in the fact that everybody has a car or three and we had it coming.

First of all, oil is a natural resource that can run out. It isn’t something that you can keep milking and expect it to replenish itself. Secondly, with the huge demand that existed here, we played into the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC)’s hands as well as every other country that produces and exports oil. We became slaves and addicts to the good liquid. They could now afford to raise gas prices because they knew we didn’t have other alternatives.

The solution to high gas prices therefore is to start investing in alternative sources of energy. Wind energy, solar power, etc. It can be done. If T. Boone Pickens, a man who built his entire empire on oil can lead the charge towards alternative sources (in this case wind energy), then we should capitalize on that. Trying to solve this crisis by drilling for more oil isn’t the answer. Use the money for research on other alternatives. Give auto makers tax breaks for creating more efficient cars (not hybrids). The nation is feeling the sting of gas prices so this is the time to strike while the proverbial iron is hot. If the gas prices go down, then people will just turn a deaf ear on the issue and go back to guzzling massive amounts of gas. No Drilling. Not now.

Where do the people fit in all this?

First of all I would like to thank rawdawgbuffalo for his unwavering support and kindness. You are a good man. And a shout out to Tera for the love. Your words were very encouraging to me and it is always refreshing to have people rooting for you.

Let me now stress that it is late and I should either be in bed or be at a club or something. Afterall, I am a 20 something and this is Saturday night/ Sunday morning. I shouldn’t even be tackling a serious subject such as this one but I have been bouncing it around in my head and I am sick of procastinating. Like I said in my last blog, I had two people recently join me in my vision and we are working together to bring it to life. As we were thinking of new ideas and what direction to go, one of them posed this question to me randomly and seemingly off topic; “what are your thoughts on McCain and VP running mate?”

Well, I haven’t given her my answer yet. You see, I am sick of this whole election thing. I am sick of the big circus around the two parties. I am sick of the drama, the theatrics, the high wire act, the lies, the attack Ads and the politics. Truth be told, I was sick of it as early as the Democratic Primaries. I got fed up as I watched Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama duke it out. It became about them and less about what America needed. The same holds true for John McCain and his pick of Sarah Palin. He didn’t pick Palin because she was capable. He didn’t pick Palin because he thought she’d make a good Vice President, he picked Palin because he wanted to win an election. I find all of it disgusting.

Lost in all of this is the voice of the people. Lost in all of the hoopla is the fact that we live in a country that is supposed to be democratic. Government of the People for the People and by the people. Do we have the ear of Washington? Obama can you hear the frustration? McCain can you see the despair? Do you understand that there are hardworking families out here, who work three or four jobs just to survive on the barest of minimums. Can you feel that our system of education is broken and that lots of students continue to slip through the cracks? Do you know that important programs are being cut from our schools to divert funds to other things?

I could go on and on but these are some of the issues that are important to me. This is why I am doing what I am doing. I am tired of waiting on the system to realize that it is decaying from the inside. While they try to figure and sort out who the next president is going to be, I am going to spend my time taking on these tough questions. I don’t know that I can ever solve them but I am not going to just ignore them. For one, I know I am doing the right thing and I also know that I am not alone. I hope the next president will take it back to the basics and what matters; Americans. Meanwhile, wake me up when they get to the important stuff.

The fight lives on

It has been a while my friends. The flame that was my passion had slowed down, cooled down, flickered and nearly died. I am here to assure you that it didn’t. I have had the craziest few months, my plate has been full and for a while there I forgot why I was in this. Working two jobs while going to school full time will do that to a person.

However today, on my way to work I remembered why. I am in this because there are people out there who don’t have a voice. I am in this because I have been blessed with the heart I have and the brain to match. Most of all I am in this because it is my purpose. I don’t have a hero complex. Far from it. I don’t think I am special in any way. I am just explaining why I am not quitting despite being away for so long.

I have two people joining me here in Los Angeles. It has been a great source of encouragement to have them and has helped revitalize me. I will be putting up more about that later on.

Dude where’s my music?

I haven’t heard a remotely decent record in so long. Well scratch that, I picked up Lupe Fiasco’s latest offering, “The Cool”, about two months ago and that was hot. I also got Lil Wayne’s “Carter III” and I honestly wasn’t that impressed. Maybe it was because it had already been over hyped on the airwaves. Either way, I am yet to sit through the whole album.

The problem with music these days is that it has lost track of its most powerful pull; the ability to relate and be related to. You see, when 2pac was talking about the “Rose that grew out of the concrete” we all knew what he was talking about. On the other hand, I have never made it “rain on any hoes” a la Fat Joe and I can’t dream of owning a Maybach (shout out to Rick Ross). Hip hop may not be dying but it is definitely on life support. This goes past hip hop though. Lets take a look at some award winning lyrics from a recent R & B hit by Ray-J “Sexy Can I”.

Sexy can I, just pardon my manners. Girl how you shake it, got a playa like (ohhhh) It’s a kodak moment, let me go and get my camera All I wanna no is, sexy can I. Sexy can I, hit it from the front, then I hit it from the back. know you like it like that. then we take it to the bed, then we take it to the floor then we chill for a second, then were back at it for more.

Ladies, you swooning yet? Someone should tell my man Ray that R & B stands for Rhythm and Blues. I am just tired of waiting for someone to make something that is well thought out and shows more than minimal effort. I miss the days when rap, hip hop, and rock tried to change the world. Those days when musicians held a mirror up to society and raged “against the machine”. Maybe I am just getting old but that was music. These days music like that is only found deep, deep, underground and I am not in the mood to dig. Well, maybe I’ll make a record.

Joining The Round Table

Greetings or Hola as they say around my neighborhood. First off, I would like to say thank you to Ghetto Philosopher for the invitation to this blog. I am not here to try to save the world with my words. I am just here to let off some steam and well just say what is on my mind. I might sound a little self centered sometimes but hey I am just being real.

I bring  a unique and different voice and dare I say; a breath of fresh air. A little bit about myself. I am a harsh critic about everything including myself (it’s a cultural thing). I have an opinion on everything and I am not afraid to use it. I am looking forward to sharing my stance and in the process learning about yours.

Video of the Day

Stop Snitching!!