I, like every radical, suffer from my incessant thoughts. We are the prisoners in Plato’s allegorical cave. We have ripped ourselves from the walls, looked up to the blinding light, saw truth and painfully wished we could slide back into ignorance. For the rest of our lives we will see the shadow’s dancing in front of us and know what they really are.

I awoke this morning like every morning: thinking of the day ahead and the loved ones I am blessed to have in my life.

But it doesn’t take long till the pain of the world comes seeping into my bones and I try to make excuses for why I don’t do enough. “I could be doing this-and-this. But…”

I know I am not the only radical who feels this way. Once you see the suffering in the world it is hard not to look in the mirror and ponder what more we could do to alleviate it. Some things are just never enough. Though the passion is certainly a good thing it can also drain our perseverance.

Why do I keep hearing folks repeat Margaret Thatcher?

“There is no alternative. There is no alternative. There is no alternative. This is the real world. There is no alternative.”

Ahhhhhhh, my head hurts! But more questions and thoughts linger…

I am well aware of the "real world." I just want to make a new "real world." I want to leave something to our successors that they can be proud of. I don’t want us to be cursed for our needless negligence.

Why do I keep hearing folks claim something that is deeply anti-social like Capitalism is in fact a part of “human nature”? When everything about our species is social, how can it possibly be in our nature to be anti-social? By default anti-social is the pathology, not the norm. If it were the opposite then the meanings would be reversed; social would be anti-social and vice versa.

Why is it that every time I hear the human nature argument and ask them, “are you out only for yourself; are you greedy or do you feel exceptionally good about yourself when you do something nice for others; do you prefer to pit yourself against others or do you prefer to work in cooperation with others?” they never say they are greedy or they prefer to pit themselves with others?

Could anyone imagine a parent behaving like a Capitalist to a child?

Isn’t that why we in Texas have the Child Protective Services?

Perhaps that is what we need to protect us from the barbarity of Capitalism: Life Protective Services.

“Thank you for calling the Life Protective Services, this is Betty. How may I help you?”

“Yes, Betty, we are in desperate need of help…”

Another thought that keeps me grounded in the real “real world” is that every thought, every memory, every single dream and nightmare and each and every emotion I have ever experienced in the twenty-eight years, two months and seven days I have visited upon this planet has been centered around the relationships I have developed with others, and E.O. Wilson, the father of sociobiology, won’t disagree that the reasons I prefer good relationships is biological.

That is just it. Social relations. Our lives center on social relations and I just wonder, “What kind of relations do we want to have?”

Eh, I am ready to go home and be with friends and family. I think I will focus on strengthening those social relations.

PS: el Sup (or is it Durito?) says there is a grayness surrounding us and there is a rain coming. Let it rain and be done. I am ready for a rainbow. Besides, I am barbecuing today.

TO BE CONTINUED…

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