Kyosaku: Ford, Greed, Hatred, and Ignorance in America

With palms together,

Good Morning Sangha,

GM is laying off a ton of workers. Ford is laying off a ton of workers. China will be importing a ton of their new luxury cars priced in the high teens. Wal-Mart is opening new stores in China. Our religious leaders get richer and richer and more narrow in their view. Our politicians cannot conduct a dialogue without an agenda or blowing a gasket for the benefit of national television. We have a president that uses 'stay the course' as a mantra for conservative laissez-faire, unthinking, misdirected, we are floating in a cesspool of our own making.

Here's the thing. Not every citizen "deserves" two or three cars, a four bedroom house, five televisions, three computers, riding lawn mowers, a few Blackberries, several telephones, and a pear tree. Not every citizen "deserves" a college education. Not every citizen "deserves" several credit cards, several loans, and a few home equity lines of credit. Don't believe Madison Avenue. Marketers don't want you to think.

Unions have abused their power. Companies have ignored their workers, pandered to their stockholders, and lost sight of their civic obligations. Moral and ethical behavior is only thought of as a bat to beat someone who is caught in the act, not as a guide for living. We should be ashamed of ourselves.

Personal discipline? Few possess it, even fewer cultivate it. The phrase is used only to point to the faults of others we don't like rather than a gauge with which to assess our own conduct and improve ourselves. We don't have time for personal discipline. We don't have time to think. We don't have time to reflect on our options, to trace each option's line, as chessplayers analyze moves on a board. So we are prone to take the first silly, misbegotten step that comes to mind. And too often that step is to grasp mind candy, body candy or emotion candy. An educated electorate is too much to ask with 10 second soundbites and a relentless unwillingness to go past the candy to get to the meat of the meal. Who wants to study to learn when we can have it instantly...or a reasonable facsimile in the form of cliche and otherwise well worn phrases.

We have so many wonderful resources! Such wonderful opportunities and tools to use! I am ashamed of us. We could be so much more.

Where can we go from here? There are other parts of the world hungry for a piece of the golden apple we are letting rot on the ground in our own back yard. There are billions of others willing to work, to sacrifice, and to do whatever it takes to get that apple. Understand this: our greatness is not inherent. Our greatness came as a result of our willingness and need to engage a new world and make it blossom. Without that willingness or that need, we will be sipping vinegar.

Be well.