I Miss America

It's days after Nov. 2, and I...miss America. Maybe I just wish that West Wing were a reality show about our real President. Things did not go well for a lot of us who were like stunned animals, hit hard between the eyes with a hammer blow. I was in California, putting the finishing touches on my new cd, "Real Deal". Listening to the music helped a great deal and I am ever grateful to be able to spin this golden stuff out of straw. I reckon the real deal is what we wanted, and what we got was another story. What do we do with this story? What do we do about it now?

It's difficult to imagine how the center can hold in this extremely polarized nation. The gap is wide -- too wide for a good conversation. What is fundamental to the Right causes real pain and anger to the Left, and the reverse is also true. We are one nation -- deeply divisible. Unless the center can build itself anew by virtue of either pole willingly gravitating there, only a hole will exist. I think there has to be a positional place where both sides can come in an effort to understand, to converse, to agree. When people are afraid, they can be controlled by those who are not afraid to manipulate that fear. If you are afraid of change, you'll vote for a promise of stasis. If you are afraid of people with weapons, you'll vote for more powerful weapons on your side. If you are afraid of theft, you'll vote for stronger locks. If you are afraid of the cold and all it costs, you'll drive miles to vote to rip open the earth to get at all her treasure. There is a tear in the fabric of our nation. Can we hope for a mending? Where is the common ground? I believe it lies in us, around us and before us, in the air, in the water, in the protection of this earth and all her beauty. No matter which side you're on, you will need a drink of good water, a breath of fresh air. What is ours by nature is now sold back to us; it's become the running roughshod over this shared planet in the name of money, and in the name of God. The "other" sid e has effectively linked God and money, morals and business. Concrete issues such as health care for every person, and jobs which will support living, and this brutal and unnecessary war eating people daily are overshadowed by a narrow conservative vision, suspicious and controlling. Fundamentalism - here and elsewhere - rules the world. It does not love democracy, it does not love the free-thinking soul, not here, not anywhere. All people long for safety, for the freedom to pursue their happiness. But none of this should occur at the expense of others. Suppression of others does not lead to freedom. Is it not the real sin to kill in the holy name of freedom and democracy? Fundamentalism struck ths country hard on 9-11 and fundamentalism is striking back. Each side is certain and righteous and they cancel each other out. Innocence pays the cost. It's a lose-lose situation with no end in sight. The facts don't seem to matter and it makes for mutiny among so many. It is truly taxation without representation. Before the election results came in, I promised myself I would continue to stand as I always have -- beside the waters, beside the lands, to speak for those who have no voting rights...the birds and the trees, and the creatures of this earth we call home and which no one owns. I will do this. We must all continue to be stewards here, and we must continue to lift our voices everywhere we are. The White House is supposed to be our house, but for many of us, it is not. Let us look then for our reflection in the eyes of the children and the Old Ones who still need our help. Let us look in the mirrored reflection of lake and sky, and let us make Peace every day in the smallest of ways. Local grassroots politics will always require the efforts of our hearts and minds, and it is there we must continue to serve...for those who serve, truly rule. Sitting alone in a restaurant yesterday, I felt despair pulling me into its dark, dark folds...I saw it all going down, hell in a handbasket. I felt alone in that place, that I didn't belong to any of these people. Heading out the door, I saw a bumper sticker I recognized and I realized that others who felt as I did were also in that place...I just didn't see them, but they were there. We are still here, and we still care about so much. We can write our part of the story, and still charge the narrative with heart. Let your heart still care. Keep that candle there. I might need it to find my way Home.