Thurgood Marshall, the grandson of an enslaved man, became the first African American to be sworn in as a justice on the Supreme Court. Before that appointment, he led NAACP’s legal team which ended racial segregation in US public schools (and incidentally, won more cases before the US Supreme Court than any other American).
Having developed a profound sensitivity to injustice, Justice Marshall established a record of supporting the voiceless American; a quote says what was on his heart: “In recognizing the humanity of our fellow beings, we pay ourselves the highest tribute.” Justice Marshall died on January 24, 1993. May Christians, karma believers, practitioners of religions and spiritual ethics pay tribute to our fellow beings (and if this kind of karma is returned to us, let us accept the gift with thanksgiving, learn the lesson even better, and put into practice how to honor one another).
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Jeering, mocking, threatening and terrorizing the objects of their self-righteous resistance, the Democrat’s sour grapes groupies parody the mirrored equivalent face: the Republican party’s Grand Master’s Tea Party attack. Serving as cockleburs to prick and stick to any vagrant bestial impulse that passes by, not only does the liberal brand’s “resistant movement” begin to slobber over the free speech amendment, adding spittle to the acidic mix, when heated to a fever’s pitch, this seething brew causes the pot to boil over into a looter’s haven of violence. This rightful civil protest, we’re expected to believe, was originally designed for the peaceful end they had in mind. They lost, they lost, they lost—losers one and all! All for one, and lonely still! Losers, losers—all are one! Deep the hurt, the defeat, monumental and grand in scale, the surprise too great to contemplate—oh, the shame! Ambushed—it happened! Hillary, Hillary, how do you do now? Oh, of course: a book to dictate and sell, bestseller sure enough, millions more than Trump voted for you! Tell the world why the unthinkable happened! Pick up your tail, spearhead the resistance; glower in the history of your comeback. That’s the spirit! So, what’s Karma’s role in all this mayhem?? Where’s Karma’s rulebook? And, from the Christian’s perspective? Which offenses need addressing? Ironically, especially to his detractors, the mystery behind the phenomena of a Trump election had something to do with a sense of justice. People have a desire to live under a different rule, create an alternative society. They knew the cost, but didn’t care. All they knew was that a radical transformation needed to happen. The forces that aligned to elect Trump carried aspects of a true rebellion (even one with spiritual significance). This same kind of desire, a will to be free of oppressive rule, some hundred-fifty years earlier, fueled the Christian inspired, mid-1800s, Taiping Rebellion in China (roughly coinciding with America’s Civil War). In that country, people accepted the notion that rulers were chosen by Heaven under a “Mandate of Heaven” . . . until Heaven withdrew it. The Taiping Christians fought for radical change, nearly topping the corrupt, ruling Manchus. Inspired by their leader and his interpretation of a vision that he, as the younger brother of Jesus Christ, was destined to bring about the belated, “Kingdom of God on Earth.” It’s a common wish. A couple millennia earlier, the Jesus movement, desiring to live under a different rule than Roman, countered the norm, not with violence, but by celebrating women, embracing outcasts, and venerating the poor. Jesus railed against the “whitewashed” tombs and “dead bones” representing the religious elite. The ragtag beginnings of an alternative society rose out of the same pool of desire that elected Trump. Trump called for draining the swamp. Trump identified in part, some sources of corruption, and Jesus, by explicitly critiquing the powers and religious regimes that kept people living miserable lives, he exposed the connection between power and corruption. Power. Corruption. Eerie—how often they fit together. Birds of the same feather, perhaps. At the location where Jesus delivered the Sermon on the Mount, in the crowd were Zealots, members of the Jewish resistance movement. This angry sect strained and likely cringed to hear, “Blessed are the Peacemakers, for they shall be called the Children of God.” The words struck a discordant chord within the militant mind. The early church, persistently pacifist, had separated from the roaming rebel bandit bands, and consciously, of course, Jesus, always condemning violence himself, by testifying to all who had ears to hear that day, that peacemakers would be called the children of God, was purposely distancing himself from that particular breed of disruptive “resistance.” He knew how hatred engenders more hatred; violence begets more violence. For all its bravura, the modern anti-Trump resistance movement, seeded in a swamp itself, might ultimately bear the cowardly kind of fruit that eventually promotes “suicide by cop.” Antagonize, revile, provoke—see if it engenders the brand of Karma that doesn’t hesitate to pay a visit. “Life is like an echo. What you send out usually comes back to you.” – Chinese Proverb Only a change in consciousness will change the world. The Buddha developed a method to purify his mind. Jesus, in the center of a maelstrom, practiced radical nonviolence—love for enemies. Only an awakened heart would understand this realism. “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind . . .” -- Romans 12: 2 The idea for this post was inspired by Bill Maher's relentless drilling of a guy in a red sweater who received notoriety for being an undecided voter during the course of the presidential election. Despite Mayer's probing, the guy refused to say who he finally voted for. Maher refused to believe any sane person would not vote for Hillary in lieu of a Trump victory.
With a smirk befitting a buffoon, chanting the doggerel of an impersonal, accidental cosmos while believing that only fools rush in where wise men dwell, nevertheless, as spokesman for the godless universe, Mayer and his ilk are haunted by the ghost of Democrats past. They may never sleep soundly again. The monopolistic, rigged, 2-party system doesn't swing in their favor every year, but in the recent run for presidency, despite Trumps smashing success in the primaries, bowling over the kingpins of the Republican party, leaving the less able strategists shellshocked, the Democrats witnessed the contest and blinked. Despite the fact that Bernie led in all polls against Trump, the DNC only had eyes for Hillary. Trump, Hillary said, was supported by a "basket of deplorables." Yes, a Trump victory would be unthinkable. He'd be the most nightmarish president ever. Everybody, surely, can see that. Given the choice, HOW COULD ANYONE NOT VOTE FOR HILLARY? Bill Mayer, George Clooney, Meryl Streep, and other "Hollywood for Hillary" supporter-celebrities, like Mayer, may still have no clue. Karma. “What goes around comes around” (stated in many different ways by many different civilizations and religions) is a universally held belief; there’s a connection between the past, present, and future—and the inevitable workings of justice.
An individual might, upon death, scoot past injudicious acts without reprisals, (from an earthly perspective, anyway), but as part of a collective (a nation, for example), multiple lifespans might replicate the deeds and corroborate the charges due (karma)—and apply the lot to the nation as a whole. The universe is obligated to respond. Citizens living under a government believed by many to have sown the seeds of corruption far too long, might feel a silent sort of stalking, a vague sense of dread hovering over the country like an ominous cloud (the oblivious can only blunt some of these feelings). The past can’t be undone, but knowing what's been done already can be a sign of what’s to come. Bringing the past forward allows for a free ascent; it bears witness to the present. With the predictability of an unaltered, limitless pattern, the historical present speaks to the future. That’s where “rediscovering history” (Paha Sapa Press’s motto) becomes an all-important mission. Getting the facts straight about the past can correct the course of the future; adjust the inception point to alter its aim. It is written: One must start with the right premise or miss the truth by a thousand suns. In some communities, thought has been given to relative time; how projections affect the present day. Might the future, as a parallel mirror to the ascension of a more enlightened past, be capable of descending into now? The conjunction of different times could create something entirely new; draw a different picture to clear the way for a better day. By extension too, with time stretched out both ways, the horizon could brighten and the past, not so dark, would be noted for what's worthy of keeping and what's best to discard. Credit the past for illuminating both. Not long after America declared its nationhood and independence from foreign control, like a living contagion, an invasive cancer that has yet to be excised, it privately reproduced more of its distressing self. America didn’t shed the oppressive attitude that once ruled it—the one it so righteously fled. Instead, the germ of British imperialism wormed its way inside the mind of the newly minted nation. Brash, pubescent America had succeeded in winning its freedom from overt control, but the covert command, like a ghost captain, still stirs the ship. Almost from the beginning, America adopted the imperialist swagger of the British. This confidence, fueled by newly formed factories of military arms, produced a behavior that still prevails today. Patterns developed, habituated and became part of the national identity. Lies, so blatantly obvious, coming from the highest ranks of government mouths, seem more surreal than anything else. Certainly everyone sees the king has no clothes. But, do his suitors? It may be that things have digressed so far that good-hearts can't swallow the truth without choking. Chapter 32, in the book, Chinese Proverbs: Illustrated—annotated too! contains the proverb, Men in the game are blind to what observers see clearly Corrupted and obsessed, clinging to an attitude that’s been discredited before our nation even birthed itself, the same selfish, condescending mentality gives the reins (unwittingly?) to the invisible puppeteer who watches with glee the ensuing chaotic regional wars. America is in the game. But, the clever manipulators will have a price to pay. Revealed as foolish and blind, they'll come to realize what the people already know: The game is up. Let the blinders come off for good. |