Miracles and wonder . . .
Sometimes lately I’ve thought about that line from a Paul Simon song, “miracles and wonder,” and surely seeing Pete Seeger up there at 89 years old still singing “This Land is Your Land” qualifies. That man was singing when I was born - and I have eleven grandchildren and one great grandchild! Talk about a bridge between generations.
I’ve always loved folk music. Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Pete Seeger, Paul Simon, folk festivals and fairs . . . I was young in the early sixties. I was a bridge, too. I have been in large gatherings out in the natural world, away from cities, where cynicism and divisiveness fell away and people came together in harmony with each other and the forces of nature, for the music and the sharing and the healing. And I’ve watched with sorrow as many of these gatherings have become polluted with despair and violence.
Then I watched as the group dynamic changed and people began to protest what was happening in the world, from the protests against the WTO raping the planet to the environmental justice groups taking on the silent deadly enemies of chemical pollution, the sickness that hides in a cookie or a child’s toy or your next breath of air. Now I see people coming together with slow food, farmer’s markets, and home gardens.
And local self-sufficiency. Austin, Texas is about to put up the country’s largest solar array! Imagine that. We have learned the hard way about nuclear power plants (nuclear waste? what nuclear waste? ooops, sorry, grandkids . . .), got slapped down about coal and we’re too close here in Texas to the source of oil (and refinery stink) to kid ourselves about the future of oil. Say, did you see where Exxon just made a record $45 billion quarterly profit while the economy tanked by 3.8%? Who are they kidding? Out of which pocket into which pocket?
Thirty years ago some of us were publishing well researched articles about the environmental and economic advantages of solar. We had the solar technology then. All we needed to do was develop it. I’m sorry we had to go down this long dark road to get here but I’m glad we have finally arrived.
And now here we are. Pete’s been singing “This Land is Your Land” all this time and I guess our land has been what we made of it but it did my heart good to hear him sing - can you believe it at 89 years old! - at Obama’s inauguration. This is a really cool video of him and it shows Obama listening to him, too. (If you are getting this in an email, go to http://goodwordswan.wildflowerstew.com and watch it).
Seeger’s grandson reported that Obama spoke to Seeger after the performance and asked him how he stayed so fit and Seeger told him that he lives in the woods and chops and carries his own firewood . . . chopping wood, carrying water . . . where have I heard that before . . .
I have been reading accounts of people who were there in the mall for the inauguration on January 20. Two million people! Freezing in the cold. People from all over the country came just to be there. They were jammed in there for hours and everyone says there were no complaints, no “incidents” - just joy, joy and tears of joy.
People all over the world feel that change is coming. It’s not just Barack Obama. He is there because we - collectively - were ready for him to be there. The most promising thing to me was when Bush was booed. The very proper British boo unpopular members of Parliament all the time. To them that’s honest self-expression. I was glad to hear some honest self-expression here.
People in the crowd describe how everyone watched intently (and silently) while the helicopter carrying Bush flew over and disappeared. When it had become just a dot on the horizon, wild cheering broke out. I guess you have to thoroughly reject what you don’t want before you can completely rejoice in what you do want.
Every day now the new world is taking place and there are opportunities for everyone to participate.
Change.org is a social action network where you can learn about causes, connect to other people and organizations and take action.
The Whitehouse now has a website with a Office of Public Liaison where you can send your comments directly to the Whitehouse. The little box for the comments right now is limited to 500 characters but they promise to offer more ways to communicate soon. I believe that it makes a difference to comment and sign petitions. I’ve been doing it for years and I have noticed that when a lot of people email/send petitions/phone-in on an issue, it does have an impact. After all they do work for us and have to be elected by the us, the voters, at regular intervals, remember?
Another way to communicate with your public servants is through govit.com - “a nonpartisan website built by a regular citizen to help you interact with the government and each other.” I found this one through the Born Again American website. If country music and flag waving gets your passion going, this video is the one for you: http://bornagainamerican.org
Actually it’s cool to watch anyway just to see all the different musicians and the lyrics are radical - check it out. The website says “The Born Again American movement is committed to the rebirth of American citizenship through informed and thoughtful activism.” It’s a very interactive site. You can share your story by remixing your own videos and photos into the Born Again American music video. Then you can upload a video of yourself singing them and remix it into the music video using the Remix America Editor. That sounds fun. There’s even a contest and the winners will be determined by a panel which includes Norman Lear and Keith Carradine.
So, let’s get on our soapbox, keyboard, video cam or microphone and build our new world.