We Will Hang For This

The devastation in Malibu, Pacific Palisades, Altadena— I can’t even name all the places that have burned— it’s more than I can comprehend. I was in Asheville, North Carolina when the hurricane hit a couple of months ago. And now this.

And the suffering that is to come, we cannot yet imagine.

Do not continue reading this if you are not prepared for the end. For this is it. The slow, fast, burning, freezing, flooding, waterless, lifeless end.

There’s no more room for complacency. There’s no place in this world for partisanship, tribalism, sectarianism, and the many small-minded means of dividing and separating yourself from others. Our ascendance as dominant animals on this planet has lead us to a form of hubris laid bare by forces well beyond our control.

My heart hurts. For all of us. For regardless of our prejudices and predilections, we are one. We will hang together. And, we will hang separately. But we will surely hang for our hubris. Destructive consequences of shortsighted and selfish plans, goals and actions, are not a signal to “re-take” or to “rebuild.”

The continued arrogance of nation states which imagine conquest over their “enemies” is a sad call back to our ancient past. Famine is coming, the scale of which will render us as animals who struggle against the elements. We all go back to the one earth, no exceptions. This earth cares not for you and your “plans” on how to prolong, protect, defend, attack or dehumanize your life, and the lives of others.

The comment sections on the YouTube videos I’ve been watching are cesspools of self-serving prejudice and insensitivity, full of hot takes and gotcha’s, mimicking the criminal who’s taking over the White House. The collective mind and soul of America has withered. It is ash. It will be washed away in the high water. It most certainly has failed its lofty ideals and Christian rhetoric.

Your wealth won’t save you now. Your insurance is canceled. Your healthcare plan is a lie, your job is hell, your communications are monitored and distorted. Your leadership is a criminal gang. Your religion makes a mockery of human community and care.

There is no “they.” There is only “we.” And we have failed. —Failed to be honest. Failed to be in balance, in sync, in tune to our world. That was our job. And we have failed to do it. Now we reap the whirlwind.

To truly hate others, one must first learn to hate oneself.

Love and comfort to all who suffer now, and in our very collective future.

Make a life together. Die together. Be together. Love one another right now.

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