Political Platform
I wrote this a decade ago and recently came across it on a jump drive. Typically I have to resist the temptation to George Lucas-like tamper with my old writing, but not this one. I still enjoy it for what it is.
History is written in the tears of children
The cycles of tradition always break
Follow the footsteps of your children not your parents
The innocence of the young is joy and love
The wisdom of the aged is jealousy and regret
Do as I say, not as I do
How much elation was stolen from the world by those words
To teach right from wrong
Imagined concepts to spread segregation and fear
The children are born with the truth, we replace it with our own reconstructed version
War, Hate, Poverty, Hedonism, Racism, Sexism
Concepts of the wise?
Relearn to love
Break the cycle
Write history in the laughs of children
I have little to say about politics. If I can’t sit down and speak with a man or woman, face-to-face, I tend not to form much of an opinion about them and what they would or would not do. But, political platforms in the USA are really just a wish. A candidate is elected on their platform (a set of changes or issues they plan to address and implement if they are elected) promises and assurances that they can never make good on, and rightly so. It’s a rather tragic idea really. I mean, a political platform can only be implemented if said “elected” official were given dictator-like power…not very democratic. I only toss this out there because, since it is all promises never meant to be kept, I may have more faith in politicians I’ve never met if they ran on a platform like my tiny decade-old free verse above, instead of plans for taxes, medical issues, and opinions on social institutions and actions that only affect the individual, not the state….but hey, That’s just me!
Sexual Currency
I write this as a father, as a husband, and as a son; not as an author. Please, remember that throughout. I am not offering a professional critique or judgement about style or stilted dialogue.
I write this because I hate seeing women being taken advantage of. Historically speaking, empire after empire has proven just how easy it is to subjugate, suppress, and enslave women. That is nothing new. Appalling and immoral? sure, absolutely, but it’s still the case. What I see now, and have been seeing culturally over the last few years in our media, I find even more appalling because, you see, mankind is now using that very sexual repression as a tool against women.
This may come as a surprise to a lot of men, but women are people, too. What a shocking concept! Women are living, breathing humans with sexual needs and desires? Wow, I never would have guessed it!
Here’s what has me saddened – instead of women finally having those sexual shackles removed, they’re now being financially taken advantage of, a molestation of their finances just for a chance to slacken or excite those desires. It is happening on TV, at the cinema, and in the book world. Erotica as a sub genre of romance, is fine, healthy even. Most women want their sexual excitement to be subtle and building, not the in-your-face aspect of pornography, “I’m here to fix your cable. Oh, you can’t pay, but your nymphomaniac bi-curious roommate just came home? We’ll work something out.” Please add the cheesy porn music of your choice.
Most women don’t want that. The greedy forge of MANkind knows this. I wish that the world was run on a currency system backed on the milk of human kindness and not gold, silver, oil, or entertainment. But, we don’t live in that happy world. So, all that female sexual repression, dating back the length of human existence, is now a nice shiny new collar for women to wear.
I don’t want that for my daughters, for my wife, or for my mother.
Throughout any of this media frenzy of female sexual predation have you heard women say, of said book, show, or movie, “It is a well crafted story of the trials of a girl transforming into a woman.”?
No, you hear some variation of, “Naughty, raunchy, or sexy.”
New millennium, new versions of vices and temptations; same old greed based repression and advantage. Only this time women can choose to wear that collar of repression or not.
I suppose all I can do is pay attention to the women I care about, so they don’t feel that pressing need of transference. Love and play with my daughters, so they don’y have Daddy-issues later in life. Love and care for my wife, treat her with compassion and trust. Love my mother for all she has done for me… and hope that the strength of a real man is enough.
Ghost Buster!
Ghost writing is at an all-time high in the publishing industry. For those of you who may have heard the term but never looked into what it meant, simply put, Ghost writing is when somebody writes a book, article, or what-have-you for somebody who cannot write. The Ghost writer gets paid but they are allotted none of the credit. They now have to sign non-disclosure agreements before the publisher will tell them who it is they are to write for (trust me, I’ve had two offers this year)
Sounds kind of like fraud, right?
In any other field that’s what we’d call it. Can I get a Milli Vanilli from the congregation? Amen!
But in publishing? Oh well, that’s just the way it’s done. If some celebrity wants to write a book about weight loss, in steps a Ghost writer. If a tired industry dinosaur that has written twenty, thirty, forty, or more novels already and just doesn’t feel like it? Why retire when their publisher will bring in a Ghost writer to pen some generic story for them? People buy it because, “I just love books by So&So!” No matter if it’s the same old story rewritten, over and over, and over again.
Why would anybody do this, you ask? Money. Pretty sad how often history gives us that answer, huh? No matter how unethical the question those 30 pieces of silver always seem to win. The young writer that wants to break into the dying industry of publishing will take their 15 grand (tempting, again trust me, I know) and hope that they will make the connections to eventually receive the credit for their own work. The publishers win because with so few people reading it is easier to convince those few readers to buy a book by So&So (who they just Love!) than a book by Joe-blow No-Name.
I mean honestly people! There are books being Ghost written by that fictitious TV show character and ”Murder He Wrote” knock-off “Castle”! And they sell like hotcakes! Nathan Fillion seems like an alright guy for an actor, but a real Nikki Heat novel? Come on, by buying that you just helped crush the dream of an aspiring writer who could have been the next Hemingway. Nice.
What do we blame this phenomenon on? Is there anything we can point at and say it’s at fault for Ghost writing? Because we have to blame it on something. Oh, I know, let’s blame it on the rain, yeah, yeah……
Dreams
Dreams are never easy to accomplish. If you believe otherwise then you have only had ideas, not dreams. Dreams test you. They drag you trough pain and anguish, burn you, break you, destroy and elevate you. And win or lose, succeed or fail, dreams teach you who you are. That kind of illumination should never come easy.
