Foamin’ at the Mouth on the Lunatic Express
I can understand why people are sick and tired of being sick and tired. Far too many Americans are too comfortable and are too willing to let others make sacrifices in their place. Everybody wants the gravy, but nobody wants to do the grunt work.
As a radio show panelist, I often heard “what are ya’ll going to do about....” what ever issue we happened to be ranting about at the time.
The whole thing makes me foam at the mouth, but it seems that I just can't get off the lunatic express. Me and this here lunatic express are rolling down the road, looking for trouble (and trying to outrun the word police), and we usually find what we're looking for--injustice, confusion, and the ocassional light at the end of the rainbow.
Folk just can't wait to tell you their troubles, especially the ones who won't get up off their butts and do something about their own situations. They look to everyone but the person looking back at them in the mirror to do something about the mess they're in. Have whine, won't travel--not to the phone, the city council chamber, the computer, or anywhere else to be heard and to make a difference by getting heard.
The folk out there in radio land were looking for a herd of heroes to hop on their white chargers and go full throttle out in to the wilderness to vanquish trolls, demons and wayward politician. Getting up off the couch, turning the soaps and reality shows off and taking action themselves was too inconvenient, and that seems to be the story around the nation these days.
Everybody wants to talk about freedom these days, but too few folk are willing to put in the work. The only work many of us put in is flapping our jaws and flipping channels, and turning the air blue with our emptly complaints.
Democracy is very inconvenient. It requires us to keep educated on the issues, and to put in our time advocating and acting. Trouble is, nobody has the backbone or fortitude to act.
Folk b*tch about bad schools and don’t want to take the time out to attend school board meetings. They complain and moan about what their legislatures are or ain’t doin’, but won’t get off their asses to pick up the phone to call Representative Sticky Fingers or email Senator Sleezoid. Then, after Sticky and Sleezy sell the state’s voters up the river, the drowning idiots spit water out of their mouths and scream for help.
Ain’t no help fer ya. Your ass is up sh*t creek without a paddle or a roll of toilet paper. Your dimwitted behind is going down for the third time Adios. Sayonara. Don’t let the wet doorknob hit you in the ass.
American idiots are wearing the country’s activists out, standing in the shadows, while others carry the load. People only have so much energy to devote to ungrateful folk. Their batteries need recharging and replenishment--by those who appreciate what they do and the sacrifices they make.
Today’s activists are ordinary people who have risen above their human limitations--for a while. Unless we help them recharge their batteries, they get worn down, worn out and wiped out. And, that ‘s a fact.
It is very tiring to have to deal with the nut birds on the lunatic express day in and day out, all the while the allegedly sane folk in our society sit back and watch like cowards too afraid to step up and claim this democracy as their own.
Democracy is a gift that was handed to you by generations of people who died for you to be free. What many of our nitwits do not understand is that they died for your freedom right here on American soil. The red folk who tried to deal with America as equals, signed treaties and agreements which were allegedly the law of the land--until rapacious white folk violated those treaties. These folk taught us that a civilization which does not honor its word has no honor. There were the black folk who endured torture, lynching jailing and death, rather than taint their cause with the same kind of violence that was often directed their way. They taught the entire world that freedom isn’t free, and honor is more than just a word.
Are the sacrifices of the civil rights martyrs, soldiers, sailors and countless others who really did die for American freedom in vain? Will we dishonor their sacrifices by bowing our heads because to do otherwise requires too much energy or even risk?
Do we who claim the rights earned by the sacrifices of our ancestors deserve any of that freedom if we are content to let others fight our battles and promote our cause?
We’ve come a long way,
but we’ve still got a long,
long way to go.
If you can’t run, walk.
If you can’t walk, crawl,
but by all means,
keep moving.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
