A Horse Of A Different Color

These days I wonder about where we as a species is headed. Nothing is what it seems. Nothing is what is used to be—and never was. My father loves to say that. "Nothing is what it used to be and never was" is a very interesting word play. Meaning "the good ol' days" never were the good ol' days. We seem to romanticize the past as if it was better than right now! Every generation does it. They look back on the previous generation as if they lived in a better world. Truth is, they lived with different challenges and achievements. Life is a series of challenges. The cliche' "you have to take the good with the bad," for me is backwards. Shouldn't it read "you have to take the bad with the good?" The reason for the focus on cliches and word play—The flipping around of words to get a different view on the past, etc., is merely a forced changed perspective. If we look at the past as if it was better simply because of simplicity or innocence not yet lost, we do ourselves a disservice. Life is life. No better or worse. Just life. It is as it is. Plain and simple.

Days Of The Future's Past (The Moody Blues)
How will the future generations look back on us? How will they see us? What will they think when they look back on this generation? Are we living during the time of the Phantom? The time of the wolf in sheep's clothing? Or the tomato in flounder's clothing? We elect a president who is half African American because he spoke of change, real change we can count on. This country elected our first black president. Just for the sake of this point. His detractors don't see his white side. Has there been any real change? Not really. Is Obama's health care bill for the people? Or is it for the insurance companies to profit? Change? Or is our government doing to policy and democracy what Monsanto is doing to seed, in this country. It appears to be an apple—but from a molecular perspective, it is not! Is anything what it seems, anymore?


Let Me Take You Down. . . Nothing Is Real (John Lennon—Strawberry Fields)
We live in a time when nothing is what it seems. Here's a short list with interspersed comments. Hair extensions and transplants. Breast implants. Male enhancement. What a crock! Masculinity enhances males. Not pills or large suction devices! Sex change operations. Plastic surgery to the level of butchery. As people we live among Frankenstein monsters created by our most skilled surgeons. Our entire middle class is an illusion. Without loans, credit cards, leasing, etc., there is no middle class. Just upper class, and the poor. The middle has become the upwardly mobile from the lower class, propped up by thieves or loan sharks. Or a middle class with breast implants.

The Emperor's New Clothes
This country produces food which looks good but tastes like crap. We torture our animals. We poison our crops. We poison ourselves with junk food and materials which should not be used in the home or the human body, ie dental amalgams (mercury). Our rugs made of nylon poison the air in our homes. The list goes on and on. Lets face it. We must accept much of this as a matter of course. A matter of modern living. Our transportation poisons as it eases our sojourn to and from work. We cut down far more trees than we plant. Yeah, I'm a fucking tree hugger. For the purpose of this piece lets look at that one. Trees cool the earth and provide oxygen for our atmosphere. All plant life does this. The plants we eat make our blood and cleanse our organs. We live with the plant kingdom like bees to flowers. Or should. I will continue to root (get it?) for the tree. Without trees, we're screwed. Think about it. I am dedicated to planting trees and plants, till I die.

CAN YOU HEAR ME NOW?
Our communication is killing us. Cell phones are destroying our ecology not just in the dumps but in the air waves. Bees are dropping like flies! Ha! Yeah, I'm full of cheesy puns. Without bees natural pollination is screwed. What are we doing to rectify this? Zilch! Cell phones cause cancer. They radiate us. Our brain waves are bonkers from these devices. Yes, we are more efficient. We are efficiently killing ourselves and the creatures we deem pests, which of course support us in life. We got it all backwards. Still I use a cell phone. . .

Hey Buddy, Can You Spare A Sip?
Our water supply. . . There is not enough space here for me to expound on this topic. People need water. As our population grows—our share of water diminishes. This planet is reaching a breaking point. Soon we will have to get real creative. Time is a man made concept. Yet it is a damn good measuring tool. There is not enough time for us to right all the wrongs overnight. Yet, we can still make valuable changes. As individuals. To think in terms of we can be dangerous when communicating thoughts so I will write this part personally. I cannot change the seed industry, the pesticide and herbicide industry.

Ch-Ch-Ch=Changes—Turn And Face The Strange (David Bowie—Changes)
I cannot change health care. The petroleum crisis. The water supply. I cannot change the way the medical industry is run or how doctors treat patients. The way the government conducts itself nationally and certainly not internationally. I cannot stop my country from engaging in unjust wars. I cannot make right all the wrongs. I can, however, not participate in harmful practice. I can choose organic. I can choose to take care of my health and not rely on insurance and doctors to keep me alive and healthy. I can choose to become a stronger man, independent of "the system," within reason. I haven't had health insurance for 16 years now. I am independently healthy.

Is This Matrix? Or Is It Idiocracy?
Being on the fringe of society has its benefits. But still, fringe is part of the big picture. Change is not as simple as our president Obama claims. I wonder if after election, all presidents aren't given the blue pill or the red pill. Interesting color choices in the Matrix movies. Where does the campaign dreams go once elected? Ahhh, what's the use. I'm beginning to whine. That sickens me. So I'll stop. Truth is—NOTHING IS WHAT IT SEEMS. Don't believe everything you see. My grandmother used to tell my mother, "believe nothing you read and half of what you see." Ida was a sharp woman. What we are doing is idiotic.

Since we eat phantom foods and breath dirty air. We grow these impostors (foods) in depleted soil and spray deadly chemicals on our costume food. We use deadly bacteria and virus to merge genetic code from animal to plant kingdoms. We live an illusion of middle class. We aren't at all what we appear to be. We dare not age! God forbid! We are slowly choking the life out of life. We are sucking every bit of goodness out of this gift, our home planet earth. And replenishing nothing.

Don't Give In Without A Fight! (Roger Waters—Hey You)
What will our genetically modified (monsterous) foods do to us in 1oo years? Imagine if we merged the flounder gene with a dog. Would we be comfortable owning such an unpredictable beast? How can we possibly determine the behavior of this man made creature? WE CANNOT KNOW! Yet we'll eat, willingly the foods or impostors grown. Can we fight this? I don't even know. There's nothing worse than a complainer without a solution. I'm not sure I have any. What I can offer is this: I will withdraw from people who don't share the common interest of a sustainable life plan. I will and haven't participated in the practice of torturing animals for my gluttony. Nor will I be gluttonous in any way. I will not support corporations that don't support a good cause. Slowly but surely I am and have been out of the norms of society. Not because I'm antisocial. Anyone who knows me would testify I am anything but antisocial. But because that is the way to effect peaceful, effective change. Don't contribute to that which is myopic and non-replenishing. This includes agriculture and all natural materials. To come from the perspective of what I can do rather than we, I hope this drives the point home, stronger.

This is not a sermon but a peaceful battle cry! I for one will not contribute to the process which does not sustain a healthy life for all species on the planet. Because after all, we're all equally important. Lets see how well human beings do without bees.

I'll leave you with a quote from a beautifully wise and powerful man, when asked if he'd like something to eat with his Starbucks coffee. "I'd like to eat everything here with my coffee, but I'm committed to my longevity more than the instant gratification I'll get from eating any of this."
I did not ask permission to use this gentleman's name so I won't print it here.

I've said the same in a different way. The benefit we get from eating junk food exists in 2 places for a very short period of time. In the mind (mmmm that's gonna taste good). Then in the mouth (mmmm delicious). Once the food is swallowed, the hell begins. The negatives far outlive the positives of thought and the taste. Once ingested. . . . well you all heard this song before.
Be well. Stay well,
Tom DeVito