The Slit Wrist of Intellect

To be self-aware; this is supposed to be a hallmark of intelligence; to be able to look into a mirror and see ONE's SELF, to understand that the creature in that reflective surface is not some other THING, but YOU. Turns out, man is not the only creature capable of this realization. Not only apes are capable of this; it turns out that even an elephant can see itself, knowing full well that it is a separate, thinking entity, with thoughts of it's own. So, before we even delve further into these issues, can you accept the idea that the definition of "PERSON" need not necessarily apply ONLY to the human race?

There is a terrible disease loose upon the Earth, a contagion that did not spring up suddenly and inflict itself upon the planet overnight; it evolved over time and made itself known by the effect that became evident in the vicinity of wherever you found a new kind of ape, a species of THINKING creatures that for the first time in the history of a blue marble spinning away in the cosmos, could actually ALTER their surroundings to suit THEIR purposes, rather than having to adapt to wherever they found themselves.

No, warfare and selfishness did not manifest itself with humans. You can see the same issues being demonstrated in tribes of Baboons, with highland Guerillas, with many social structures within the "animal" kingdom. But humans perfected these traits, and built upon them, and used them to create a delicate madness that began to have profound effects upon our Mother Earth.

Outside of our core tribal affiliations, we as a species funnel our abilities into competing with other groups, other races, other economic classes, and not in benign ways, but in ways that can be violent and deadly, for in the end, we will go to whatever extreme we feel is required to come out on top, rather than expend that energy in cooperative methods that benefit ALL of us equally.

I seem to have a genetic disposition towards fearing difference. If something is "different" from me, it must be a threat, and I must treat it with suspicion. What a sad paranoia to have to live with, when all I have to do is apply my intellectual prowess to the situation and realize that I have NOTHING to fear from difference, that what I actually have to fear is not embracing this difference and allowing it to ENHANCE my experience as a thinking being. This need to spread my Walmarts everywhere so that I have something familiar everywhere I go, THAT is a "need" that in the end destroys all diversity and turns my landscape into something bland and boring and bankrupt of all spirit. Now my life has become something I endure, rather than celebrate, because fear and suspicion and rigid righteousness crowds out all real joy and I become more deadly than any boogy man I can conjure up.

We are so proud of our sons and daughters who respond to the call to serve their country by putting on their uniforms, taking their weapons, and going OVERSEAS to "defend" their country. Yes, think about it, we have rarely (Pearl Harbor is as close as it ever came) had to meet an enemy on the beach to defend our homeland, instead electing to take our righteousness over the oceans to other lands and shove it down the throats of every unfortunate people who found themselves in the vicinity of those who thought to do us harm. We have now come to think of "war" as this out-of-sight, out-of-mind "thing" that we support without condition, something we sacrifice our sons and daughters to in the name of God and country. Have we ever made any real attempt to ask what all this really means, even after our progeny has returned to us in pieces, damaged in mind and body, with nothing accomplished except to earn us the undying hatred of tribe upon tribe who never asked us to deliver to them any sort of benefit associated with America?

I was born into an amazing thing called the "United States of America". I grew up never thinking to question exactly what this meant as a concept or what it took, historically, to get us where we are today. I took it as an article of faith that we were the chosen ones, the new Israel, that shinning city on the hill that everyone in the world wanted to be a part of. By being a good little human who did not think it necessary to harness my brainpower, I was a good little patriot who could be counted upon to become fodder for all those who in reality were using me and my fellow tribesmen to further their agendas, which upon close examination did not include my well being. My ancestors displaced the native Americans, and in doing so, replaced them to become the new fodder for an insatiable cannon, just another cog in the war machine which keeps royalty, no matter how you label it, in power.

Have you ever seriously asked yourself how the likes of George W. Bush could EVER have been elected to be the Commander-in-Chief of the most powerful nation on the face of this Earth? I do not mean to ask you your own reasons for not voting for him if that is the case, but I do mean to ask you how a people could identify themselves with this sort of human. It's as though half of this nation had this insane need to be abused, used, laughed at and ridiculed by the very people who appealed to them to be patriotic and God fearing, who themselves were anything but. This is the disease I speak of; the HUMAN CONDITION, the very essence of a species of ape that cannot rise above it's most base needs, and in doing so, brings down all those around them, making the lowest common denominator the way of the world.

If we do not return ourselves to our place within the niche of the ecosystem and work with it, I promise all of you, my human breathren, that we will be separated out just like any cancerous cell, and we will be consigned to the pages of history as just one more failed experiment. There is no God to protect us from this judgement, there is no special ability we possess which will save us from the mass extinction we are already visiting upon many of our fellow life forms. This need to worship possessions will, in due time, kill us all, if not the planetary ecosystem which gave birth to us as a species.

Ask any Native American to be honest with you, and he will tell you; you are not a human being. Any creature who attacks the land is not a part of it. The Creator gave us all a gift, with the understanding that if we soil our own nest then we only have ourselves to blame for the consequences. It is such a pity that those who still honor the old ways must pay equally for our sins.