By Rev.
Amari Magdalena
Years ago, I
was driving an older Honda. The fuel
filter got clogged up. Taking it to a
mechanic, he told me that with older cars, you must keep your tank filled with
gas and not let it ride down to empty as sludge accumulates at the bottom and
mucks up the fuel filter and possibly the tank.
I’d been driving between Ft. Lauderdale FL and Atlanta GA. As gas was so much cheaper in Georgia, I’d
press it until I crossed the border.
Obviously, a mistake.
I got to
thinking about our current political and social situation in the country. The above is a great metaphor for what we are
seeing manifest before us. We
collectively let the tank run too close to empty out of perhaps complacency or
just some false sense of comfort. In the
eight years of the previous administration, there was a calmness and a
steadiness that caused us to not get too concerned. Sure, things came up, yet they seemed to get
mainly handled and we rested on our laurels.
Ahaa! New administration and that fuel filter
suddenly got clogged up and we are now looking at replacing the whole fuel
system. Sludge, it ain’t pretty, has
appeared in every corner of our complacency. KKK, White Supremacy, gun
violence, “Me Too”, return of misogyny, immigration witch hunts, incarcerating
children, environmental protection dismantling, ad nauseum. Everything under the hood, suddenly went to
the proverbial hell and leaks and clogs prevailed. Our engine is sputtering, and backfiring and
we are wondering if we’ll ever be able to get the old car running or if we need
to replace it.
"Maintenance," declared longshoreman Eric Hoffer, and lack thereof, leads to the demise of
governments. Truth be told, we’ve got sludge everywhere: our oceans, our rivers,
our air, even our own guts (nutritionists tells us). Folks, we’re here; no
hiding from the truth, no fluff to cover it up, no mantras that are going to
turn this engine over.
It is time
to stop complaining, moaning, bemoaning, gasping, choking on the sludge, and
throwing up our hands. The wheels have
turned, and we must now build a better vehicle. Now is the moment for new
ideas, think tanks, energetic salons of discussion, new politics/parties, new
blood in the institutions, and a revision of what is the vehicle that will
serve the most people. We’ve tried
universally various models: communism, socialism, dictatorship, oligarchies, monarchies,
democracies, parliaments, republics, etc.
Where are the brilliant and inspired minds who can make new parts,
perhaps salvaging the best of the old, and make something fantastic for the
future?
We are
them! We are the solution. Time to get out from under the hood and call
the tow truck to haul off the broken-down car.
Moments to dream the dream that never was and say, “Why not!” No more courses
in how to repair the old. Time to write
the new script for a government that works for everyone and can be adapted as a
turn-key model for any countries who are mired in sludge.
As the Hopi
prophesy said, we must let go of the shore and move into the flowing river and
discover new banks. Someone crashed that
old car in the river and its trash has been clogging up the course of
flow. Let’s clear the debris. This is
the time. It’s why we are here!
We can choose, delusion:
"To be frank, I think his world had vanished long before he ever entered it. But, I will say, he certainly sustained the illusion with a marvelous grace." M. Moustafa on M. Gustafave (The Grand Budapest Hotel).
Or the better way: "In a time of drastic change, it is the learners who inherit the future. The learned usually find themselves equipped to live in a world that no longer exists." Eric Hoffer.
