Forum Post: Reality Bites and We Are Biting Back!

I admit it. I am lazy. Ask my husband, one of my three sisters, my best friend; they will confirm that it is damn near impossible to get me to do anything on the weekend besides take a good nap. They will also tell you that I don’t like people much, don’t like being bothered with phone calls, drop ins, lunch dates, or any other social gathering. The bottom Iine is that I don’t like to be inconvenienced, and most of the time I go out of my way to keep to my lazy ol’ self.

Yet, this past weekend, I was compelled to forgo my Sunday afternoon nap, and horror upon horrors, mingle with people (not just people, strangers) at the Occupy SD march. I have to admit, the march wasn’t that much fun. There were people there who stood too close to me, who made small talk with me, who even wanted to take pictures with me! Why did I go through this damn headache? Because I see my daughter’s opportunities being hijacked by corporate terrorists. Because a momma defending her baby will do whatever it takes, even be inconvenienced.

Usually, when we have to defend or protect someone, it involves a dramatic physical response. This causes adrenaline to surge through our veins and gives us the strength we need to fight an overpowering aggressor. Yet, attending a rally for an hour and a half didn’t constitute as anything too dramatic, and so it was difficult to stay motivated, and hard to pump myself up. Nevertheless, I stayed put, holding my poster and chanting with the crowd – because I will do anything to defend my daughter’s future, even be inconvenienced.

My daughter’s dreams are under siege, blockaded by corporate slavery. Her future is under attack, assaulted by corporate greed. I am scared for her and scared for all of our children. The great American democracy, the land of life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness, is now an oligarchy. The White House has been moved from Pennsylvania Avenue to Wall Street. The wealthiest and most powerful in our country, you know, the top 1%, are preying upon our fears, intimidating our hearts, and creeping into our nightmares in order to keep control.

Winning the war against the corporate tyrants who threaten our children's freedom will be the hardest battle Americans have ever fought; the natural instinct that fuels the passion of a father protecting his daughter or of a mother guarding her son is not being stirred by anything as dramatic as bloodshed, falling bombs, and body bags. Were this the case, there would be no stopping us, and the corporate dictators would have already left their fortunes behind and hidden themselves in a hole in the desert.

It has been said that our generation, Gen X, is nothing but a bunch of slackers, sleeping late and mooching off whomever will give us a place to crash. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas (friend of corporate lobbyists and Tea Partiers alike) said that we are self-indulgent and that we are unwilling to make sacrifices. No doubt, it is hard to give up our lattes and Expeditions, our rollbacks and club card specials; the corporate conglomerates that are pulling the political strings of our government are counting on our laziness. Yet, I see us awakening. We have heard the alarm, and we have roused ourselves from the slumber of complacency that has enveloped our lives. As more of us average Joes and Janes lose our homes, lose our jobs, drown in health-care debt, and watch our children’s college fund fill the pockets of corporate fascists, we will no longer press the snooze button. We recognize that reality bites, and we are biting back!

If the biggest couch potato I know (me) can be bothered enough to attend a Sunday march instead of taking the day to doze, then I know the sleeping giant has been awakened and is filled with a terrible resolve. I know that we have the grit to be inconvenienced. Inconvenienced to close our accounts with companies like Bank of America and Citigroup, who despite paying their CEO’s record salaries, paid ZERO dollars in income tax last year. Inconvenienced to wean ourselves from the oil tit of Exxon Mobile who paid ZERO dollars in income tax last year. Inconvenienced to call out corporate philanthropists, like the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, who are using educational reform as a guise to turn our public schools into assembly lines for robots who will continue to be drugged by the consumerism that has made "Mr. and Mrs. Microsoft" billionaires.

Gen X will rise to the occasion. Just as our grandparents were willing to fight those who threatened freedom, we, too, will take up arms: Our tours of duty will be our boycotts; our guns will be our pocketbooks; our grenades our debit cards; our smart bombs our bank accounts. The next greatest generation will do anything to save our children’s futures, including being inconvenienced.