serendipity is engineered

picture it. i’m sitting on a blue stoop off bourbon in new orleans. the sun is out and, unlike my mind, the street is relatively quiet. (nowhere in new orleans is ever actually quiet.)

i stop to jot a thought and decide to stick and read.

a girl catches in my periphery. bright yellow tank top, dark black skin, skinny-boy toned frame and macho sis walk from years on the street.

a couple of red bikes and horse&carriage drive in front of her. & then,

‘hey,’ she says. i don’t look up.

‘i said hey.’

i wait a couple seconds. i’m reading plato’s work on political philosophy in the sun and don’t want to engage.

finally decide i have to look up just when she says it again, ‘hey!’

our eyes catch and hold.

‘you got a pretty bracelet’ she says.

‘oh… thanks !’

‘you out here reading, this your spot?’

“no, i don’t live here. i just like the bright blue stoop,” i whisper.

“he’s just out here reading a quiet book to himself on the porch in the sun, ok” she says incredulously to herself as she walks away.

i stare after her. now that there’s no pressure to engage and i can just witness the animal in her habitat — she strikes me hard. her slow meandering saunter. nowhere particular to go. i’ve seen this gait before. confusion and play in her walk. years of hard times that would damage most beyond recognition.

what am i without this woman? without something to reference myself — some woman or man or task or crowded street or food to prove i am.

we owe our lives to each other. none of us would be without everyone else.

what is an eye without sight? sight without things to see?

a stop sign without the street?

take away your bed, your house, your partner, your kids, your government, your internet, your facebook, your food . . . until all is gone except you (impossible)… do you exist?

think about it. life is not an isolated affair.

&&&&& so i ask you: what is a government without its people?

by design our government is made of, for, and by the people. it does not exist outside of the people.

we don’t call an eyeball a kneecap because it’s not one.

when a government no longer serves its function, to serve the people — then, just like an eye, kidney, or old sweater — you replace that shit. or call it what it is: a crafty tool of complete control and means to siphon resources from the people.

you don’t run round holding onto a broken computer everywhere you go calling it a chinchilla, pleading with it to turn on and give you power. it’s not going to happen.

embracing what is is stagnation’s kryptonite.

why yell at brick walls save for want of something mindless to do?

our constitution says, “whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these Ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government”

hennie — if a lover has forsaken you, you let that lover go.

adversity forces reality into sharp focus. the facade cracks, eventually ruptures. then what?

fearless perpetual empowerment.

but only one way: by being stripped your very ground floor on existence.

ripped bandaids often reveal gaping wounds — ah, renewed urgency!

rai·son d’ê·tre — a reason to exist !

opportunity knocks, temptation leans on the doorbell.

what could we become as a people and a planet if we had the very best minds in power? fearless hearts built to explore? to challenge and witness and grow?

life is too precious to freely give it away. we’ve come too far as a race to fall prey to the base instincts being pumped into our collective vein.

our potential is exponential. (cheesy and true!)

the ceo of amazon jeff bezos said, ‘when you have something that you know is true, even over the long term, you can afford to put a lot of energy into it.’

i no longer feel that about my government. do you? if not: do we run? do we support each other to try? or do we keep our clean hands out of the dirty work?

i’m seriously asking. because there are 500,000 elected positions in this country and someone is going to fill them. if all the very brightest, most compassionate, kind, creative, and forward-thinking folks keep out of the swamp — we empower the alligators to bite our fucking legs off.

tread lightly, be kind. yes! no one wants a tarnished soul. myself included. i also don’t want to live on a planet running on the fumes of fear, willed ignorance, and hate.

i want for the woman in that yellow tank top to know she is loved, protected, and respected for exactly who she is. i want all children and trees and billygoats on this planet to know how perfect they already are.

and that life is a fucking gift to be played with !

we’re all facing obsolescence.

because we.are.alive.

and donald trump is our president.

it’s time to empower.someone.great.to.run!

lots of someones. (500,000 someones !!)

❤