I cannot stand it any longer, so I’m sitting down to put pen to paper regarding some of the recent articles on a variety of current topics that have appeared in the paper.
This may be a shotgun approach, but in these bizarre times, there is no single target.
Rather, we are confronted with myriad (and heartbreaking) problems that are both shaping our reality and dooming our children, our country and our planet.
The national news is insane enough -- as, for instance, shamelessly adding $1.5 trillion to our deficit in order to make the rich richer while doing nothing to relieve the struggling middle and lower classes, but even our state and local news defy reason.
A few samples of today’s “news” that leave me at a loss for words and fighting despair.
Practical solutions to our state’s budget gap have continually been taken off the table by Republicans acting as a bloc rather than as thoughtful individuals who represent all of Louisiana.
In today’s climate, it is almost heresy to even suggest that those who can afford to pay more taxes should do so. We seem to have taken leave of our senses and, even more sadly, our hearts and souls.
The propaganda machine has worked its magic, and through endless lies and repetition convinced the majority of us to not only vote against our own interests but to throw ourselves under a bus loaded with celebrating fat cats who don’t give one fig about those of us they are supposed to represent.
Once corporations were declared‘people, the outcome was predictable as corporate contributions poured into legislators’ pockets. Incredulously, we flaunt our schizophrenia without blinking as millions of children in our mighty country go hungry.
Then, there’s the fact that we cannot seem to see the glaring contradictions in our views.
We talk out of both sides of our mouths about the need for coastal restoration and protection of the waters while pushing for more oil rigs in the Gulf and more pipelines running under the aquifers that provide drinking water for hundreds of thousands of Louisiana residents. If this isn’t madness, I don’t know what is. It isn’t as though we don’t have better ways to provide good jobs for southern Louisiana workers. We do. It’s called renewable energy, and here we sit, mindlessly tearing the heart out of Mother Earth, while Louisiana is heaven-made for solar and wind energy industries.
A recent headline read, “Scott Angelle outlines path to oil industry recovery,” leaving me spitting mad as I shouted into the paper, “We don’t need an ‘oil industry recovery’; we need to get off of oil if we are to survive as a species.”
We are not immortal.
Our children matter. Wildlife matters. This beautiful planet matters. Why in heaven’s name are we still talking about oil and gas, fracking and drilling, when we are in this perfect location for putting our time, money and emphasis into renewable energy?
The answer is, once again, an influx of corporate money that keeps feeding our fears and distorting the most important conversation of our time – how can we recognize our power and make a firm decision to come from a place of integrity, introspection and deep respect for the Earth, each other and life itself in time to ensure celebration rather than mourning each time a new child is born into this world of ours?
Marianne Stanley lives in Houma.