Dear Friend and Reader,
MY SATANIC BACKGROUND kept me from going overboard with the title of this piece, but I’ve got to say that I spend a lot of time feeling sorry about the situations many villains find themselves in.
Life for quite a few seems to go in the way that Talking Heads song tells it, “You may find yourself behind the wheel of a large automobile,” or “You may ask yourself: My God! What have I done?” I feel this sentiment goes especially well for our current President of the United States. You guessed it. I’m talking about how I feel about George W. Bush.
I don’t know if I would be able to live my life knowing that there are magnets out there saying things such as: “Like a rock, only dumber” referring to me. I would be totally mortified by the bumper stickers that say “Somewhere in Texas, a village is missing its idiot.”
And while it might seem sort of ironic that we go from one extreme to the other in our perceptions about him, it’s got to be pretty tiring for him. Either we think he’s a drooling man-tard, or he’s an evil genius. But not in between. What if he is a man who thought he had a good idea at the time and it totally fell apart all around him? How many of us have been there?
Last Saturday, as I was driving on some errand, I heard the Presidential address to the nation. I’ve heard a few of them over the course of these eight years, but something in the timbre of the man’s voice really struck me. He sounded tired. I thought I could detect the resonance of regret in his voice and I felt bad for him. Despite all the things that have transpired.
I have grown up with the Presidency of our Nation in the trust of Mr. Bush. I remember when he still had color in his hair. I’ve been with him through all his gaffs. I’ve had my destiny as a citizen of this country warped because of his policies. I have said goodbye to good friends in college as they went off to war. I saw the towers get destroyed. I remember his address to the world about going into Iraq. I cried. I have watched him become a superhuman scapegoat. Under his regime, we have come to the conclusion that milk is full of puss, the Earth is getting warmer, birds are going to kill us if China doesn’t first.
Reading this article about the first ever meeting between Obama and Bush, I was struck by one thing in particular. It seemed to me that this man is completely unaware of how he effects the world. Perhaps that is one definition of evil, if you want to even think about it that way. It seems that he has experienced the divide between the man he is and the leader he must be. Machiavelli was writing about this a long time ago. It’s the lonliest thing in the world to be the Prince, no matter which way you look at it.
“He doesn’t know me very well,” says the President after he learns about Obama’s opinion of him. The fact is, nobody does know him, and nobody is allowed to get that close.
Merry Met,
Genevieve
Maya, Gen, I feel the same way. This dude is out of it, he wants NO more. His (flip58 check this out) responsibility lay on his daddy’s shoulders, there is history in his actions, history that ties him to a legacy, good or bad, that’s where this bro. exists. He’s tried to do what HE felt was correct, welcome to the Bush family, a sad reprise to the legacy of capitalism, and Reaganesque backdoor control thunder, (anyone remember, still in their sights, central America?). This shit is nasty. These people (although they have insight to the broader functionings of our societies, and the dangers that threaten everyday living) view life as a giant game of chess. That may bode well (?) for us as a whole but, as individuals, we could get fucked at any time!
I would ask anyone to examine where they feel the need to stand up for what? Too find where the individuals in our reality truly affect us. From there, claim your own personality, and live as if this were your last lifetime. Whatever you feel you need to release, release it. Where you feel you need to experience, BE! Find no shame, find no guilt… realize your love for yourself! But look! Look into yourself. Look to find Where your perceptions arise from. How did they form in that capacity? What transpired in my own life to make me feel this way? Am I free to exist in the capacity I see fit, or am I existing of programs fitted to me from days gone by?
Surface platitudes (I know…..), this conversation has barely even started yet!
Onward toward ……
Jere
“something in the timbre of the man’s voice really struck me. He sounded tired. I thought I could detect the resonance of regret in his voice and I felt bad for him. Despite all the things that have transpired.”
I had that very same experience. It’s been like that for awhile, I think. He just seems so Done being president.
Watching Oliver Stone film, W, really made him a lot more human to me, too. One of the real problems of the modern world is that it’s too big for our brains to contain the complicated humanity of each individual. I probably refer to this article more often than any other.
I think that both Bush and Clinton were more interested in being president than in being a leader. They love the position and the glory. They were not interested in the responsibility. Both were plutos in leo.
Genevieve, I think you’ve brought up a subject that warrants a deep, reflective exploration from each and everyone of us. The theme of “crime and punishment”, and our perceptions thereof. Perceived injustice, and how to deal with such. The fear based reaction to the aware assertion. Sanctimonious vs. humbleness. The “what am I personally doing about this situation?”. Judgement or assessment. The ability to understand, “is the equation of actions vs. “restraint” in equilibrium?”.
I know a lot of folk want to see ol’ Georgie get a bare-assed spanking, and some want to pin a medal on the guy (the medal of “freedom”?!?). Of course, opinion stretches left, right, and every shade of in between, (and somehow, I suspect that has something to do with each individuals personal notions of self relative to authority). And that, I think is an emanation from the depths of shadow material land.
I think this subject is always essentially ripe for discussion. With prison systems designed by crackheads, gov’t./corp./indvid. entities running amuck in all kinds of different directions, the essence of “justice” seems to have been relegated to some cold, blind external force unworthy of our attention. I think what you’ve touched on here could bear to get a bit more air-time in the light.
Please continue, if you will, and thanks for bringing it up,
Jere