Occupying Isn't Invading

When enough steam builds up, it will let out or there
will be damage.

I think much of the 'acceptance' of the Wall Street
(and now Main Street) Occupations has been fear of
what will happen if an outlet is not 'given' to those
of us who are fed up with business as usual.

That, and the fact that the numbers have impressed
and intimidated TPTB, who thought that this was just
a small group of controllable punks. Surprise.

The ones who are providing backlash against the
protests seem unaware of the realities of the current
state of affairs, thinking that we have no basis for
discontent.

Others seem to be hollow men, reactionarily
reflecting Daddy and Grand-Daddy's "A man toughs
it up and takes what's coming!" work ethic. Which is fine,
if you aren't being taken advantage of and ground up
in the process. It isn't hard work that's being protested;
it's modern slavery and theft.

Still others want to reduce the protests to nonsense
without giving a true accounting of what their issues
with them are, which indicates to me that either they
don't really know or they're baseless. Much of these
'issues' seem relegated to grade school banter; "That's
stupid!"..."Get a job!"...."Shut up!"

Behind all of the actual specifics of the upset
that has been so long in coming is a fear of expressing
one's self  PERIOD! We have become so indoctrinated to
keep quiet and 'mind our place' in this society, and there
has been bred into us a broken spirit. We no longer fight
for what's important, what's right, what's necessary.

"Mind your place. Be quiet. Don't rock the boat. "
These are the new rallying cries in the quest to maintain
the status quo. "No matter how bad it gets, be afraid that
dissent may end in losing even what little you have."

That's not the stock we come from.
That's not what this country was built on.
Freedom isn't pretty or welcome or easy.
Revolution isn't invited or polite or convenient.

In our town, and many others, there is a designated
"Free Speech Zone." A DESIGNATED place where
you are 'allowed' to say what's on your mind. In other
words, any place that ISN'T said Zone is where there's
trouble to be had if you say something unpopular.

I guess I'm a fool; I thought this was America, where
any place I stand is a Free Speech Zone. That's
the way it used to be. When did we change?
And how much are we willing to risk to get it back?

*************************************

P.S. Someone asked the other day why I hadn't staged
an "Occupy Donalsonville"!  The answer is simple,
really!  EVERY DAY is "Occupy Donalsonville" for me!

Peace!