Thoughts from the Heart
By Joseph Smith
2012 November/01 December 2012
0200Hrs - 0400hrs

"BE NOT AFRAID"

One of Michelle Obama's favorite points is that for too long we have been manipulated by the fear that has been imposed on us about everything. "BE NOT AFRAID" are watchwords that rise through her speeches and gives us new ideas, but most of all hope. That combination of ideas and hope touches something more than a little important in the charred heart of the American populace because it is grounded in a far-from-naive optimism. It is an optimism that anyone has to have when entering a fight. That optimism is as old as the Republic itself and is, again, providing a sensational skin graft that always must be performed when the heart of the country has been charred by the lies and corruption giving fuel to the latest version of an incapacitating cynicism we know quite well. It has become famous because it burns away more of our democratic distinctions. Opponents or rather the "naysayers" want to dismiss that optimism as "false hope" because they think - or pretend to think that Michelle Obama's watchwords "Be not afraid" represents no more than a charismatic political slogan that has even less value than one of the worthless products - [brilliantly flawed around the clock throughout our media]. "Be not afraid" have also served to shape my thinking these past few months. It has given me the strength to stand unflinchingly before the threats, intimidation and racial undertones from racist prison staff due to the color of my skin and Jewish faith. "Be not afraid" has given me the courage to be not afraid anymore. In the midst of outer danger, it has given me an inner calm, when the chains of fear and the manacles of frustration have all but stymied my efforts, I have felt the power of these words "Be not afraid" transforming the fatigue of despair into the buoyancy of hope. And to press on for justice and equality, but to move with dignity and truth, and to be sure that the means employed are as pure as the ends the writer seeks. "Be not afraid" has given me the strength to stand unflinchingly before those who have refused to grant the writer adequate medical care and treatment for glaucoma. But I say unto them, I'm not going away, I'm not going to stand down, I'm going to seek equal treatment under the law and by the law. I refuse to believe that the law cannot force the prison medical staff to treat me for my glaucoma. The habits, if not the hearts, of people have been and are being altered every day by judicial decisions. "Be not afraid" was heard by the country, by re-electing Barack Obama as president of the United States of America. Yet even as this country prepares to move FORWARD, there are those who are preparing to divide us, the spin masters and negative-ad peddlers who embrace the politics of anything goes. Well, I say to them today, there's not a "liberal American" and a "conservative America", there's not a "black" "America" and "white" "America" and "Latino" "America" and "Asian" "America", there's the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. The pundits like to slice and dice our country into "red states" and "blue states", "red states for Republicans", "blue states for Democrats". By re-electing Obama back into office, the country has said we - are - not - afraid. Obama, a bluesman from Chicago, whose stage is not in a nightclub or a concert hall, but the high national podium on which politics are argued. Obama who is not afraid, knows that the blues always present the unvarnished problem and provides a solution through the rhythms and tones of engagement. It is, as the writer sees, a music of confrontation and it is presented in what amounts to a purification ritual. Something in which Americans have longed for, in a president. Because he is not afraid, and stands firm, and faces what is wrong with this country, and by doing so, Americans also can face the same, and allow them to believe, once again, that they can do something substantial about it. An important part of this purification ritual is the presentation of an American history that is common to us all. Obama does that by building a blues - and glory - bound train. He has shown himself to be the master of making couplers that should have functioned before, and would have if somebody had seen to it that they were strong enough to hold all of the cars in line, no matter how they were made or what they contained, as long as none of it was trivia and none of it should be misplaced or forgotten. He takes Americans to the station and shows them how well the train is built and how all of the cars are linked to each other by importance. The couplers of perception that Obama has designed link the Revolutionary War to the abolition movement against slavery. Those two are coupled to Abraham Lincoln and the Civil War. He then couples those four to women getting the vote and the emergence of organized labor. The train has become more impressive as those six are linked to defeating European fascism during World War II, saving the world from people driven mad by the superstitions of bigotry. That's seven cars held together by strung couplers made from facts, not dreams; timeless actualities, not nostalgia. The last car so far is the civil and human rights struggle in which black and white people, some young, some not, brought this country much closer to its democratic destiny. When they can stand in that station and walk from car to car and see how well they are held together, they notice that each of the cars and each of the couplers has nothing to do with special interest groups, they are made and held together by perpetually vital American principles which can extend themselves into newly designed cars whenever absolutely necessary. Those cars can seat everyone because that is what a democracy returning to its power does. It knows how to make room for one more. But, as Americans, we are continually learning that the extra person, even if different on the surface, is never less than ourselves. There is a story in the Talmud (Jewish oral Torah) about a man in the desert who sees an animal on the horizon. As the animal comes closer, he realizes that it is a man. Once the man gets closer, he recognizes that the man is his brother. That is the story that is forever learned in the United States; it is the meaning of that blues and glory train, of every car, and every coupler. Once the people realize it, they want to get on board that train. That is what no president has been able to do in many years, make people feel that "E pluribus unum" is not only alive and well but is the foundation of the strategy that will get us out of our messes. The people, who are not afraid, have stood up against the sell outs to the Christian Right, to the remaining reptilian rednecks of the bigoted North and South, to the big-money special interests and their lobbyists, and to the general incompetence and lack of integrity that have left the greasy fingerprints of self interest and the squalor of greed on our national policies. And the pundits still fail to understand because they reduce it to something Americans are not interested in: "RACE". Our nation has talked the talk internationally, now we as the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA has finally put up and not shut up. Our president will not shut up because he is not afraid to stand up for "E pluribus unum". For it is the connecting foundation upon which all necessary change must be built, and the country obviously agrees with him.

"BE NOT AFRAID"

Joseph Smith
Thoughts from the Heart
01 December 2012
0200hrs - 0400hrs