Mommy

“Mommy, you forgot to make the world a better place today”
James Gregor Nomura Fisher, 4 years old

Well, I guess its time to stop crying in my beer and get on with it. November second hit hard and hurt. At least Measure Z Oakland’s give potheads a break initiative passed. They had a big light it up party. Deep slow inhale… “Yeah... take this Ashcroft.” I don’t smoke pot, not because of moral objections; I just don’t care for it. In time times of hardship, loss, and crisis I hide in poetry, movies and books. Here's one of my favorites:

Children of Our Era

We are children of our era;
Our era is political.

All affairs, day and night,
Yours, ours, theirs,
are political affairs.

Like it or not,
your genes have a political past,
your skin has a political cast,
your eyes a political aspect.

What you say has a resonance;
What you are silent about is telling.
Either way, it’s political.

Even when you head for the hills
You’re taking political steps
on political ground.

Excerpted from “Children of Our Era”
miracle fair
Selected Poems
of Wislawa Szymbrorska

So the poet is right. The world is what we make it. How can the Democratic Party capture the hearts and minds of the county, if we the faithful barely believe in them? Our party has controlled California for a long while and liberal democrats own the Bay Area. So, why do we have crumpling schools and hospitals and why are we spending our limited monies building new prisons and hiring more police? County Supervisors whine and complain, “it’s prop 13, it’s term limits or it’s the State.” We need to stop waiting for vision and leadership; it is time for the good people of Oakland to put down the pot and to make our local officials build the city and county we deserve.