THOUGHTS ABOUT CHURCH AND OPIOIDS

THOUGHTS ABOUT CHURCH AND OPIOIDS – a twin relationship So that you understand the way in which I use these twins a brief definition follows. I do not mean to say that one is the same as the other; I do mean to say that church and opioids serve the same purpose in that both seek to relieve anxiety and quiet pain. I use the word church generically – I mean any person(s) who has faith in an all knowing god; a god who has a heaven and hell and the power to destroy the universe. I also use the word opioids generically to mean all substances (drugs) that alter reality. I grew up well before the age of the internet and social media; I welcomed their coming and use them regularly. As a writer much of my research is done on line. The vast amounts and variety of information and the speed at which I can retrieve it still amazes me. The speed at which new information is coming into being is like the exponential expansion of our universe – impossible to keep up with it. When I was much younger the sources of information was periodicals the library radio talking with others and a bit of tv. There was another important source that I used all the time – that was observation. That brings me to the reason for this post. The once vibrant neighborhood I grew up in was gutted by employers leaving, expressway ripping the heart out of the community, and population density out stripping available resources. I began to observe a strange occurrence that at first I found hard to believe. The neighborhood was dying but new life was beginning; that new life came in two forms: church and opioids. At first that made absolutely no sense to me – then the light came on. When a person or a people have increasing levels of anxiety and pain they seek to rid themselves of what is driving the anxiety and too quiet the pain – church and opioids hold out a promise to do both: but the down side is likely to lead to addiction. adolphusward.net

THOUGHTS ABOUT WHITE FAMILY AND FRIENDS

THOUGHTS ABOUT MY WHITE FAMILY AND FRIENDS – no equivocation I love my white family members and friends – I really don’t give a fuck about those who might condone or condemn it. It has taken time to develop these relationships and they have grown to have value. A mature thinker knows that I could not give what I don’t possess. The love for my black family and friends reaches infinitely farther back in time than that for whites; the reason is obvious: I and my ancestors are African. Because whites enslaved me, tried to strip me of my humanity it is not possible for me to love all of them. Monogamous relationships with a white person can be frustrating for most black people and their white significant other; since the past and present of the black experience is fraught with white injustice anxiety is a constant emotion in black people – venting that anxiety will either embarrass or anger their white partner; to keep the peace a black voice may be muted or silenced altogether. I know that the progeny of black-white blood mixing have made it easier for me to openly love some whites; but only when a white person reciprocates that affection. I don’t love anyone who hates me or mine; I will harm anyone who tries to harm me or mine. I don’t share the mindset of those who want to separate the races; human activity is forcing some form of integration whether we like it or not. All of us share common services and spaces: public facilities, banking systems, water systems, road systems, transportation systems, communication systems, communities and more. There are those who try hard to avoid contact with other races and cultures but that’s becoming increasingly difficult as populations move and mix about the earth. I don’t see the eventual browning of humanity that some fear; most cultures will retain unique indicators. I think all races have more to think about than building walls to separate and isolate ourselves. We’re losing the fucking planet whose death will kill us all.

THOUGHTS ABOUT BARBARIC VIOLENCE TO CHILDREN

THOUGHTS ABOUT BARBARIC VIOLENCE TO WOMEN AND CHILDREN – AFRICA, Democratic Republic of Congo Like all humans I have a dark-side – my dark-side is really dark. Even when I was trying to do the Christian thing I never considered turning the other cheek or praying for a motherfucker who was trying to kill or harm me or mine. In a film the actor Ving Rhames was about to give payback to a bad guy who had tortured him: he said, “I’m about to go medieval on your ass.” My paraphrase to this is I’m about to go postmodern on your ass. Drones were a part of my dark-side pay back long before they became a reality. Ethnic cleansing remains a practice in too many cultures. There ought to be an immediate international response to this practice; the response should ignore sovereignty and brutally squash those who are doing the killing. There should be no room for negotiation. Anyone who’ll take a pleading child and chop them into pieces while the mother is made to watch and then do the same to her, should not be granted any human rights – a most wicked torture should be fair treatment.