Digging at the bottom of the "Well Gone Dry," of Cynicism- Sick of it all!

[KoKo]

Sick of it all...Sick of it all....sickofitall.......

Tired of reading Bush Crap....tired of reading Iraq crap....tired of reading
conspiracy crap......

None of it goes anywhere.

America is Dead.......We are DEAD! Media Whore Crap/Movie Whore
Crap/Corporate Whore Crap/Business Whore Crap/.....all of it
nothing.......nothing.....nothing.......nothing.

There are stars in the sky. There is some earth under our feet.....but it's all owned
now...by OUR EARTH/WORLD-COMMERCE!. The Sky is Bought and
Owned, the EARTH is Bought and owned.

There are NO NEW FRONTIERS! Unless one goes into the cells of our
biological chemistry. Where we can be mapped and copied and cloned and
dissected and peered into and OWNED!

I'm sick of it.....tired of it.....I didn't think this would be the way it would be. I
thought "PEOPLE" had a chance...that there
was something left....no matter how tiny....there was something.

There's NOTHING! IT's ALL Bought and Paid for.

It's time to go play Golf in Boca........what else is there to do?


We are "Cursed to live in interesting times." But the "Times" are dying, dying,
dying.

(No! I didn't have too much of my favorite wine tonight..and I don't do drugs, I just don't see how we can get ourselves out of the "Decline of the American Empire," and I realize I was lied to my whole life.)

[LittleApple81]

1. Despair is not a good feeling... I am sorry to hear you feel that way

especially because you have helped me understand and deal with some issues I did not have clear when I started coming to DU.

[Armstead]

2. Have a bad day?

As one who recently took a mental vacation from it all, I can certainly empathize.

But here's a different way to look at it. Rather than Dead End Cynicism, try looking at it as just another door. Recognizing that it really is all crap, that we probably are ultimately doomed (well we are anyway, individually, due to the Basic Law of Mortality) but still....Paradoxically, that can just be a new starting point.

Here's a suggestion. Visit the website to the book Hope's Edge by Francis Moore Lappe. She wrote Diet for a Small PLanet, and recently wrote a new book about exactly the syndrome you're expressing.

I heard a talk by her on the radio many years ago, and it literally changed my life. I didn't become a health-food freak (far from it) but she has a really good attitude about squarely facing the crap of this world, and still holding on to hope and the search for solutions.

--------------
The website is:
http://www.dietforasmallplanet.com/


Excerpt from the prologue (I don;t think she'd mind an excerpt this length, as it's a plug for her book.)

http://www.dietforasmallplanet.com/documents/prologue.PDF
Excerpt from Hope’s Edge: The Next Diet for a Small Planet
© 2002 Frances Moore Lappé and Anna Lappé (J.P. Tarcher/Putnam)


THE NEW BATTLE FOR OUR HEARTS
My children are acutely aware that the choices of human beings alive today are like none their forebears faced.
Their choices—our choices—have ultimate consequences, not only for the thousands of species we’re destroying
each year but for us, the dominant species, as well. What a terrifying thought. What an extraordinary opportunity.

But to perceive crisis as opportunity requires clear perception: We must grasp the nature of the crisis and what each
of us can do to address it.

That’s tough in any case, but it’s especially hard to see opportunity when we’re locked within a new
ideological battle, one shaping our planet, one shaping our minds. The overt fight between capitalism and
communism is over. But we’re caught in a subtler yet even more profound struggle, one played out in small ways
day by day, moment to moment. It is a battle over defining who we are as human beings, one staking the very
edges of possibility for our species.

The new battle is not waged with tanks or measured in nuclear stockpiles; it’s fought with ideas, the ideas that
explain our world and determine what’s possible in it, ideas repeated so often they become our own internal voice.
In the face of the unprecedented ecological and social crisis, our organs of mass media rarely do more than
reinforce the notion that global corporate capitalism is our only hope. They feed us messages that the only way to
feed the world is with huge agribusinesses relying on massive infusions of pesticides and chemical fertilizers, and
on giant feedlots pumping cattle with tons of grain, hormones, and antibiotics. We seldom hear about the ways in
which this highly concentrated factory-farming system is rapidly destroying the resources we need to ensure our
long-term well-being. How often are we alerted to the fact that this system is a root cause of new threats to our
health, ranging from heart disease to mad cow disease to the weakening of antibiotics’ protection?
Headlines blast us with seemingly disconnected events—about genetically modified foods, the World Trade
Organization, food trade wars—but our hunger to know what all this really means is rarely satisfied. Such concepts
as globalization, even persistent world hunger, remain abstractions for most of us, and understanding how all of
this determines the quality of our lives and what we can each do about it—that’s even less clear.

EDITED BY ADMIN: COPYRIGHT

[Tigerlily]

15. Thank you for this timely recommendation, Armstead.

:)

[Malva Zebrina]

3. Resist as much as possible

help the downtrodden and the suffering and the poor in the ways that you know how. Love your fellow man, and, if you can , buy some land somewhere in the wilderness and be your own boss. This is important, imo. We are going through here, this life, only once--we must live our lives in the sanctity of our good perceptions and be truly satisfied that we will leave something of value behind us once we are gone. Obviously, we are being betrayed by our own Democrats and this is truly an abandonment and a betrayal, imo , it saddens me and is depressing--in the final analysis, imo, the only thing left to do is preserve yourself and your children--buy some land if your can and take them there under your progressive wing. Teach them what is important in this life==teach them love and what the basics of life are==not what is trendy, shallow and not what the corporations are selling them. Teach them love and sincerity, and teach them independant thinking. Teach them that in the end, it is themself, the evolved human being that is the happiest and most satisfied.

[RichM]

4. KoKo -

Look, I've noticed that you hit these down periods every now & then (as do I, of course). It's better to take a rest from DU for a while, when such periods understandably hit. I don't know if you were serious about golfing in Boca -- but do something that makes you feel good. Go for a walk, see a friend, listen to some music - but don't remain in the DU environment when you're having one of these periods. Don't be in front of a computer screen at all. Computers can be dehumanizing, & DU in particular is a tough environment -- too intense, & drenched in many unhealthy currents.

Take a break. When (and if) you feel ready, come back. Treat yourself kindly - that's much more important than hanging out here. :hi:

[Guaranteed]

18. I agree...

...I had to take a break for just a couple of days recently....still checked in on the news, but kept it all to a minimum...but, it made me feel better, helped re-center myself.
Things are never really as bad as they seem. For myself, I just get a little bit too worked up sometimes, and I need to step back and get some perspective.

[drdigi420]

20. I took a break recently

but when I returned I saw that teh General Discussion forum had been replaced by something else, with arbitrary rules.

I miss the old GD, when there were good heated discussions to read.

The new rules have stifled debate and made for a much less interesting GD.

[Sideways]

22. You Know What Peyton And I Did We Went Out And Helped Someone

There is a construction project happening just a quarter mile from our home and we drive by it daily and it is a dirty nasty site and the guys working it are primarily from Bangladesh. It is hot here in Oman almost hotter than it has been all summer and these guys have to go to the local mosque to drink the water most people will wash their feet with.

Peyton just cries when we drive by "Mommy they are so sad." She is right. And if it takes a two year old to see their pain I'd say we are in a bad place.

So I asked her "Pey what should we do?" Well as a two year old just introduced to birthday parties she said "they need presents."

Allright then I guess she has a point.

Well she has no clue that her dad and I are splitting up and she has no clue that money is really tight because he has stolen almost all of our cash and that I just want to come home and at this point I just fucking can't because I don't have the money and I am so fucking depressed.... but she understands presents.

So we go to the supermarket if it can be called that in Oman and we buy up almost all of the deli stuff and 20 bottles of juice and we drive over to the site.

As I drive up and roll down my window a man comes over to apologize for the mess and the noise complaints I'm sure they have heard from most residents and I let Peyton tell him we have some presents for the workers.

He is so shocked he almost doesn't know what to do. But the hungry ones know food and drink and they just grab.

Peyton says "SHARE." They reach in to kiss her.

Hey this has been the most fucking shit filled year I've ever endured but I have a beautiful child and I will never let my heart turn to stone.

Giving back even in the face of the most horrific bullshit can make a heart beat again.

Mine is on it's last legs but it goes on dispite me.

Don't give up. Peyton is helping me understand that.

edit for some silly typos

[NJCher]

5. burnout?

Armstead, thanks so much for that book referral! That is my big area of interest. I can't wait to read the book and have located it and will pick it up tomorrow!

Maybe, as Lappe' suggests, a connection to the earth is what can sustain us all. I know that as bad as things get with bush, when I go to my gardens (all organic) I lose that sense of despair. And when I spend time with my husband and kitty cat, all those troublesome situations recede in my mind.

It also helps to have work that makes a difference. I recently got my midterm evaluations back from students and it was very gratifying to see that I'm waking up some minds out there!

We all do what we can. All my life I've worked part-time so I could devote the other half of my time to nonprofit causes. I'm proud of what I've done and I'll continue to do more.

Also, KoKo, I would add that you sound burned out. Harkening back to the origins of the term "burnout," it was defined by psychologist Eugene Freudenberger, who maintained that the condition occurs when puts too much into a cause or profession and sees too little return (the investment has to be accompanied by an emotional investment). We are seeing a return on our efforts but maybe you can't see that right now. It's there, though!


Cher

[Blue_Roses]

12. I can relate to

"burnout."

[9215]

6. Give yourself a break

Don't take on anymore until you feel better.

You are moving through levels of deeper and deeper awareness. It is natural to get exhausted sometimes.

Hope this helps.

[KoKo]

7. When the "going get's tough" you know who you can count on. thanx.....

It's not good here, but your replies are noted. again....thanks.....

[Carolina]

8. Dear KoKo

Go on blackout for a while. I go throught these phases when I cannot bear to read all the truth on DU, Bart, Buzz, Commondreams and the gazillion precious links; when I cannot understand why so many don't understand what's going on or don't feel as we do; when it all seems hopeless and helpless. The despair comes and I turn everything off (the TV was the first to go ages ago). Indulge yourself and if that means golf, then go for it. Soak up some nature (while you can) on those golf outings.

There's nothing like the great expanse of blue sky on a crisp fall day to make us all feel some sort of awe about something greater than ourselves and our misery at the state of the world we live in. I am not a religious person at all and, in fact, the fundies of all stripes have made me rather agnostic. Still time away from the computer is a good thing.

If all else fails, watch the Titanic sink. When I went through a rough patch with 2 family deaths in 7 months, topped off by Bush's installation, I was ready to crash and burn. Then one night I rented the movie Titanic. Don't ask me why but watching that ship hit the iceberg was somehow cathartic. I replayed that scene and some of the subsequent ones so many times, my teenaged son quipped: Mom, what gives, the ending is not going to change no matter how many times you rewind it. Anyway, it was cheaper than therapy, it was pure escapism and somehow, it put things in perspective.

Take a break and come back to us when you feel up to it. I have been reading DU forever (though it's not reflected in my number of posts), and one of the many things I love about this site is the support from kindred spirits. We're here for you whatever you do. Best of luck.

[KoKo]

9. Thanks Carolina and all for support...Am going into "music." Oldies to dig

in....and try to get back to my center.....Maybe if I can find where I've been I can figure out how to make sense of where I am at this particular point.

Don't ususually get so discouraged...don't.....but it's all too much.....So maybe it's time for a break.

If I put some headphones on and just emmerse in music.....maybe it will work.....I don't know......

Drown it all out........LOL's how can one....whatever......trying to get back in touch.....with that......whatever, innocent belief in government and America. Thanks.

[drfemoe]

10. or a little hope?

You express the despair so well (sorry it feels that way) ..

This article helped lift me up a few weeks ago. It is well worth reading the entire article when you have some time.

Acts of Hope
Challenging Empire on the World Stage
small snip
A lot of activists expect that for every action there is an equal and opposite and punctual reaction, and regard the lack of one as failure. After all, activism is often a reaction: Bush decides to invade Iraq, we create a global peace movement in which 10 to 30 million people march on seven continents on the same weekend. But history is shaped by the groundswells and common dreams that single acts and moments only represent. It's a landscape more complicated than commensurate cause and effect. Politics is a surface in which transformation comes about as much because of pervasive changes in the depths of the collective imagination as because of visible acts, though both are necessary. And though huge causes sometimes have little effect, tiny ones occasionally have huge consequences.
(end snip)

[KoKo]

11. drfemoe, do you have a better link? Your snip didn't connect me.

Thanks!

[drfemoe]

13. thanks . try this

http://www.oriononline.org/pages/oo/sidebars/Patriotism/index_Solnit.html

[KoKo]

17. drfemoe, check your inbox for thanks about Orion.

:-)'s

[nolabels]

14. I Just Want To Celebrate

By Rare Earth
Note: These lyrics are taken be ear and may not be entirely correct. Any
corrections would be welcome at [e-mail]
One, two, three, four
I just want to celebrate another day of livin'
I just want to celebrate another day of life
I put my faith in the people
But the people let me down
So I turned the other way
And I carry on, anyhow
That's why I'm telling you
I just want to celebrate, yeah, yeah
Another day of living, yeah
I just want to celebrate another day of life
Had my head on the dollar bill
But the dollar bill flew away
But the sun is shining down on me
And it's here to stay
That's why I'm telling you
I just want to celebrate, yeah, yeah
Another day of living, yeah
I just want to celebrate another day of livin'
I just want to celebrate another day of life
Don't let it all get you down, no, no
Don't let it turn you around and around and around and around and around
Well, I can't be bothered with sorrow
And I can't be bothered with hate, no, no
I'm using up the time but feeling fine, every day
That's why I'm telling you I just want to celebrate
Oh, yeah
I just want to celebrate another day
Oh, I just want to celebrate another day of livin'
I just want to celebrate another day of life
Don't let it all get you down, no, no
Don't let it turn you around and around, etc.
Round, round, round, etc.
Don't go round
I just want to celebrate
I just want to celebrate
Well, I just want to celebrate
Said I just want to celebrate (celebrate)
I just want to celebrate (I want to celebrate)
I just want to celebrate (I got to celebrate)
I just want to celebrate


Rare Earth - I Just Want To Celebrate Lyrics

http://www.metrolyrics.com/lyrics/86391/Rare_Earth/I_Just_Want_To_Celebrate/

[JNelson6563]

16. Snap out of it!!

Don't despair!

We were all lied to our whole lives. Don't let that bother you, those who told us the lies thought it was truth.

Now is our time to achieve immortality. We need to work to overthrow the fascist regime and make America a bright glimmer of hope again (in spite of the fact there will always be imperfections).

See this as incentive to push forward. Not good reason to surrender.

We need you, don't give up now!!

Julie

[drdigi420]

19. Nice, except.......

How can you possibly claim to not do drugs when you admit to using one of the worst drugs around: alcohol?

Wine is a drug.

[DemExpat]

21. I'm confronted with these sentiments too every once in awhile.....

What is helping me NOW is resuming my university studies - just having studies, papers, exams (Wedensday I have finals :scared: ) keeps me focussed on learning, and helps the powerless feelings a bit.
I'm doing the British BA/Bsc in 6 years instead of 3....

2001 Introduction to Social Sciences
2002 The Shape of the World: Explorations in Human Geography
2003 The US in the 20th Century - Culture, Markets, Democracy, and Empire
2004 International Development: Challenges for a World in Transition
2005 Understanding Cities
2006 A World of Whose Making? (Globalization, the International system, Technology, etc.)

2006 - GRADUATION with a Degree in International Studies - hopefully....

My husband thinks I'm torturing myself to death by being constantly involved with this type of study material (and DU), and it does look like I'm a glutton for punishement....
BUT it keeps my mind more than engaged, it is teaching me at least a little bit about how the modern world ticks, and it's a goal for now.

KoKo...just a suggestion....find yourself a practical goal that interests and challenges you....even if it seems to be 'all in vain'......but I hear what you are feeling and recognize it all too well.

Barbara

[Sideways]

23. Right Just Do Something Good

It will make you feel better.

[KoKo]

24. Thank you ALL! a Kick for Orion! the website that has given me hope!

I could let this post of "dispair" go off into archives....or give thanks to those who helped me when I was a the lowest point of low last night. But all who posted here, gave me encouragement. And One gave me "ORION!"

So, I'm getting "my head together." Because of all of you.. http://oriononline.org/pages/os/education/sil.html

Go to Orion if you are a "political environmentalist, interested in education, and biological diversity as opposed to regimented genomics! This "Big Tent" environmental/educational/humanist site....will give you hope. I checked out the site and some of their contributors, and didn't have a problem with them.

I think they are the "Good Guys" in our battle. And, special thanks to drfemoe our DU'er who linked me to this wonderful site about hope for the small accomplishments we here on DU have made to the National and International discussion about the future of the Eaarth!


:-)'s and thanks!