Prairie Fire News

Greetings from Calico Blackie!

A hedge fund manager hard at “work.” Or, as Simon & Garfunkel said: “The people bowed and prayed, to the neon gods they made” (actually the “god” was made by Chinese workers who work 70 hour work weeks for starvation wages)

I was having a discussion with my best friend about whether or not dissent has a realistic chance in this country. 

More and more, I’m hearing…….

“It’s too late. We don’t stand a chance because we can’t get enough popular support for our goals.”

“The media seems able to sway public opinion against any form of protest and we’re slipping into an Orwellian existence without a peep from the very people that are being crushed.”

Without the support of the population, armed resistance would be suicide and the passive type of resistance, such as “Occupy” is either ignored or ridiculed by the majority of people in this country.

By the time things get bad enough to arouse the masses, it will be too late. Besides, we seem to be snake-fascinated over the distractions fed to us on the television and in everyday life.

Remember when Britney Spears flashed the goods? Is this more important to you than what is going on with our government and the world?

The latest celebrity scandal, or who is leading in the political polls (bought and paid for by the 1%), or which “Royal” went topless, or what the officiating is like in the NFL seems to be a bigger worry to us than the food we eat, the water we drink, and the air we breathe.

It’s more important to us than the fact Wall Street owns our government.

It’s more important than a possible war with whatever country “du jour” Wall Street wants to send us to die in.

It’s more important to us than our future.

So, I say……..

With all this going on around us, maybe we should take stock of where we are. Not as a movement. Not as activists. Not as a society.

I’m asking you to open your mind and THINK

But as individuals.

Maybe we should all look inward to ourselves and decide where we should go.

Ask yourself:

Am I living MY life, or am I living the life someone else has chosen for me?

Am I willing to settle for the way things are going, or am I willing to work with myself and others to make a change?

Am I willing to speak up and become an activist? Am I willing to continue the struggle?

I’ve reprinted this article in it’s entirety for you.

Food for thought…………..

Top Five Regrets of The Dying

We will all need help someday

For many years I worked in palliative care. My patients were those who had gone home to die. Some incredibly special times were shared. I was with them for the last three to twelve weeks of their lives.  

People grow a lot when they are faced with their own mortality. I learnt never to underestimate someone’s capacity for growth.

Some changes were phenomenal. Each experienced a variety of emotions, as expected, denial, fear, anger, remorse, more denial and eventually acceptance.

Every single patient found their peace before they departed though, every one of them.

When questioned about any regrets they had or anything they would do differently, common themes surfaced again and again.

Here are the most common five:

IT DOESN’T HAVE TO BE THIS WAY. Is this what we want for the future? Will you accept this?

1. I wish I’d had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.

This was the most common regret of all. When people realize that their life is almost over and look back clearly on it, it is easy to see how many dreams have gone unfulfilled.

Most people had not honored even a half of their dreams and had to die knowing that it was due to choices they had made, or not made.

It is very important to try and honor at least some of your dreams along the way.

From the moment that you lose your health, it is too late.

Health brings a freedom very few realize, until they no longer have it.

2. I wish I didn’t work so hard. 

This came from every male patient that I nursed. They missed their children’s youth and their partner’s companionship.

Women also spoke of this regret. But as most were from an older generation, many of the female patients had not been breadwinners.

DON’T ALLOW IT TO HAPPEN TO YOU

All of the men I nursed deeply regretted spending so much of their lives on the treadmill of a work existence.

By simplifying your lifestyle and making conscious choices along the way, it is possible to not need the income that you think you do.

And by creating more space in your life, you become happier and more open to new opportunities, ones more suited to your new lifestyle.

3. I wish I’d had the courage to express my feelings.

Many people suppressed their feelings in order to keep peace with others.

We’ve all thought it, but few have had the courage to say it. Imagine if we all stopped being nodding drones and broke away from the herd? The world would be a more honest and open place

As a result, they settled for a mediocre existence and never became who they were truly capable of becoming.

Many developed illnesses relating to the bitterness and resentment they carried as a result.

We cannot control the reactions of others.

However, although people may initially react when you change the way you are by speaking honestly, in the end it raises the relationship to a whole new and healthier level.

Either that or it releases the unhealthy relationship from your life.

Either way, you win.

4. I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends. 

Often they would not truly realize the full benefits of old friends until their dying weeks and it was not always possible to track them down.

Many had become so caught up in their own lives that they had let golden friendships slip by over the years. There were many deep regrets about not giving friendships the time and effort that they deserved.

Everyone misses their friends when they are dying.

This one’s for my wife

It is common for anyone in a busy lifestyle to let friendships slip. But when you are faced with your approaching death, the physical details of life fall away.

People do want to get their financial affairs in order if possible.

But it is not money or status that holds the true importance for them.

They want to get things in order more for the benefit of those they love.

Usually though, they are too ill and weary to ever manage this task.

It all comes down to love and relationships in the end. That is all that remains in the final weeks, love and relationships

5. I wish that I had let myself be happier.

Just be silly once in awhile. Who gives a damn what “they” think? We’ll all be the same in 100 years

This is a surprisingly common one. Many did not realize until the end that happiness is a choice.

They had stayed stuck in old patterns and habits. The so-called ‘comfort’ of familiarity overflowed into their emotions, as well as their physical lives.

Fear of change had them pretending to others, and to their selves, that they were content. When deep within, they longed to laugh properly and have silliness in their life again.

When you are on your deathbed, what others think of you is a long way from your mind.

How wonderful to be able to let go and smile again, long before you are dying.

Life is a choice. It is YOUR life. Choose consciously, choose wisely, choose honestly. Choose happiness.

Link is here:  http://www.activistpost.com/2011/11/top-5-regrets-of-dying.html

Calico Blackie says:

Don’t live the life someone else has chosen for you!

Don’t “settle.” Don’t look back with regret. On November 3rd, FIGHT FOR THE FUTURE!

In the future, when you have to step over these “Tax Enough Already!” old folks dying in the streets because they were abandoned by the very system they supported, I wonder if you will feel any pity for them as you hurry to your 96 hour a week job that pays barely enough for a warm place to sleep and enough food to keep working?

I wonder if you will have the courage to stand up and try to do something about it NOW?

BE THE CHANGE

Join us in SOLIDARITY!

Just remember, not all of us “old folks” supported the system that enslaved us.

That’s all I ask.

Calico Blackie   @kidakita