“… What condition my condition was in
I woke up this mornin’ with the sundown shinin’ in
I found my mind in a brown paper bag within
I tripped on a cloud and fell an eight miles high
I tore my mind on a jagged sky
I just dropped in to see what condition my condition was in
… What condition my condition was in
I pushed my soul in a deep dark hole, and then I followed it in
I watched myself crawlin’ out as I was crawlin’ in, yeah, yeah
I got up so tight, I couldn’t unwind, I saw so much, I broke my mind
I just dropped in to see what condition my condition was in
… What condition my condition was in
Someone painted “April fool” in big black letters on a dead end sign
…
I just dropped in to see what condition my condition was in
I said I just dropped in to see what condition my condition was in”*
…………………………………
War. Military. Armaments. Guns. Soldiers. … Neoliberal capitalism/”mindless” consumerism … SOCIO-ECOLOGICAL DESTRUCTION from transnational corporations, industrial agriculture, Growth of humanity & domesticated species & stuff and artificialization.
The chaos and inhumaneness and dreadful UNNECESSARY PAINS & DEATH & SOULLESSNESS
in Haiti, Gaza, Zacatecas, Ciudad Juarez, Sudan, Yemen, Myanmar … the favelas of Rio … the “slums” of Newark, Houston, Robbins, Oakland, etc., etc., etc., etc., etc., etc. …
Of the death penalty and rampant incarceration and numerous prisons & imprisoned and UNNECESSARY PAINS & DEATH & SOULLESSNESS in the U.S.
Of the toxic attitude toward undocumented immigrants and transexuals and those of undesirable pregnacies in Texas, the U.S., and other areas of Eaarth …
and toward those who battle for ecological literacy/WOKEness and diversity, equity, & inclusion …
and unbridled reading & ecological learning in a public square
Of trashing & polluting of Ghana and Honduras and Seguin … and of Mount Everest … and streams, aquifers, rivers, lakes, oceans, etc., etc, etc., etc., etc., etc. …
Of flimflam demagogue Trump, his cronies, and adoring &/or hypocritical Trumpsters … and MAGAism.
Of Blessed “Holier than thou” Christian nationalists and other Christians …
Christians (but not “Jesus of Nazareth christians”) who Pray for a better world selfishly for themselves and theirs
…………………………
I (perhaps “of course”) prefer to think that I am not (at least “totally’) one of these deplorables
One of these of UNNECESSARY PAINS & DEATH & SOULLESSNESS
Nevertheless, I helped let Trump, and MAGAism, and Republican Party politics “come”
And Gaetz and RFK, Jr. and Zeldin and Noem and Oz and Hegsseth and Linda McMahon
(Look! … I really could care less about Trump’s and Gaetz’s and Hegseth’s “coming.” It is a natural process.
However, they must have humility and be respectful & empathetic …
and become somewhat ecologically literate and do some critical thining & decision-making in the process.
My problem is that they COME to “Make ‘America’ Great ‘Again’!”
and the process thereof.)
Anyway, fellow humans, humanity, … and other biota …
I will confess, repent, and ask for forgiveness
for being one of those dealing UNNECESSARY PAINS & DEATH & SOULLESSNESS
(though I realize I will keep on sinning as a Homo sapiens
[or Homo saphead … as a retired US Marine who became a wildlife biologist once called us in a wonderful gathering in Alpine, Texas many moons ago]
I only ask of you to help me do less of it
through solidarity in beginning to realize “‘Positively’ Ethical Apllied Community Ecology”/PEACEmaking)
…………………………………
Bless me Father for I have sinned.
I too am a dreadfully deplorable human being.
paul bain martin
( 7 Ss / VV->^^ )
(As poet-folk singer Eliza Gilkyson suggested one recent evening
at the Devil’s Backbone Tavern, Fischer, Texas,
I can “embrace” all of this human, and other, pain & sorrow on Eaarth
but still necessarily love self & all of the other deplorables …
toward a goal and process of making it all better,
i.e., an desired end of quality life for all humans & biota …
the succinct goal “details” being:
- Ecological literacy
- Demilitarization … and deweaponization
- Degrowth economies
- Sustainable quasi-matriarchal agrarianism, locally & globally
- Equity
[Morever, here are some little things one can do to begin being a PEACEmaker: https://www.paulpeaceparables.com/2018/05/31/reminders-for-living-sustainably-for-inside-the-cover-of-the-little-book-on-applied-ecology-peace-games-we-play/ ]
pbm)
…………………………………….
*Micky Newbury. Soulfully sung by Kenny Rogers, Steve Earle, Willie Nelson et al. (I first heard Kenny Rogers perform this song in about 1967 at G. Rollie White Colesium, Texas A&M University. Much later in the 1990s or early 2000s I heard an even better interpretation by Steve Earle–with Lloyd Maines also on the stage over a steel guitar–at La Zona Rosa, Austin, Texas. … Of course Willie’s version which I have heard numerous times over Mattson Rainer’s amazing 92.1/KNBT New Braunfels Americana station, is always heartfelt!)
