Kelly is an interfaith minister, mentor, spiritual activist and blogger. Kelly's blog can be found here. Kelly has been very active in LGBT and HIV/AIDS activism in The San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California and is very well known throughout The Bay Area and beyond for his activism, compassion, spiritual guidance, loving heart and spirit and his ability to be an open, caring, giving and charitable friend to many. Kelly brings all of this to his writing and now brings them to his contributions here at Moyo Aflame. I am very excited and grateful to see Kelly have a role in the ongoing development and expression of this blog. He joins myself and book reviewer, Sara Falls, in bringing what I hope will continue to be poignant, insightful, fun, complex and thought provoking posts here. Below is Rev. Kelly's inaugural piece for Moyo Aflame which is also cross posted at his blog, Radical Spirit. Sage Mahosadha
Who is Responsible?
By Kelly Rivera Hart
cross posted at Radical Spirit
In my 51 years I have witnessed the decade of peace, love and grooviness; the birth of the Me Generation; the development of a culture of self-serving and the years of consumer overload. Now we may be seeing the beginning of the long overdue class wars between the wealthiest Americans who make more and more yet pay out less and less and the remaining 99% of US citizens that are struggling more and more to find jobs, get decent wages, keep their homes, find affordable basic healthcare and are forced more and more to give up the dream of putting their children through college.
We found community in the 60’s, found self-centeredness in the 70’s, fell in love with excess in the 80s and grabbed all we could for ourselves in the 90’s. Now we see such an imbalance of resources that for every dollar a middle American makes, a CEO makes $475 more. We see that after decades of overfeeding our selves with bigger, faster, fancier. We struggle to even recognize the horrible shape of our environment and that starving children are not only on the other side of the ocean but also just down the street.
And while we are all quick to point the finger at the immigrants that we claim stole our jobs or the rich who take more than they need, the truth is we are all guilty for letting it get like this. We are all responsible for the many missed opportunities when we could have put aside our greed and embraced our compassion. We are all responsible when self-serving hypocrites ran for office and we didn’t make it a point to vote against them. Or when corrupt administrations further padded the pockets of their friends and we didn’t speak up to remove them from office.
Yes, the wealthiest 1% are getting away now with making far more than the remaining 99% while paying far less than their fair percentage in taxes. And yes, many corporations and banks have gotten away with crimes against humanity and nature with little more than a light slap on the wrist, if even that. But it’s up to all of us to be aware of what is being done, when it’s being done. It’s up to all of us to speak out to protect those of us who are discriminated against, pushed out of jobs, financially blocked from getting good educations when this is all happening.
We are possibly seeing a class war unfolding before our eyes and our hearts know that we needed to act to keep things from getting this bad. So, what can we do now to turn it around? How can each one of us be a part of the change to ensure that all of us get the chance to claim the promise of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness? How will we speak out and who will we vote out to save not only ourselves but all of our friends, neighbors, coworkers and all the children around us?
We are all the 99%. We are are all responsible. So now - How will each of us be a stand for real change, real progress and real compassion?
think about it..
