Happy 1st anniversary OWS

I find it funny that so many armchair and “respectable” pundits alike are counting it out. They say it is over now, that for all its bluff and bluster that nothing was accomplished. All of those people who with their sweat and tears who had the bravery to stand up to the machine and say that “I will not allow you to consume me and I am worth more than the amount of money that you can squeeze from me”, walked away with their tails between their legs never to look back. I beg to differ. The fact that in 2011 the middle class shrunk again adding to the class inequality that we in our precious USA have not seen since the gilded age means that we still have far to go.  

Humans are not cars but the crooks of Wall Street treat us as such, broken down into components our monetary worth is greater. I have written before of the high cost of poverty. There are things that people who have never been poor will not understand about how the money drains through the fingers, not by shiftless thrift but by rampant preying on those least able to protect themselves. The bounced check fees, the check cashing fees, the late fees, the higher interest rates all add up. The most mundane chores of life can become stressful. Something breaking down can throw an entire household into disarray for weeks, as the cost of repair is prohibitive. Paying for all the costs of an automobile (maintenance, insurance, registration) can be a terrible burden while being a necessity. Driving is a privilege you say? If you can’t afford it take the bus. Therein lays another hidden cost of poverty, time. Some cities, I happen to live in one, is not friendly to public transportation. A 20 minute car ride can become a 2 hour adventure on the bus. What if you have to shop for groceries for a family or pick your child up from school, is the bus really a viable option then? That is why so many poor people risk driving without…and then of course there are the fees if they get caught. When you are poor you spend more time than me doing laundry, going to the Laundromat can take at least half a day. When you are poor you spend your days in line at the unemployment, social security, or food stamp offices just to get by.  Most who are poor have to work more than one job, so a week where you just work 40 hours is a pleasant dream. Plus those who want to use education to climb the ladder of opportunity graduate with a massive student loan debt that is the equivalent of indentured servitude. When you are poor, the simplest thing is a struggle; every bump in the road becomes a mountain to climb. Money is not the answer to everything but it sure does take away so many burdens. The money is squeezed out of those who can least afford it in a million different ways and funneled upward. Being middle class is not the answer any more. Basically claiming being in that class is the untapped font of wealth that can be pulled upward and it is becoming an endangered species.  We still bray wildly that “we are #1” even while we fall pathetically behind in education, social welfare, and child mortality.

That is what OWS wants to end. They envision a world where the playing field is equalized and the rules are for everyone, not one set for the rich and one for the rest of us. They have not stopped fighting; they have just ceased it from one central location, no matter if it was in New York or Oakland or anywhere in between. I read today what has happened in words far more eloquently than I can say it, but I can’t remember the direct quote or where I got it from (apologies to whoever it was and my butchering of it). They said that like a seedpod, they were pushed out of their casing so that they could spread with the wind and deposit their message in the fertile ground, and the ground is fertile. Movements do not happen overnight. The abolitionist movement took over 60 years, the suffrage movement over 80 and civil rights another 40 (although I think we are still fighting that and not just for our black citizens but for our gay ones as well). The OWS of a year ago was just the first furious blooming that was mercilessly pruned by the military and police who work for the 1%. Anyone who gardens though can tell you what happens after a pruning. Usually new growth is stronger and more vibrant than ever. The Powers that Be would be grateful for you to think that occupy has faded away, for you to become complacent again, don’t let that happen.  No matter what they say, OWS has changed the dialogue, and the PTB continue to hate it as hundreds have been arrested once again. We must always fight, no matter how small it may seem, even a shift in consciousness can mean big things. We are not as gullible as we were even 10 years ago and unlike those earlier movements cited above, OWS has one thing, one very powerful thing, that they didn’t which is the internet. There is no excuse for ignorance anymore, not with a world of knowledge at your fingertips. There are more of us then them, so never forget that, times are changing whether those at the top want it or not. We are the 99%!