Saturday, November 21, 2009

Some places...

Some places hurt. Tienanmen Square in Beijing is one of them.
The concrete cries out with the agonies of of violent death.
Our walk across the city center was a trial of sorts.
It lasted long enough for us to take our picture with Mao (something simply everyone who goes to Beijing must do)(that's him in the very back teetiny as can be) and rush across as though the hounds of hell were nipping at our heels.
While we were in China we saw many wonderful and interesting things and had some fabulous experiences.
We saw three men with two sledgehammers deconstruct a seven story brick building over the course of a year.
We saw people die in bicycle car accidents nearly every week in every city we visited.
We also saw a man paraded through the early morning streets on the back of a truck, his crimes written in red on banners and loudspeakers blaring commanding all to gather at the local sports stadium to witness his very public execution.
We witnessed a man being beaten nearly to death with 2x4's ostensibly because he had skipped out on a restaurant bill.
We saw a woman whose eyes had been put out in childhood to make her more pitiful in her job as beggar and street musician.
We saw wire crates filled to the brim with puppies and kittens, crushed and suffocating, waiting to be purchased for supper.
We saw starving people who couldn't afford a grain of rice.
We saw filth unimaginable.
We saw the extreme disparity between the haves and the have nots.
We came back to the States, quite happy to be living where we do.
But our eyes have been opened.
We see.
What we see is a damn shame.
It is a damn shame that our personal liberties are disappearing more and more every day.
It is a damn shame to see people go without health care in what is still one of the richest countries in the world when even the meanest of peasants in China could expect a modicum of health care.
It is a damn shame that our education system is so corrupted that our students can no longer think.
It is a damn shame that our people are so ignorant that they don't even see that there are questions they should be asking.
It is a damn shame that we are living in such an environment of fear.
It is a damn shame that we are being manipulated by fearmongers.
It is a damn shame that the fearmongers are people we trust.

I'll be honest though.

As long as we are healthy and there is food on our plate.
As long as we live this fat life.
We won't think about change for the better.

We are the goddamned frog sitting in the skillet that is slowly getting hotter and hotter, killing us by degrees.
Clueless
Until it's too late
That we are in one of those...
Places that hurt.

That's all I have to say about that.


12 comments:

Huff Daddy said...

Sounds like something I would write, only you do it better with more poetry.

Victoria said...

Totally!

"..frog legs, anyone?"

Wait! Those are mine.

Brook said...

To both of you I say "YUP" and at least. AT FUCKING LEAST. I have this spot to speak my mind, as banal and deep as it may be at least.

Just Jules said...

Frog legs - hahahhaaa... but sadly true

Spellbound said...

I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness.

Brook said...

Spellbound-you know it. Just hoping Salome doesn't want my head on a platter.

Huff Daddy said...

I make an effort to not buy Chinese made goods. I'm just uncomfortable supporting a country that supports human rights violations. And the dirty truth is that any company than manufacturers something in China is in the end actually owned by China. There isn't really any true private enterprise in China.

I wanted a stainless steel version of my Nalgene water bottle. I spent all night on the internet searching for one not made in China. I even emailed several of the companies. All of them responded, made in China. I really liked the Thinksport and the Klean Kanteen bottles. Both claim to be "responsibly made in China." That just sounds like smoke being blown up my ass.

I LOVE the Chinese culture, food, PEOPLE, history and traditions. I can't stand the State.

Brook said...

HD-yay your finger is working! And yepper. As we discovered people are pretty much people no matter where you go. That about sums it up. While you're boycotting add any of the plasticized people science shows-many of the people in those exhibits are people killed in China for what is a kind of cottage industry. Even pregnant women and their unborn baby(ies)have been "sacrificed" for RMB and to feed gory curiosity.

Dark Cloud Nine said...

Everybody should see the world. Feel the world. Everybody should be so aware.

Brook said...

DCN-it is most surprising to me that so many people don't.

Amy said...

very thought provoking. Thanks for letting us into your thoughts...

I have always "felt" something was really wrong w/ those plasticized people shows. How horrible.

Brook said...

Amy what I find even more disturbing is that these "exhibits" are considered museum/scientific pieces and are relatively uninvestigated. Truth is you or I could buy one of these "figures"-even special request a certain "type" or pose with enough money and import it with few if any questions asked. Disturbing indeed.