Inner Michael

In my email this morning was this message:

“Last night as the great moon was rising, Mary passed into eternity. All her children were present and I was honored to be among them. She had wanted to transition with the full moon and it was the brightest, glowing night that received her spirit. Thank you for the ways that you and your Gaia Association have supported her in life and continue to share her values.”

The passing of my friend underscores how precious is this life and how short the time we are given. Mary’s legacy will forever be saving the honey bees. She bought a home in the woods and upon learning of the plight of the disappearing honey bees, she built a new style of hives and set out to save the bees– just because it was in front of her to do. And just because she could.

We all have in front of us what is ours to do. This community is about finding the light in the midst of deliberately inflicted darkness. There are those who would, for short term gain, conscript humanity into unspeakable things and visit unspeakable sorrow on the planet and its’ species. What if Hitler, with his charisma and command of speech, had incited the world to celebrate the glory of humanity and showcased its diversities yet similarities? What if Tojo and Mussolini had used their leadership to further the interest of their population and the betterment of humanity instead of serving their shadow ego to become war mongers?

Murdoch instead, set out to with malice aforethought and a well scripted plan, establish a media megalith for the sole purpose of building amassing wealth and power. His ambition was to use that wealth and power in ways that caused mayhem and destruction. He could have as easily made another choice of what to do with that power and wealth. He could have taken a road similar to Martin Luther King or Gandhi or Mandela. What would the world be like then?

Suppose, just suppose, that Murdoch and his minions had brought us stories about the heroes of humanity, about the beauty in human nature, about the generosity and humanity of celebrities and how they struggle with coping and responding to fame? What if he had deliberately set out to showcase the bright shadow of humanity? If he had over and over reinforced how brilliant and remarkable we are as beings? What if he told us that each of us has a precious life and a mission and that we came here to do something extraordinary? What if he had, with his words and their use, encouraged us to find and express our own brilliance, use our innate talent brilliantly, cherish our planet and its humanity and impact history by leaving a legacy that made the narrative among the peoples of the world– more humane.

Those achievements in service to humanity are exactly what Michael Jackson set out to do in his one short lifetime with his power and wealth. And the Murdoch tabloids did everything in their power to humiliate and destroy him. Why? For money, power and influence. To serve humanity? What about his work serves the interests of humanity? What about the public humiliation and dismemberment of one of its own, serves humanity?

How exactly does media frenzy serve humanity? How does a tabloid story about a celebrity’s human (human!) missteps and mistakes serve humanity? How does a headline that screams accusation and guilt about anyone doing anything until it is sure and proven, serve humanity? The assumption of guilt for any accused person is an error in judgment. The argument can be made that it is in the public interest to reveal crime and corruption; but assuming and proclaiming guilt is a violation of responsibility and fair treatment. To find someone guilty in the court of public opinion is akin to lynching. It is renegade justice, it is “old west” (in America) intelligence. It is to allow free rein, the dark side. And George Lucas showed us how seductive and destructive that is decades ago. It is the deliberate mining and pandering to the renegade darkness in human nature that gets us into the most trouble. It has now engulfed the whole planet and planted the seeds of our own destruction.

Make no mistake- words are weapons. When used irresponsibly in a public forum, and aimed at a target, they are every bit as destructive as a weapon of mass destruction. They are as powerful as any of the chem weapons or nukes and we are all downwind of that weaponry and its fallout.

I once stood in a secret location in Russia and the people on either side of me had to hold me up because I came face to face with the most real evidence of the capability, capacity and extensive reach of man’s inhumanity to man I had ever seen. It took my breath and it took my legs. I was overlooking a field of stacked chemical weapons that went on as far as the eye could see. I had been a peace activist for most of my life already and I certainly had done a good job of demonstrating what these horrific shells were capable of. I had stood before an audience dressed in a gas mask holding two wine bottles telling the audience that shells just about this size smuggled in with a backpack into Packer stadium, or any stadium in the country, would instantly turn the entire place into a morgue. It was effective. It was visual. Visceral.

But it wasn’t quite real. It was real now because I had never before stood before a whole field of these things. I had never stood at a missile silo site. I had never seen a decommissioning facility or rubbed elbows with military and U.N. personnel– until then. I had never stopped being an American and become a global citizen until engaging in the work. I had only metaphor and theory and legend to go on. I had never gone into a third world country of the enemy and deliberately left my identification and money behind– to walk out of a limiting identity into an expanded one– until then. Those moments changed my life. Changed me. Forever.

We tolerate these things in our world because we have become so cynical as to expect them. Darkness lives because we allow it; because we give it sway and feed it power. What if we didn’t? What if we said “Enough!” What if we, in our infancy with such things and our lack of practice, just dove into the process of finding the glory in human beings? In their work and life and beingness? What if we just embraced our own humanity and the humanity of others with all its messiness? What if we began to deliberately look for the bright shadow instead of the dark shadow?

Last night Catherine Gross hosted on “A Place in Your Heart Radio” a woman whom I hope is destined to become a friend, a colleague and a fellow warrior for the light. I met Sue Wilson at a screening of her film here in Wisconsin where she held the audience spellbound with her passion and energy for media reform. Finally, here was a woman who would stand in her truth against the goliath that is misusing its constituency, bowing to and growing its own capacity for trading dignity for darkness. I wanted to meet this woman and shake her hand!

So I did. We began a conversation months ago that culminated in her appearance last night at “A Place in Your Heart.” I encourage you to go and listen to what she has to say. And I challenge you to take her words to heart and be moved to take action. I hope you will buy and watch her film “Broadcast Blues” and host your neighbors and friends in your homes to see the film and create a focus group to discuss what can be done. I hope you will seriously consider making this a grass roots movement to demand a better world– beginning with the airwaves.

Sue is leading a march to occupy Clear Channel on Monday that she is hoping will be duplicated in major cities worldwide. She plans to take a few people into the Clear Channel radio stations in her area and say: “We are here to inspect your public files.” The airwaves of local channels– radio and TV belong to you. You own them. She is beginning with radio because its’ audience is larger and reaches a vaster geographical area. TV will be next. We own those airwaves too. We don’t own the cable channel airwaves but when cable sees what is happening and that a new humane narrative is being demanded by the public, they will be forced to look at their programming that contributes to shadow and to destroying dignity and humanity.

I don’t know how long it will take. I only know it’s possible. And I only know it won’t happen if we don’t begin.

Here are your resources:

A Place in Your Heart recording of radio show on 12.9.11 Sue Wilson: Occupy the Airwaves
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/a-place-in-your-heart/2011/12/10/lift-your-voice-make-that-changeoccupy-airwavessue-wilson

Sue Wilsons newly formed media reform resource center:
http://www.mediaactioncenter.net/

Sue Wilson Reports:
http://www.suewilsonreports.com/2010/06/what-happened-to-broadcast-blues.html

Sue Wilson’s Huffington Post Blog:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/sue-wilson

And if all that doesn’t convince you we need to take action, maybe this will: