Okay, so…

You know all those lovely sayings that float around absolutely EVERYWHERE?  Whenever I see one I wonder if the person who wrote it lived in a cottage with a white picket fence. a dog names Spot, two loving parents, a kind grandmother, nice neighbors and no dead bodies in the street in front of their house.

The sayings seem desperate.  As if the person writing one is demanding that the world be a fairy tale place and if we only believe what she wrote, it will be.  Or, maybe the things those people write are actually FOR the people with white picket fences, who may have lovely lives.  I suppose that’s possible.  I personally do not know anyone like that but I’m sure they exist…somewhere.

All I know is that every time I see one of he sayings I either gag, or wonder if people actually believe what they’re writing.  But, if they are writing for a small percentage of the people who are alive, then they have done a good job.

I read about peace, love, joy, gratitude and think of the gangs, the dead kids, the dark and dank rooms in which some of them live.  I think of the gunshots and screaming they hear.  Feel the terror they might feel just walking to school.  I think of the women trapped in houses by brutal men, the violence that lives everywhere and then I go back to all the fancy script and flowers of the inane sayings and wonder, what the hell is going on?

Who believes that stuff?  How does sexism, racism, all the isms fit into to that script?  Do the writers think the poor and hungry just don’t have the right attitude?  That they simply don’t understand?  If they just close their eyes and think happy thoughts, everything will be alright?  Food will magically appear on their tables?  Migrant workers won’t be poisoned, have actual bathrooms, and places to live while they tend the grapes the people who write the sayings EAT?

I’m thinking the people writing the hearts and flowers are the one’s who don’t really get it.  Life is hard to impossible for a LOT of people.  Where are the signs for them?  What would they say?

FIGHT BACK

WE KNOW HE’S BEATING YOU, JUST THINK POSITIVE THOUGHTS

SORRY YOUR KIDS ARE DEAD BETTER LUCK NEXT TIME

DON’T LET YOUR BACK PAIN FROM WORKING IN THE FIELDS BOTHER YOU  JUST START A JOURNAL OF HAPPY THOUGHTS AND THANKS

BEING HUNGRY ISN’T A BAD THING, SMELL THE WEEDS AND BE GRATEFUL

THE DEAD KIDS IN THE STREET DON’T LAY THERE LONG, NO WORRIES

WE KNOW MINIMUM WAGE IS A JOKE, BUT THE WHITE GUYS  WHO RUN THINGS DON’T WANT YOU TO HAVE ANYTHING AT ALL THEY JUST WANT MORE FOR THEMSELVES SO THEY CAN BUY SIGNS SAYING THEY DESERVE TO BE HAPPY

I mean really, think about how some people live and look at the HUGE GIGANTIC GAP between people.  Then ask WHY that gap exists.

It exists because the people in power want it to exist.  That’s it.  Plain and simple.  That is the answer to EVERY SINGLE QUESTION.  Violence exists because the men in power WANT IT TO EXIST.  Violence is how they control us.  WAR exists because the men in power want it to exist.  War makes money for THEM.  Dead kids don’t bother them.  All the answers are the same.  Every single one.  BECAUSE THE WHITE GUYS IN POWER WANT WHAT EXISTS TO EXIST.  Anything they don’t want…isn’t there.  Things like equality, peace, you know, those things that aren’t worth anything and are actually threatening to their power structure.

Anyway, I think those happy, cheery, signs are like rubbing a cheese grater against my lips.  It’s like seeing a tear in reality.  It’s probably just me, but I really hope not.

Hey, I’m just sayin’.