Revolutionary Misfit

Dare to be Inspirational

Poor in America

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Poor in America

After living in the U.S.A. for 5 months in a condition of economic lack, I feel at least partially qualified to offer an opinion of what it’s like to be…

poor in America.

You see, I’ve not always been poor. I’ve never been what I’d consider rich, but prior to my becoming an expat in Costa Rica, beginning around 2002…

I did have fleeting occasions of moneyed-ness.

Over a decade living in Costa Rica cured me of that pursuit…

the pursuit of happiness via money.

However, now I find myself right back in it…and I feel a bit unconditioned for the exercise.

Because, honestly, being poor in America is a real drag.

Wasn’t so in Costa Rica. There you can be poor and happy. People don’t look down on you. Like you’re some kind of oddball that needs to be kept at arm’s length.

They don’t give you that “get a job” look.

I don’t have a job. I’m an entrepreneur. I’ve been one for the past 20 years…

It’s been a roller-coaster ride.

Right now I’m definitely experiencing a stomach-turning dip.

I do still harbor faint expectations of climbing out at some point, but while I’m down here, I thought I’d give you all a little glimpse of what it’s like to be a poor bastard…

Just in case you’ve never experienced it for yourselves.

Luckily, even though I don’t have a car, getting around in Portland, Oregon, isn’t so hard due to the stellar public transport system.

I couldn’t imagine living without a car in the U.S. in a place that didn’t have that.

Even so, getting around can be a drag. Waiting on the bus is, well, waiting. And who wants to do that, especially in America.

And if it’s raining and cold, it makes the waiting even less pleasant.

But, I guess that’s something those of you with cars wouldn’t understand.

It also makes it a bit burdensome to bring the groceries home.

It does, however, give one an opportunity to see up close and personal what it’s like to be poor in America.

You can read it on the faces of your fellow passengers.

The quiet, well, here in Portland, not always so quiet, desperation…

tinged with anger…

and frustration.

Life for the American poor is very frustrating…because you just can’t have all that bright and shiny stuff that others have.

And we’re taught, conditioned, in the U.S. to strive to have what others have…

to covet.

Never-mind what the bible says about that…we’re talking capitalism for god’s sake!

And capitalism runs off the fuel of covetousness.

So, the poor are condemned to covet what they can’t grasp.

To just sit and stare out the window, blankly, at all that stuff…until depression sets in.

The poor here are a different breed than where I came from…my Colombian wife sees it clearly as well…

They’re a harder-edged breed than Latin American poor…and an angrier one.

They’re called on TV, the dependency class. And who wants to be called that…or even actually be it.

Do the folks at Fox News have any idea how it makes a poor person feel to be branded as a worthless “dependent?”

So, they have good reason to be angry…

It sucks living within a system that relentlessly tempts you to have and then condemns you for the fact that you don’t. Tweet it Out!

You’re not welcome here…that’s the message. You’re a reject…a loser. What’s wrong with you? What are you doing here? Get out? Not welcome…the bathroom in here is only for paying customers and you obviously can’t…just look at you!

Those are the messages WE get.

In fact, from the moment I stepped foot back on U.S. soil, that’s sort of the feeling I’ve gotten.

I don’t know, but maybe it’s time to rethink things?

Now, I’m sure someone will read this and think, wait a minute, our poor have it better off than anywhere else on the planet.

Well, that’s only if being “better off” is measured materially, which is, unfortunately, how everything is measured in a capitalistic society like the U.S.A.

But, from an emotional, or happiness, point of view…

according to my observations over the last months, they have it much worse.

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Will This Make Me Wealthy?

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Will This Make Me Wealthy?

I have long been infected with the entrepreneurial virus. I guess it’s like an STD that never goes away…

Not sure exactly where the infection originated. My grandfather and father were both similarly afflicted.

For many years any idea that popped into my head about starting a business would immediately give rise to the following question…

Will this make me wealthy?

Because if not…why bother?

I mean, that’s the capitalistic way to think, right?

It’s funny, but this little pueblo that we call Perez Zeledon…where I currently* reside…is a hotbed for entrepreneurial endeavors.

It is the veritable “Silicon Valley” of Costa Rica…

without the silicon, of course.

But for a different reason than the one up north.

I seriously doubt if there was ever a Silicon “start-up” whose founder did not ponder that same question…

Will this start-up idea make me filthy rich?

Of course, in their case “wealthy” would surely conjure up figures with more zeroes than my brain could ever envision.

Down here in the valle de El General, the motive is different.

People start businesses because, quite simply, there are no jobs to be had…period.

Actually, that’s becoming a phenomenon in the U.S. as well, which could be a topic for another post.

The entrepreneurial exploits here might be limited to a small neighborhood store (pulperias, as we call them), or a small restaurant (sodas, as we call those)…or simply selling “empanadas” door to door…

The goal is not to be “weal-thy”, but to just be well…

That is, folks here look at business as a vehicle for a life well lived, rather than life as a vehicle for a business well managed. Tweet it Out!

Get it?

I’ve never heard of an entrepreneur down here taking his or her life because his soda failed.

Lately, my mind has been probing business ideas. And I immediately caught myself falling back to the same old question…

Will this make me wealthy?

And then I asked myself…

Why does it really matter?

You see, I’m trying to approach life (and business) from a different perspective.

I prefer that the emphasis be, no, that the entire impetus be…

impact.

Wealth…or economic self-interest…shouldn’t necessarily be the focal point of my entrepreneurial imagination.

Oh for sure, we’ve all got to live, pay the bills and all that stuff…

But we don’t HAVE TO BE wealthy.

In fact, there are many ideas that could have far reaching impacts, but that would never make one wealthy.

So should those be screened out?

Of course not!

I shouldn’t play the role of the typical vulture capitalist against myself. That is, screening out any idea that doesn’t have the potential to “go public”, or “viral.”

Instead I can think of two much better standards by which to judge an idea…

1) am I truly passionate about it?

and

2) does it have the potential for impact?

If both can be answered in the positive, why not go for it?

I’m just plain sick and tired of the tendency to judge everything by dollars…by profit.

I’m more inclined these days to imbue my entrepreneurial ideas with the metaphysical and quasi-spiritual notion or belief that if it has the capacity for impact…then the universe will respond with a required degree of profit to keep it growing…

I know that sounds a little bit “fugazi,” but what the hell…

It makes me happier.

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*I moved to Portland, Oregon in February of this year (2015).  I feel I’ve lost a bit of the make impact the impetus mindset that inspired posts like this one. So, I’m reposting it as a gentle reminder to myself…

Endemic versus Reactionary Racism

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Endemic versus Reactionary Racism

My last post was a rant against the tendency of some on the right to use a sort of “reverse political correctness” against throwing down the “race card.”

In this post I want to make the case that not only should playing the race card be legitimate because it’s still in the deck…

but also because it’s a necessary move towards making it (race) obsolete as a factor in our society.

And I am talking about endemic versus reactionary racism. I will explain shortly.

When events transpire that are tinged with even the faintest scent of racism, the card should appear…every time.

Why?

Because racism is a problem so pernicious that it must be rooted out and eradicated from every facet of our lives.

It is one of the ultimate evils in our (and any) society.

But let’s get straight on what I am referring to by racism.

Every time there is a race eruption, you hear the specious argument that attempts to delegitimize use of the race card since it (racism) exists on both sides of the equation.

But there’s a big difference between black racial attitudes against whites, which I’ll call reactionary racism, and the endemic racism that is the prevalent evil in our society.

Do some blacks (well more than some perhaps) harbor negative attitudes towards whites?

Certainly.

But it’s not because of immutable traits like color, physical characteristics or culture…it’s a reaction to suffering the first 100 years of their involuntary presence in this country as chattel…

and the next 100 being socially, politically and economically oppressed.

That would tend to make one a bit suspicious, perhaps even pissed off.

Attempting to accuse blacks of the same brand of racism as that of the Aryan Nation is like condemning a Jew for hating a Nazi. They don’t hate them because of their blonde hair and blue eyes, Colonel Klink-ish accent or tendency towards anal retentiveness…

they hate them because those assholes tried to exterminate the Jewish race!

You see, it’s reactionary.

I grew up in the South during desegregation and was intimately exposed to racism. I knew very clearly (then, as well as now) that whites didn’t harbor negative racial attitudes against blacks as a reaction to the incendiary political views of the Black Panther party. They hated them because of immutable traits that they (the black people) were born with and could not change.

And that’s where the real evil lies.

So, it appals me when Bill (the bloviator) O’Reilly delivers a spitting venomous diatribe blaming the totality of problems blacks face in our society on their taste in music, or because they tend to be hornier than he would prefer them to be…while completely dismissing the fact that there has been systematic societal oppression against the black race for over 200 years!

The race card, as ugly as it might be, is a necessary tool to eradicate racism. Tweet it Out!

If an event in our society occurs as a possible result of race, it should be thoroughly investigated, prosecuted (if truly present) and bold steps taken to insure against racism’s future presence in a similar situation, so that real endemic racism has a chance of being eliminated as a pernicious societal sin.

That’s what I would term legitimate use of “the race card.”

I could envision that when that happens consistently, the reactionary “racism” that whites often lament will rapidly evaporate.

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Hyper-Critical

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Hyper-Critical

I believe Facebook, other social media as well, but predominantly Facebook, has the potential for great societal benefit…

Why?

Because it’s a convenient location for important discussions to take place…

Discussions that can lead to action and change.

But…and this is a really big BUT…for that to happen we need to be less combative, and hyper-critical, in the way we participate, IMHO.

Instead, most discussions rapidly devolve into cyber-shouting matches in a vain attempt to try to prove the rightness of one’s position over another’s.

That can be fun, in as much as it’s fun to degrade other human beings, but it rarely leads to any solutions, or even good ideas.

I believe that our world-views can handicap us in this effort.

That is, if your world-view is predominantly an exclusive one.

One that doesn’t leave room in the world for any other.

World-views that are religiously based tend to be that way.

Highly polarized political ones tend to be as well.

Maybe it’s a good idea to shun religious and political party affiliation altogether for the good of humanity?

Because no one is always right and to affiliate yourself with a particular religion or political party seems all too often tantamount to closed-mindedness.

When the fact is that the more you’re convinced that your position is the only possible correct one, the more likely it is that you’re dead wrong.

As soon as words like Republican, Democrat, Liberal, Conservative, Progressive, Socialist, Christian, Muslim, and others of that ilk are unleashed…

the prospect for a meaningful discussion usually goes dramatically down…

It’s an inverse relationship.

Could it be possible to have a conversation without bringing any of that shit up?

I believe it can.

I can talk about a particular viewpoint as being either good or bad, in my opinion, without giving it any label…can’t I?

I was struck by insight one day, from who knows where, and it led me to this world-view that’s been my consistent guide for some time now, and it helps me to be, well, consistent…and open-minded.

Actually, I believe it was a gradual process, but I can pinpoint a particular moment when it all sort of jelled.

I call it Impact Mindfulness.

I’m particular fond of it because it’s fairly agnostic and apolitical.

It allows me to saunter into discussions without the temptation to immediately begin throwing grenades that polarize upon detonation.

I’m guided by the idea that people and planet will be better off if we believe and act on three simple ideas…

  1. that it’s best to prioritize impact (that is, the positive impact we can have for people and planet via our actions and inactions) over our self-interest…and in particular, our economic self-interest…
  2. that it’s best to embrace the idea of the Big US, or the one where every argument presupposes that we’re all on this planetary ship together, since that is, indeed, a fact…
  3. and that it’s best to take off impact blinders, such as political and religious affiliation, in order to see a bigger and more objective picture.

Am I patting myself on the back for breaking new philosophical ground with this?

No, of course not. I’m not by any means smart enough to accomplish such a feat.

All these ideas have been around…

Many label them as progressive…

But, you know, I don’t recoil at that label…as I truly believe progress is a good thing.

And I’d like to see more Facebook discussions that are progressive leaning and less that are partisan posturing and hyper-critical…

That is, discussions driven towards the end of progress for all, rather than towards elevation of ego via proving one’s rightness, or righteousness.

Proving yourself the smartest guy or gal on the Facebook wall doesn’t make the wall any smarter…or better off. Tweet it Out!

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Revolutionary Love

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che in new york

When Che Guevara was asked by a reporter in New York what was the motivation for the revolutionary, he gave a surprising answer.

Probably not the one this reporter expected.

She was fishing for some radical reply that would spice up her story and generate hatred for this Marxist madman. But Guevara simply said…

…the true revolutionary is guided by a great feeling of love.

I was listening this morning to a very old video clip of a BBC interview with Bertrand Russell.

Russell is asked if this interview were placed in a time capsule and then viewed 1,000 years in the future, what would be the message he would most want to convey.

Russell said this…

Russell was also quite the revolutionary in his own day, albiet, unlike Guevara, a pacifist one.

Nevertheless, it seems that there is something to this idea of love as the motivational force for the revolutionary.

If we ask ourselves why bother to practice impact mindfulness, I believe the best answer, the one that penetrates to the heart of the matter, is indeed…love.

Love for people.

Love for planet.

And love of the fact that we are all created and connected by a universal force that some call god, or divine intelligence, or whatever, but it is there and it is calling us to love.

I can see no other possible explanation for love’s very existence.

In that sense love is the ultimate good. And the ultimate good is the best representation that we can mortally muster of that universal force.

So much is done in our world for motivations that are diametrically opposed to love. They are done for selfish gain or interest, greed, lustful cruelty, or for religious, or nationalistic reasons.

We talk of love for country as if it were the highest form of sacrificial love. I disagree, highly. I believe this form of intense patriotic love is what separate us. It’s what threatens us.

And when I use that word, us, I am talking the big US…not the small one.

You see, love of country presupposes that the small us is the only us worth loving. The revolutionary misfit has a love much grander than that. It is love for all people, everywhere. We care just as much about them in Uganda and Uruguay as we do for those in the urban areas over which we daily tread.

Do you really love people? You should since you belong to that species yourself.

Do you love planet? Well, you ought to, since it is the only celestial home we have at the moment.

Do you love the universal connection that we all share? I hope so because it is the lowest common denominator of our being.

If you do truly love those three things and if that rare form of revolutionary love is your primary motivational force for impact…

then you certainly qualify as a revolutionary…

and as a misfit.

This post is an excerpt from The Revolutionary Misfit Manifesto.

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My Magic Wand

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my magic wand

Here’s an ancient blog post resurrected, that also happens to be an excerpt from The Revolutionary Misfit Manifesto.

…

If I could develop an ideal product it would have to be a magic wand.

One that I could wave around in Harry Potter-like fashion and fix all the things I believe need fixing.

But, wait a minute, what exactly are those “things?”

And maybe if I could identify exactly what it is that I think needs fixing, then I wouldn’t need my magic wand.

There might be another more feasibly develop-able product that could do the trick.

Nevertheless, if I did have a magic wand and could wave it around fixing things, the one thing I would want most to fix is indifference.

Granted, I would need to start by waving the wand over my own head.

What exactly do I mean by indifference?

What I don’t mean is waving the wand and turning myself and everyone else into proverbial Mother Teresas of compassionate action. I am basically talking about indifference to the impacts that what we do (and especially what we don’t do) have on the world.

Perhaps we’re indifferent because we rationalize to ourselves that we’re just too small and insignificant to make a difference.

So, why bother?

Therefore, we lower our heads and go about the hum drum existence of generating enough “daily bread” to get by. Doing our basic duty that we feel is owed to the small space of our existence and feeling fairly good about it. Until we step back and ask ourselves, could there be more to it than this?

The answer usually is…you betcha.

I think often we’re indifferent because we rationalize to ourselves that we’re just too small and insignificant to make a difference. So, why bother?

Apart from the impacts of things like throwing garbage out the window of your car (since there’s already so much out there), I believe the more insidious impacts come from what we don’t do. We choose to relegate our existence to something far less than what it could be, what it was perhaps meant to be.

Why do we do that? Because of societal messages that tell us to quell the temptation of dreaming and doing. Leave that to someone more talented. That there are only a chosen few who are allowed to step outside the circle of conformity and do really cool shit.

And if you dare to make such attempt, the critics will pounce with full force in order to rein you back in.

So we remain indifferent to the whole idea. Maybe even cynical towards it.

It’s irresponsible.

It’s outside the mainstream.

It’s coloring outside of the lines and we were taught early on that that equates to poor performance.

Shaking off the shackles of indifference will win you many critics. Some might even call you nuts. They will say you need help. Someone to talk to that can dispel those nutty notions…exorcise those demons of difference-making.

After all, who exactly do you think you are? You’re no Ghandi or King. You have no looks of Pitt or Jolie, brush skills of Picasso, or oratory flare of Kennedy (as Dan Quayle was once crushingly reminded).

You can’t dance, can’t sing, can’t even count very well. So, just pick up that shovel and get back to digging yourself a deeper hole of despair and despondency.

Shaking off the shackles of indifference will win you many critics. Some might even call you nuts.

This morning, even though I don’t have my magic wand, I do have this magic MacBook Air that I can metaphorically wave, saying…FUCK the critics.

And what I can tap tap tap out on these magic keys can emanate to the far corners of this world and be criticized and condemned, but also coveted by someone who, like me, refuses to be indifferent.

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