Compassion for Obama


Today I got an email letter from a friend of mine about my "Obama Nation" post. It occurred to me that there are a lot of us who support Obama who are feeling like the floor has dropped out from under us, and from the most unexpected source: a minister who has a vested interest in the victim status of blacks. He doesn't want things to change, because injustice is the source of his power. This is interesting as it is not confined to the black culture, but is exhibited in other cultures as well. The victim, after all, has no obligation to compromise, being the wronged party.

Dan:
 
You do some subtle and intricate thinking about the way people work.  I enjoyed reading it very much, though like certain poems, it left me feeling I am not familiar with many of the other works and theories which your own words nod to and name.  But I also had this observation, the tone is  detached, and sometimes that seems a bit off to me.  Like, I don't know, like you should be more worried and upset about the whole drama,   I wanna know what to do.  I've lost that Yes We Can feeling, and I want it back.  And even without, I wanna work for a better world and know who to work for.  I guess the drama will play out, as you say.  And I guess I'll just work like hell for whoever the Democrats choose.   And I guess till then I do what I can for Obama.  So I guess this was sort a helpful in my working through, out loud, where I go from here.

Onward! J

Well, I don't know what else to do, either.  I am watching this moron who is invested in the suffering of the blacks try to kill of his protege who is invested in assimilation of the blacks.  It breaks my heart, in a way, but on the other hand, I try to have compassion for Obama.

Compassion is not pity.  It is seeing the difficulty and pain someone else has to go through to endure their journey, and be forged in the fire, and not try to fix it or think it is wrong.  In Castenada there is the scene where the warriors have to jump over a cliff together, and Carlos tries to reassure his fellow nagual by throwing an arm around his shoulder.  This is actually harmful, and causes him to break concentration.

Did you think it would be easy to elect a black man?  He has to go through the fire and come out stronger.  Sometimes what we think helps does more harm than good, because it assumes that the other person isn't really strong enough to endure the trials of the hero's journey.

I am one hundred percent behind Obama, but I am also realistic enough to know that there are a lot of people who are invested in the Old King.   In "The Last Temptation of Christ," from the novel by Nikos Kazantzakis, there is a great scene where Pilate meets Jesus.  He tells him, "It doesn't really matter how you want to change things.  The fact is, we don't want them changed."

The most likely fate of a new hero who confronts the Fathers directly is his destruction.  I didn't come up with it and don't like it, but I don't deny the truth of it.  Most men who succeed in the existing institutions are not trying to challenge the Fathers, but to please them.

Hope you are having a good day.  You have my best regards.

Dan

Posted: Wed - April 30, 2008 at 10:03 AM