Scary Times

"We are waking up from the spell
That those that profit from the fear
Cast so well
And good people of the Earth
Now can tell,
There is no us and them".
Milissa Etheridge.

A long, long time ago a mad prophet came to the door of my lodge. He came with tobacco so I had to let him in.
I had been avoiding him because I did not possess the healing skills to help him and he made me uncomfortable and uneasy. He made everyone uneasy with his incessent rambling speech patterns and the constant washing of his hands.
This man was a Viet-Nam veteran, it was rumored that he had been a tunnel rat. He was taking a massage practitioner course at Heartwood and I was employed teaching Appalachian Folk Dulcimer. I do not recall his name.
I remember him saying that he was Mexican-Apache.
For three hours on that late fall afternoon he rambled on and on; sentences and fragments of sentences tumbling from his lips, making absolutely no sense.
I listened closely, gazing at his chest as he spoke. Making eye contact caused him to be even more incoherent. Occasionally I was able to make some sense of his words and I would nod and smile.
Finally he paused and I gazed at his face in the silence.
He smiled at me. "You haven't understood a single word I've said, have you?" he asked.
"Well," I replied, glancing at the clock on my nightstand, "To be honest, it seems like I've been listening to three hours of balls, bullshit and poppycock but you brought me tobacco in a good way and I'm prepared to sit here forever or until you say what you came here to say."
There followed the most amazing monologue . He told me a long detailed and perfectly coherent story of the Virgin of Guadalupe and what it meant from an Indigenous perspective.
His story concluded, the young man stood and looked down at me.
"Hard times are coming, Bear," he said. "but do not be afraid. This time the Fascists will not win." Then he turned and left the room.
I do not remember what he said about Guadalupe. I was doing a lot of smoke during that time and for years after but I remembered his final advice. "Do not be afraid. This time the Fascists will not win." and I wondered for a long time if that statement was just a part of his madness or, if not, what it possibly had to do with me.
My question was answered in 2000.
I was hosting the radio show Turtle Island on KZSC radio in Santa Cruz CA and had occasion to say some very harsh things about the administration and about the FBI. I immediately recieved five calls; four expressing fear that something bad might happen to me and the fifth a direct threat that if I continued speaking my mind on the air something bad would definitely happen. I immediately went live and informed my listeners of that fifth call and asked them if I did disappear to please try and find me.
Miki and I discussed the situation. She said that she would support any decision I made. After a good deal of soul searching I decided that I had lived a good life and has done exactly what I wanted to do.
I thought: "If I have to die, maybe it's a good day to die." I got out my hand drum and practised my death chant. Then I remembered. "Do not be afraid. This time the Fascists will not win."
It was a pretty gutsy stance to take at the time but by 2007 enough high profile people had come out against the neo-con agenda and once again I was just a minnow swimming in a huge pond and I could feel pretty safe.
And now here we are and the dark side is in acendancy one again, ready to manufacture another tragedy or provoke another unjust war or restart the Cold War in a desperate effort of hold onto power.
What can we do in the face of a co-opted media and a Corporate plutocracy?

I offer those words to all who are putting themselves on the line at this time against the forces of oppression and the exploitation of the planet and its people.

"DO NOT BE AFRAID. THIS TIME THE FASCISTS WILL NOT WIN."


You all take real good care of yourselves.

Huy'

Bear Becoming

P.S

What do you get if you put lipstick on a Bush?

Answer: Anything would probably be an improvement.