COMPLEX PERPLEXITIES AT THE BORDER

The Crisis

    Curiosity
         DREAM BIG!!!

“What’re you doing now” is a question often asked by people who knew me when but haven’t seen me in awhile. “I teach now” is my standard response. “I teach Empowerment.”

I watch their reaction to the word empowerment: uncertain, confused, unsure, unaware. “Empowerment huh” then, “where do you teach?”

“Everywhere and anywhere” comes my ready reply. “Anywhere that ‘the under’ mentality roots; everywhere that the traps to ‘the under’ ensnare.” “Huh?” most respond, perplexed.

In an earlier Post I wrote that I’d been walking in ‘the under’ for a time. You know ‘the under’ probably or you’ve heard tales of it. ‘The under’ is inhabited by those of us classified as under served or under privileged. Its residents more often than not are under-educated, under-employed, under-housed, under-paid, under-valued and under attack. An anything goes underworld if you will; where millions upon millions of people dwell, facing an under-future and a lifetime of living hell.

‘The under’ is the major intake valve for the “Pipeline to Prison”. It is a prime breeding ground for drug abuse, sexual abuse, child abuse and domestic violence. Those stuck there alternate from predator to prey at a moments notice. Their actions are based on a mind-set of ‘get mine by any means’ or ‘me against the world’ or ‘I’m in it by myself’. ‘The under’ is a very scary place because the rules are different or flipped or non-existent. Extreme poverty, distrust and the inability to unite there (as here) reinforce the status quo. Lack of literacy helps control the populace while social isolation allows the resulting mayhem.

Since 2008 I’ve been teaching Empowerment to people mired in the despair of ‘the under’. What I’ve learned since then is as perplexing to me as my cryptic response was to the oft-asked question, “what’re you doing now?”

Mostly I’m perplexed by the general population’s indifference to the chaotic misery in ‘the under’. Perplexed by our silence in the face of the evidence of our rapid societal decline. Perplexed as to why we don’t recognize our direct link to ‘the under’ or accept our collective responsibility to reverse the power of its pull.

The border to ‘the under’ is adjacent to our own and a passport is not needed to cross from one side to the other. The apathy of those not trapped there, combined with our perplexing lack of vision leaves us open and vulnerable. I’m sick of the devastation wreaked on the folks in ‘the under’. I’m tired of the carnage caused through their ignorance and rage. So I teach now. I teach Empowerment.