Is it safe to be smart, yet?

Ah yes,
the question no one is asking:

Is it safe to be smart, yet?

Remember in the song,
My Funny Valentine,
there's a line to the effect
that one of the gal's problems
is that when she opens her mouth
to speak,
she's smart.

And, until recently, in Presidential
elections,
having intelligence
was scorned as elitism,

which actually,
it often was.

And then Barack Obama comes
along,
and raise discourse to the level
of intelligent people looking
at things in a broader
and more fair way

He's speech in response to the Rev Wright
imbroglio
was a model of treating people as if
they were adults, who could think
and reason

no sound bites

intelligence
I actually posted the whole thing back
then
at
Barack's Speech on Race and America
and dream's deferred

And then the question:

is it safe to be smart, yet?

Not quite

but it's almost safe to be intelligent,
especially if you can be
calm
and intelligent
the way our new President elect is

wow, what a miracle

We Did it

we,
the American people

elected a black man
to the Presidency

some voted for him
millions

some voted for the other
guy
a once honorable man
who imploded to his lowest
level

that's fine
we most of us
do that sometimes

and the other other guy
the black man
stayed calm
smart
focused:
how can we break
through into
new possibilities

many, many wanted
that shift

he is black and that wasn't the point
he is smart and that's part of the point

the point:
to use that intelligence and calm
and the organized focus of millions
of people
to create
something better
for us all

we the
people

did something amazing:
good for us

Christmas coming, the geese are getting worried, parenting Wed,

one day
we
will all be dead

apparently
one day
a long time ago
or long long
time ago
depending on your sense of timing
the Jesus child was born

he was clear on His life's purpose:
to be one with God
to speak for God
to help people find the Kingdom of Heaven within
to try to put out this radical message:
love your neighbor
love your enemy

a big job he/ He set out to do
and with some miracles to jazz up the interest
and some good parables
and a great salesman (Paul)
some of his/ His stuff and ideas are
still around

and some days
we love our neighbors
and love our enemies
and even
gasp
love our selves

wednesday is
"supposed" to be about parenting:

well,
sometimes the little shits
seem like enemies
and then
we have to remember:
whose idea was it to bring them into the world
and
what is it that they don't understand
and
what is it that we don't understand
about how we are contributing
to their being
in one of their awful states

and then,
as always,
when we learn how we are asleep
and operating out of habit
and control programs
and forgetting to listen,
we can breathe
and be
now
and listen to them
and our own life

and then we can be happy
and when we are really happy
the enemy thing
dissolves

and if this doesn't work
then the work will

ciao
chris