Winds of Change

Life is a series of peaks and valleys. All you can hope is that the peaks last longer than the valleys and you can rebound quickly from the valleys. For the past several months I have been riding a peak but I sense a change. Forces are at work and I can feel the valley just around the corner.

I often think I should just dive right into my hell and confront the demons. What type of change? The type of change that can take your family, your house and everything. The type of change that forces a man to start over.

I received some horrible news on Monday which is why I have not posted much this week. This horrible news has caused a ripple effect throughout my life and so the descent has begun. As usual, this news was created by the greed of corporate America but only negatively impacts innocent, hard-working people just trying to earn a living. When things around you are already fragile, this ripple effect acts like a devastating tsunami destroying everything in its path.

The last tsunami struck in 2002 when I was fired from my job for no good reasons. My projects were successful and I never failed to deliver a quality service. This time someone close to me is in danger of losing their job or at least losing much compensation even though they have been successful and worked hard. The tsunami from this situation could destroy everything around me.

I still remember 2002 when my confidence was shattered. My paradigms were permanently altered. Depression consumed me and ate away at my attitude. From a little boy I was raised to believe hard work transcended into success. So I worked hard but I was rewarded with a lay off during the worst recession in years. And it particularly hit the IT industry the hardest.

Just when I thought I would drown in a pool of depression, I was lifted to safety by a ray of sunshine called education. As I finished my degree I discovered I was right and they were wrong. But I learned their religion anyway; the religion of the depraved.

The religion of the upper class is capitalism. Money is more important than family, profit margins are more important than people. This religion has no conscience, patience or justice. It is unforgiving and can be wielded as a justification for atrocities, such as, destroying towns, families and lives. Capitalism really is not evil but they have taken it to an extreme level where it is evil. Just like the communists took socialism to an extreme and evil level.

This religion has a different set of rules for us and them. Although the corporate monster is allowed unlimited profits, our wages are capped and limited. So a company can demand 25% growth in profits and demand all personnel double their hours but only give 3% (or no) raises to compensate. This religion is revered by the upper classes because it sucks the life from the lower class and delivers the blood directly into their pockets. It also allows the “old boys club” to justifiably and legally behave like little Hitlers.

These Hitlers do not use guns to kill and destroy, they use ink pens, keyboards and memos. Instead of Nazism they use economics but they both have the some result. Globalization is a term which realistically means middle class genocide but we are told this is “good for the economy” even though small towns are destroyed, homes are lost and families are separated.

Lower class religion is socialism. We help each other when we need it. We provide food when people are hungry. When the power goes out we check up on our elderly neighbors to make sure they are alright. We donate time and energy to help homeless people and abused animals. We have a hard time understanding how oil companies can earn tens of billions of dollars in profit each quarter but the government finds no wrong doing. Meanwhile people have to choose between gas in the car and medicine for sick children. Yet we are taught in business and in the media that socialism is wrong. In the fifties it was considered treason even though most of Americans were socialists. How did it get to this?

I have found refuge from the slime that is corporate America but it could be ending soon. I could be forced to again support a system of destruction while wearing a mask of smiles and a costume consisting of a suit and tie. This blog is my also mask and I often hide behind it to speak candidly. Otherwise, I feel like I would be persecuted for my opinions.

As I brace for the impact of this tsunami, I feel helpless. It is times like these you realize how insignificant your life is to the powers that be. I have no idea upon which shore I will wash up but I hope and pray we will somehow endure.