Editor’s note: This op-ed is by Glenda Bissex of Plainfield, a part-time learning specialist at Goddard College. George Plumb of Washington contributed to her commentary.
I used to feel anger at George W. Bush. I finally realized that its source was a feeling of shame about my country being led by someone who seemed to lack compassion, generosity and wisdom. I now feel great disappointment in Barak Obama because I expected a miracle, and he has not turned Washington or U.S. policies around.
I see now that the basic problem wasn’t George Bush and isn’t Barak Obama. The problem is a society where power, unsustainable economic growth and military dominance have become measures of policy and, by default, our moral touchstones. “Our economic system institutionalizes greed, militarism, institutionalizes ill will, and the media institutionalize delusion,” observes Zen Buddhist philosopher and social critic David Loy.
The Tea Party and the Occupy Wall Street movements are attempts to respond to our national discontent. I prefer the Occupy Wall Street movement because I think it is based on sounder underlying philosophies. As a member of the newly formed Vermont chapter of the Buddhist Peace Fellowship, I participated in the Montpelier rally in solidarity with thousands across the country who are standing up together against corporate greed, politicians controlled by money, the grossly inequitable squandering of taxpayers’ dollars and the disregard of the environment. These are all causing tremendous suffering for the poor, and now even the middle class both here and in other countries. Unless corrective action is taken, that suffering will only increase.
Such ills occur when, failing to see our interconnectedness, we divide the world between “us” and “them”– even we innocent citizens and those greedy corporations. We’re all part of the fabric. That fabric is woven not just with a material thread but with a spiritual thread as well. It is our spiritual feelings of “that could easily be me” at work when we see one of the dozens of homeless people living in central Vermont. That realization is what moves me to action.
I have to ask myself how I can stop collaborating with a system that breeds alienation, greed and delusion. Switching my accounts from a national bank to a local financial institution and doing as much of my shopping in locally- owned businesses are just a couple of the practical small steps that I am making. I must ask myself, too, how my own actions and assumptions are tainted by the values Wall Street represents. Do I get hooked by feelings of not having “enough”?
I am heartened by the thousands of Vermonters who, most recently in response to Irene’s devastation, demonstrated compassion and generosity. I am grateful to Joseph Gainza and the others who facilitated the rally in Montpelier, and those who organized rallies in other communities on such short notice. I am grateful to the Times Argus for considering it front-page news. We need more media attention on these issues.
I hope and practice for the day when compassion, generosity and clear-sightedness –qualities that are part of our human nature–will guide our daily lives without needing crises to call them forth.
