“Lions and tiger and bears, oh my”, as said by the Tin Man, the Scarecrow, the Lion and Dorothy as they sought some kind of help to find them a heart, a brain, courage and a home.
Seems if you are poor you are a number, just a number. If you are unemployed you are a statistic, just a statistic. If you are old you are a percentage of the population just a percentage. Seems the politicians, the talking heads, the people who are not poor, nor unemployed, nor old love to talk about numbers, statistics and percentages, cleansing their souls as they do so and then move on to something else.
The Congress and the President, took their vacations, their, so we are told, well deserved vacations while the poor remained poor, the unemployed remained unemployed, and the old continued to get old. We waited the whole month of August for the political leadership to confer, communicate contemplate the future economies of the poor, the unemployed, the old. And upon their return to Washington we witness no more then the same gamesmanship presented prior to their vacation. We see lines being drawn in the sand, bullies threatening to out politic one another and rhetoric only said to sooth the insensitive and shallow.
We are now heading into the fall political season where the priority is to run for office, win your petering election take care of your own personal career, keep your own particular job while never once really caring about the poor, the unemployed, the old. Lip service, sound bytes, quick quotes are always the instant remedy for a lingering and strangulating dilemma. Promises as poetry, lies as legitimate, emptiness as euphoria and fiction as fact run rampant and the depth of their meaning is no deeper than a milliliter of a centimeter.
The poor are still living on the crumbs of poverty, the unemployed existing out of sheer will, and the old wondering why living is so important. The poor are ignored, the unemployed villainized and the old patronized. The poor are marginalized, the unemployed stigmatized and the old demoralized. And while this is happening the talking heads keep on talking, the wealthy keep on eating, sleeping, vacationing, working and the politicians talking out of both sides of their mouths oh yeah raising those elusive dollars (that could be used for the poor, the unemployed the old) for their political campaigns.
The poor, the unemployed, the old, oh my! Like the Tin Man, the Scarecrow, the Lion, and Dorothy they seem to be walking a yellow brick road looking, seeking, hoping for answers. Like the Tin Man, the Scarecrow the Lion and Dorothy they are headed toward a man behind the curtain, a man full of words but with little intention or initiative a man who only wants to save himself.
“Lions and tiger and bears oh my”! The characters in the Wizard of Oz finally succeeded in claiming their dreams in spite of the man who only promised, posed and presided over fear and loathing. They had to realize it was their power their will to make the changes they so desired.
When do we find that same strength?
“Lions and tigers and bears, Oh my”!
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