…this sluggish paradise.
A human being protected
from all normal and natural hardship
simply is not alive.
We inhabit insecurely
a world
which must of its intransitory nature
be insecure.

The tyranny of mindless technology.
It is well
to use the wheel.
But it is fatal
to be bound to it.
We are trapped
in a perpetually unrewarding
hamster-wheel-of-productivity.

From HENRY BESTON’S 1948 manifesto for reclaiming our humanity by breaking the tyranny of technology and relearning to be nurtured by nature.

What can I say?  I’ve been haunted by this tune and lyric for years.  It is very hard to do anything else but listen when the tune happens on the radio.  The video here is a fine complement, a testimony to the pathos of our past and present.  I observed some of the protests of the Vietnam War up close.  At the time it seemed as if America officially was opting for darkness.  In retrospect I am certain of it.  And I do not think the lesson was learned.

And now at the dawn of a new administration many of us are thrown into the uncertainty, the anomie of adolescence.  By Executive Order policies to protect the earth are reversed, public education is to be privatized, and dictators are praised publicly.  So here we are again:

Out here in the fields
I fight for my meals
I get my back into my living
I don’t need to fight
To prove I’m right
I don’t need to be forgiven…..

However, the way forward is the same as it has always been.

It is all about the courage and the unconditioned sacrifice required to nurture community.

Sally, take my hand
Travel south crossland
Put out the fire
Don’t look past my shoulder
The exodus is here
The happy ones are near
Let’s get together
Before we get much older

The exodus is here indeed!