Poverty is ours or our descendents' destiny....and of course death certainly is

The likelihood that we are at peak oil, with global warming, in a country poised on a banana peel about to slip and lose its imperial status makes me think the above. The fact that we are a society in a global arena in which economic gladiators are competing, in which anybody can pretty much do anything anywhere cheaper than you with the possible exceptions of personal grooming and gravedigging makes me think the above.

The fact that we are always trying to deny what is immediately in front of us makes me think the above.

The samurai turned Zen teacher Shosan mentioned living fully as though we were warriors in battle, that only then can we act with enlightened mind.

Outside of such courage, how can we get up every morning?

Poverty is our progeny's destiny for sure, and might be ours.

Death is surely our destiny.

It may not sound happy smiley shiny but this is what the grin hides.

This is what conservatives hide.

This is what some liberals hide.

And so in that knowledge we can have a smidgen of compassion for those in denial, and joy in that even though it's probably hopeless, a salmon still manages to get upstream and spawn, albeit with Herculean effort.

Have a nice day!