Tags
American politics, Lynching of African Americans, Make America White Again, Native American Genocide, Toxic Lake Okeechobee, Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire, Wounded Knee Massacre
Draining Toxic Lake Okeechobee – Florida – USA
Photo Credit: The Weather Channel (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
Metaphors are important tools in a writer’s word-box. “Draining the swamp” is a powerful metaphor put to excellent use by our President-elect during his campaign for our nation’s top post. He has promised to rid our government of entrenched cronies who only serve their own self-interests and those of their masters and facilitators. We-the-people can drown in the swamp for all they care.
As our President-elect begins draining the swamp, he has skimmed only the surface scum and dead leaves and, based on his latest selections for his cabinet and other top administration posts, has made room for more toxic detritus.
The swamp extends across America. In some places, it’s dense and putrid with the carcasses upon which we have built our nation. Are we ready to drain the swamp? Some among us want to make America white again. When was that? Was that after we had decimated the Native Indian populations who inhabited these lands thousands of years before the white man’s arrival? Their carcasses rest at the bottom of the swamp.
Wounded Knee Massacre – North Dakota – December 29, 1890
Photo Credit: Wikipedia
What about the African slaves and their descendants whose forced labor built this nation? Their carcasses form another layer in the bottom of the swamp.
Lynching of African American in Omaha – Nebraska – 1919
Photo Credit: Daily Kos
What about the successive waves of black, brown, white, and yellow immigrants who labored under inhumane conditions to fuel our industrial revolution? Their carcasses intermingle below the surface of the swamp.
Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire – New York City – March 25, 1911
Photo Credit: NYU/STERN Center for Business & Human Rights
It’s easy to skim the surface of the swamp of toxic algae and decaying vegetation. Are we ready to go deeper? Are we ready to drain the swamp?
Are we ready to face our barbarity and callousness towards those we have deemed a threat, worthless, inferior, or dispensable?
Are we ready to ratify that all men and women are created equal and deserve the same treatment and opportunities for their growth and prosperity?
Are we ready to let go of our selfish desires and work together to save ourselves from becoming yet another layer of the swamp?
Draining the swamp will be tough and soul-searching work. It will test the human capacity for openness, forgiveness, sharing, kindness, compassion, and love. It will require a collective effort.
Are you ready to join me in draining the swamp?
Three Worlds One Vision 
I join you, Rosaliene, in our fight for democracy – Let’s drain the swamp!
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Thanks, JoAnn! We need all hands on deck.
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Reblogged this on JoAnn Chateau and commented:
Rosaliene Bacchus asks, “Are we ready to let go of our selfish desires and work together to save ourselves from becoming yet another layer of the swamp?”
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Thanks for the re-blog, JoAnn. Much appreciated ❤
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My pleasure!
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Very well said!
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Thanks. And thanks for dropping by 🙂
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compassionate plea
for unity!
while i’ve not
experienced
a successful
collective social movement
or shift in consciousness,
i believe it’s possible 🙂
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I believe that, as individuals, we underestimate the power of our interactions with others and their ripple effects. Consider how a single act by a complete stranger has altered your life, for good or for bad.
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This post is powerful, but this comment is even more so. Almost two months ago, I was at a campus forum about race in politics. After the keynote speaker had given his presentation, someone in the audience asked him, “But who is qualified to lead us (in the pursuit of a more inclusive society).”
That’s a question I’ve heard progressives ask many times, and it misses the point entirely. As long as we wait for some political Messiah to save our country, nothing will change. If we truly want a shift in consciousness, it starts with us. There is power in everyday actions. The way we behave towards each other sets the norm for what is acceptable. So while it might not be enough to change everything, we the people need to get the ball rolling be treating one another with love and respect. We need to send the message that hate and discrimination are unnaceptable, and the best way to do that is by example.
Again, this alone might not be enough to drain the swamp. But it’s a start. The greatest social movements of the 20th Century were based on inclusiveness and compassion, and we need to encourage those values through our behavior.
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Pardon my butting in here but… YES! YES! YES! and one more time: YES!
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Haha thank you so much Sha’Tara! You’ve made my day 🙂
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Thanks, Josh. Hundreds of unknown leaders in the USA and worldwide have risen up from among us who are already leading the way in diverse issues that we face. Every great accomplishment begins with a first step, a first small deed.
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an encouraging notion, Rosaliene!
yes, all words & actions have karma.
may this society of strangers meet
and inspire each other
in a compassionate direction
that we, collectively
do the right thing 🙂
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For those of us who strive to do the right thing, we must work ceaselessly in inspiring each other “in a compassionate direction” – each in his/her own way 🙂
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I join you Rosaliene. The news, as much as I try to limit my intake of the TV version, is still there in the morning NY Times. The swamp doesn’t drain, but thickens.
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“The swamp doesn’t drain, but thickens.”
~ This is what I find disturbing. We cannot afford to falter or it will consume us.
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Quote: “Draining the swamp will be tough and soul-searching work. It will test the human capacity for openness, forgiveness, sharing, kindness, compassion, and love. It will require a collective effort.”
To achieve that level of commitment means “we” (and the swamp extends beyond your nation’s borders, never fear) will need to de-focus from all the stuff that takes away our energy and focus. It will mean a constant mental “Stop!” when our thoughts want to engage the very stuff that created the swamp, the hate, the fear, the bigotry. Endless forgiveness, endless kindness, endless compassion, regardless of consequences to ourselves, our reputation.
And… if we don’t get the collective effort happening, it will mean we go at it alone, in the moonlight, with our own shovel but still go at it. It will mean doing the “impossible” as if it was possible and never question our spiritual and mental “madness.” Not well said but that’s my comment.
I am reblogging your post, hope that’s OK…
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Sha’Tara, thanks for reblogging my post. Much appreciated ❤
"We will need to de-focus from all the stuff that takes away our energy and focus."
~ Definitely! That's an essential first step. Collective effort requires an individual engagement. As individuals, we each do what we can – "alone, in the moonlight" – in contributing to the collective. The sum of all parts makes up the whole.
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Reblogged this on ~Burning Woman~ and commented:
A very well-put thought on the concept of “draining the swamp” by Rosaliene. Yes, definitely worth a read if we care about anything at all.
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Thanks for that boost, Sha’Tara 🙂
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Reblogged this on Guyanese Online.
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Cyril, thanks for sharing my post with your readers. Have a wonderful Christmas holidays with your loved ones ❤
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Good one Rosaliene,keep up the good works.
Norman
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Thanks, Norman 🙂
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Those who “decimated the Native Indian populations” believed themselves to be superior to those they were destroying. Many thought they were chosen by their god to create a new sustainable life for themselves away from the strictures placed on them by ‘the establishment’ in the Europe they left behind. The irony is that they became ‘the establishment’ in the new land. Be careful what you wish for. Those who comprise ‘the establishment’ are humans pretty much like you and me. Promoting hatred for them is no better than promoting hatred based on skin color or religious belief.
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Thanks for sharing, Frank. Over the centuries, we humans continue to make the same mistakes as our predecessors.
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Rosaliene,
Yet another thought-provoking blog. It reminds me there are glimmers of hope for small-scale cooperative effort, beginning with local communities. I just skimmed the current issue of “Yes!” magazine, which stands out as one source of practical and people/earth friendly ideas for finding solutions within the problems.
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Thanks, Katherine. I like to think of the power of millions of water droplets that fall to the Earth as rain.
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I’m conflicted in my answer. On the one hand, I believe everything that you say here has the ability to take place, but it does require “soul searching.” On the other hand, I know that many people don’t want to look in the mirror of their “selves” to drain their own personal swamps, so I’m not sure there’s a collective “YES” on this one either. I’m afraid that political life is continuing as business as usual, but I still remain hopeful because I do know that all it takes is one person to do one thing differently. Thanks Rosaliene. I hope this doesn’t sound to pessimistic; you know I’m always hopeful.
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Thanks for your honesty, Kathy. Our interactions with each other are complex and conflicting. There is no easy way forward.
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Just passing by, got into this thread and thought I should add my support to Ms Garland’s comment which echoes my thoughts on the necessity to “drain the swamp” of the “detritus” each of us may have collected in life. Imho,that’s where the work, hard but essential work begins. Hopefully each of us, through honest self-examination and communication with each other, can achieve transformation to an elevated and harmonious consciousness. Discussions such as this reveal that there are still beautiful people, hope and love in this world… despite constant bombardment with political detritus.
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Thanks for passing by, Gary, and sharing your thoughts on this issue. “Honest self-examination and communication with each other” is a good way to start draining our own personal swamps.
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Amen, Rosaliene. I like this metaphor. I think we can all use it in our personal lives as well–getting rid of toxic people, habits, and beliefs. Nice to discover your blog.
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Thanks, Evelyn 🙂
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brilliant!
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Thanks, Lara 🙂
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Every nation and every person has a swamp, and the United States has made great improvements in draining it. The United States need stand with no more shame than others, but Globalists seeking to destroy this country, enemies foreign and domestic, are trying to divide us as they also attempt to create within our nation a feeling of great guilt and, among other nations, hatred of this country. May the world recognise that it is the promoters of the New World Order who will bring to all but a very few ruin, disaster. Their motto, “Out of chaos order.” They have long been working creating chaos, and the order they have in mind will not be pleasant to the few of us and our descendants left alive.
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Thanks for dropping by and sharing your thoughts on this issue.
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