it's been a while. but I have to write this. I used to work for a very big cruiseline, on two of their "luxury" ships. there were staff and crew from all over the world! at first glance, this seemed to be an equitable, ideal situation for all kinds of people, until I looked more closely. what i saw when i did was this: different nationalities and races being treated differently based on their socioeconomic backgrounds... for instance, most of the cleaners/luggage loaders were from the islands, in very poor parts, with large families in great need. so what does this cruiseline do? subcontract these folks at a rate of fifty dollars a month, with no transportation paid for to and from the ship, no port time, no on board privileges, because it would be too upsetting to the passengers to have to spend any time socially with someone who cleans up after them. nobody is forcing them to go, you might say. but there is little or no work at home, and what there is pays almost nothing. this is a little better than nothing, and so they are forced to work eighteen hour days, seven days a week, with almost no shore leave even on embarkation days because they have to ready the rooms and load and unload luggage. for tips and fifty bucks a month salary. now it so happens that i was one of the entertainers, and the entertainers have the cushiest jobs aboard ship. other than rehearsals and performances and the occasional social event, the only other obligatory part of the job was safety training and boat drills. we had plenty of shore time, plenty of port time, were ENCOURAGED to mix with the passengers socially (but not in any other way, especially sexually, or one risked being fired) and of course our quarters and the cleaners' quarters were DIRECTLY next to each other. needless to say, since they ALSO had to take care of our rooms and clean up after us (!!!!!!) they HATED us, understandably, and would turn us in on the slightest infraction at the slightest provocation. and this, of course, is not accidental in any way. this is an example of tactics used by corporate America and fascist governments everywhere of "divide and conquer" mentality. the whole idea behind it is that if you can divide people against each other, and keep them believing that the other is the enemy, you can much more easily control them. this is true in religion, when each religion claims to be the right one and all others flawed, wrong and basically evil. this is true in politics, which is becoming more and more interchangeable with religion the crazier the planet gets... hmm, interesting, isn't? it is true in media, school, and packs of wild animals everywhere. how better to get at the weak? split up the herd.
skip to tonight, i am watching a HOUSE rerun on Hulu, and there is some inane commercial for homestyle quick mac and cheese. the premise is, dad shows up home to an OF COURSE mom-made dinner with a client, unannounced. his 9 year old son is relaying the information to us, telling us what an idiot dad is and how he "really screwed this one up" and i am sitting and shaking my head in dismay when i realize it is exactly the same "Divide and Conquer" thinking as engaged in by the rest of corporate America, but in a much subtler, more insidious fashion. there is never a need to agitate an already fragile generational gap in any way. the world has now arrived at a critical mass; we have too much information too much of the time and no accurate way to interpret all of it at the lightning speed at which it hits us. we need each other, as people, now more than we ever have before, in history, because our advanced technology has brought us all so close together, whether we wish to be or not. and if you have ever been stuck on a subway train in new york city in august you know exactly what i am talking about. it may be obnoxious at times, but that's the way it is. so what we need to do is figure out a way to make it work, find ways to like each other and understand each other. enough of us flinging crap at each other. we are not in a zoo. we need to live our lives more responsibly, and not just more green or sustainable, but more aware of each other. i see it all over the place, both the times when nobody is even paying attention because they are too busy texting, to times like tonight, when i had ordered dinner at a little Italian place and, while sitting and waiting for my order, i got the amazing privilege of being able to experience watching the Buddha nature of a little five year old girl who kept doing her gentle quiet best to connect with people with her eyes. i was one of the lucky ones, and so i honored that connection with every fiber of my being and allowed her to see me. and then i watched her as she tried to connect with a bigger girl, whom she kept looking at and smiling shyly, as if she wanted to be friends with the bigger girl. and the bigger girl was at the age where they think little kids are not worth seeing, around 10 maybe. and the little one just turned her attention back to her big fat slice of cheesy deep dish pizza and laughed with her parents, and took none of it personally. and i walked out of that restaurant a better human. it is no wonder i was upset by the generational agitation taking place on my quickly dying computer.
we have been rolling over complacently for enough years... hell, the very technology i now use to write this blog is potentially part of the problem, and so i wish consciously to be part of the solution. i don't wish to denigrate corporate America... what a large and easy target, and nothing is all bad. i only wish to acknowledge my own complacency, and the fact that i am increasingly awake and aware the more i learn and heal and grow, and i only want to hold a gentle mirror up to us and maybe encourage us to look honestly into it, and see the whole of who we are, and do the best we can to be good aware people, and notice each other, and care about each other, as actively as we can. if you have read this and related, please repost it for me. thanks.
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