The Cold Within

[Starman]

In my opinion racism is really not about the color of a persons’ skin rather I think it is about “tribal mentality.”
There are similarities between racism and sexism, as they both prejudge a person based on that person’s physical characteristics.

Human beings have more in common than they do that is different but it seems we give much more attention
to our differences than we do our commonalities. I like to think of myself as a “bridge builder” and not a divider,
and I know that love is the answer.

But in human relationships a lot of people struggle with love, or they love to hate; as love is harmony even in discord.
Yes, the greatest love is unconditional and does not require an object or person to love; love for love’s sake and nothing else.

Spiritually people say that “we are all the same” and our physical body is but a covering, like clothes we wear to
present ourselves to this world. But that message does not seem to come through, and it seems generally people are
more interested in their tribes more than anything else.

Be that tribe their particular religion or spiritual group, their gender or sexual orientation, their nationality and ethnic group,
and yes, also the color of their skin. All of these things are on the surface and they are as “tribes” that honker down together
and form an “us and them” mentality.

It is the us and them mentality which fosters division among people. Although we can grow from differences, in my opinion,
we should not abandon our similarities. Arguments can serve a purpose but arguments can also create wars; the wars we
have with each other, in our personal lives, our family, or neighborhood, are the pups of greater conflicts between nations and peoples.

It all starts on a very personal level with ideologies and concerns which can grow into a full blown military conflict with people
killing each other. But it began with domestic violence, gang warfare, and violence in our neighborhoods. It all begins in our mind
and the violence we entertain in our emotions, which gives rise to what we see in our world today; for what we see is but an
expression of what is going on inside of people. But we can spread love just as much as hate, and that spreading of love has the
potential to infect people over great distances; it is something we can do if we but choose to do such.

This is just me venting. So here is what I feel is an appropriate poem for this post, which was written among all the social turmoil
and strife that took place back in the late 1960’s; “The Cold Within,” by James Patrick Kinney.

THE COLD WITHIN

SIX HUMANS TRAPPED BY HAPPENSTANCE
IN BLACK AND BITTER COLD,
EACH ONE POSSESSED A STICK OF WOOD,
OR SO THE STORY’S TOLD.

THEIR DYING FIRE IN NEED OF LOGS,
THE FIRST WOMAN HELD HERS BACK,
FOR ON THE FACES AROUND THE FIRE,
SHE NOTICED ONE WAS BLACK.

THE NEXT MAN LOOKING ACROSS THE WAY
SAW ONE NOT OF HIS CHURCH,
AND COULD’T BRING HIMSELF TO GIVE
THE FIRE HIS STICK OF BIRCH.

THE THIRD ONE SAT IN TATTERED CLOTHES.
HE GAVE HIS COAT A HITCH.
WHY SHOULD HIS LOG BE PUT TO USE
TO WARM THE IDLE RICH?

THE RICH MAN JUST SAT BACK AND THOUGHT
OF THE WEALTH HE HAD IN STORE,
AND HOW TO KEEP WHAT HE HAD EARNED
FROM THE LAZY SHIFTLESS POOR.

THE BLACK MAN’S FACE BESPOKE REVENGE
AS THE FIRE PASSED FROM HIS SIGHT.
FOR ALL HE SAW IN HIS STICK OF WOOD
WAS A CHANCE TO SPITE THE WHITE.

AND THE LAST MAN OF THIS FORLORN GROUP
DID NOT EXCEPT FOR GAIN.
GIVING ONLY TO THOSE WHO GAVE,
WAS HOW HE PLAYED THE GAME.

THE LOGS HELD TIGHT IN DEATH’S STILL HANDS
WAS PROOF OF HUMAN SIN.
THEY DIDN’T DIE FROM THE COLD WITHOUT,
THEY DIED FROM THE COLD WITHIN.

[Rozie]

That was a very good spell.

[Within Silence]

I think these two songs by Rush sum up well humanities problem.


"Witch Hunt" - Lyrics by Rush

The night is black
Without a moon
The air is thick and still
The vigilantes gather on
The lonely torch lit hill

Features distorted in the flickering light
The faces are twisted and grotesque
Silent and stern in the sweltering night
The mob moves like demons possessed
Quiet in conscience, calm in their right
Confident their ways are best

The righteous rise
With burning eyes
Of hatred and ill-will
Madmen fed on fear and lies
To beat and burn and kill

They say there are strangers who threaten us
In our immigrants and infidels
They say there is strangeness too dangerous
In our theaters and bookstore shelves
That those who know what's best for us
Must rise and save us from ourselves

Quick to judge
Quick to anger
Slow to understand
Ignorance and prejudice
And fear walk hand in hand...


"The Weapon" -Lyrics by Rush


We've got nothing to fear...but fear itself?
Not pain, not failure, not fatal tragedy?
Not the faulty units in this mad machinery?
Not the broken contacts in emotional chemistry?

With an iron fist in a velvet glove
We are sheltered under the gun
In the glory game on the power train
Thy kingdom's will be done

And the things that we fear are a weapon to be held against us...

He's not afraid of your judgment
He knows of horrors worse than your Hell
He's a little bit afraid of dying
But he's a lot more afraid of your lying

And the things that he fears are a weapon to be held against him...

Can any part of life be larger than life?
Even love must be limited by time
And those who push us down that they might climb
Is any killer worth more than his crime?

Like a steely blade in a silken sheath
We don't see what they're made of
They shout about love, but when push comes to shove
They live for the things they're afraid of

And the knowledge that they fear is a weapon to be used against them...

[Within Silence]

..and then eventually we must begin to live a little more..

"Closer To The Heart" -Lyrics by Rush

And the men who hold high places
Must be the ones who start
To mold a new reality
Closer to the heart
Closer to the heart
The blacksmith and the artist
Reflect it in their art
They forge their creativity
Closer to the heart
Closer to the heart

Philosophers and ploughmen
Each must know his part
To sow a new mentality
Closer to the heart
Closer to the heart
You can be the captain
I will draw the chart
Sailing into destiny
Closer to the heart

[Starman]

You two remind me of my own youth; when talking about social issues in my day I might have quoted lyrics from a Beatles song.

[Within Silence]

Originally Posted by Starman

You two remind me of my own youth; when talking about social issues in my day I might have quoted lyrics from a Beatles song.

There is much wisdom in some music, as its not always just about the music/instrumentation, but the message in the lyrics along with the way the music makes us feel. Its funny, many will sing the lyrics to a song but really have no idea what the lyrics/words are even pointing too.

It all comes down to words, what the words themselves are pointing to. If a king speaks the same words as a beggar are his words more true? Hence, humanity needs to drop "who" is speaking the words and begin to listen to words themselves, drop the container and listen to the content coming out of the container, just listen, see what the words are pointing too. Just because the Beatles or Rush (popular band of the day) say something does not mean its true or even beneficial, just as, if a beggar says something it doesn't mean its not beneficial.

[Starman]

Originally Posted by Within Silence

There is much wisdom in some music, as its not always just about the music/instrumentation, but the message in the lyrics along with the way the music makes us feel. Its funny, many will sing the lyrics to a song but really have no idea what the lyrics/words are even pointing too.

It all comes down to words, what the words themselves are pointing to. If a king speaks the same words as a beggar are his words more true? Hence, humanity needs to drop "who" is speaking the words and begin to listen to words themselves, drop the container and listen to the content coming out of the container, just listen, see what the words are pointing too. Just because the Beatles or Rush (popular band of the day) say something does not mean its true or even beneficial, just as, if a beggar says something it doesn't mean its not beneficial.

I definitely agree, and was just reminiscing about my own use of music.

[Mr Interesting]

Way back in '69 my Mum and Dad brought us, me and my brother and sister, way across the continent of North America and right across the Pacific Ocean to New Zealand and from there on in it was fun time.

Even decades before the ideas of Multi culturalism even took hold there we were in this huge melting pot with everyone making up the rules as they went. Almost everyone, each family, around where we were had moved as far as they could from other places where the joining they'd made wasn't accepted so they'd ended up making it all up here where we were.

Yes, there were cultural differences, but they were fun, they were our trading cards... what have you got that we haven't, how is yours different from mine?

Took me decades, this easy acceptance of potential difference, to see it was almost completely different further out... and that was what seemed stupid.

Now where I live is being gentrified. These fine old houses are being seen by the money as an easy win. Funny thing is we kinda did the same thing 16 years ago except we had a precedence as in I'd always been more comfortable when being white was in the minority... and even when I went, at age 30, into town for a year of Art school it felt really weird that all around was only whites and a smattering of the darker hues, it was weird, as I didn't really have any idea who these white people were... they looked the same as me but they were aliens somehow... right, they were the middle class.

Weirdness upon weirdness as they had all these ideas about multiculturalism, what it was and how it was supposed to work, but somehow it was like these definitions of what it was just covered a fear it might just be a reality they'd actually get lost in... stupid.

[secretscribe]

I love that poem, "The Cold Within". I like the style, the nice ordered rhyming without it being aristocratic. Really it's that message that makes it great.... Bullying isn't necessarily about racism but it could be and its surely the Cold Within; today I saw a commercial-type thing about anti-bullying, it suggested that we talk about being the witness to bullying and using this emoji ��.

Witness the bullying, no matter what it is. Be the witness to bullying. ��

Edit: It's the emoji that's a big eye.

[RyanWind]

Very insightful posts. Scientists have said races don't exist. The DNA differences between so called "races" are actually trivial. There is only one type or species of human. It's amazing how humans can make up reality. People talk like races are a real thing.