HE SHOULD STEP DOWN--GET A JOB, RIFF-RAFF

Remember this guy?  Of course you do.  He was the hero of the year because of his act of bravery in Tienanmen Square, so many years ago.  There are even some of you who remember the pictures of the Buddhist Monk burning himself to death in the town square of I forget what country...It was so long ago.  A man did it not too long ago in Tunisia to set off the "Arab Spring."  We all remember the pictures from Tahrir Square in Cairo and those from Lybia, and those from Iran as well as those from Syria.  We also remember the pictures from Manila of some 20 years ago when "People Power" was the featured news story for as long as the uprising against Ferdinand Marcos was raging.  All this is very interesting and you have perhaps come to the awareness  that I haven't mentioned anything about demonstrations here at home.  That's because my thought today is precisely about the difference of the personal and public reactions and opinions that make the rounds when we see it happening THERE versus when we see it happening HERE.  What a difference a "T" makes, eh? as they say in Canada.
When it happens "there" we are all righteous and populists and democratic as we denounce the leader who after all these years of oppression has it coming and he should leave.  Oh, by the way, isn't it a crime against humanity to slaughter your own people in the streets?  How perfectly righteous of you!
When it happens here, we sing a different tune.  I remember the student demonstrations that took place here.  Yes, I remember Kent State and I don't have to Google it neither.  I also remember Wounded Knee and Waco and the other place in Iowa, I think it was where we killed our own people.  NO, I haven't forgotten Selma and Mobile and Montgomery.  Have we learned?  I doubt it.  So far no one has been killed in the "Occupy..." moment.  I can honestly tell you that I am holding my breath.  After all how far can it be between, "Mob", "Riff-Raff", "Loser", "Bum", "Get a job!" and tear gas to begin with, then,  before you know it, a TAZER over-dose.
We know how to take bribes from the "mob."  We have a highly sophisticated official bribery system in place in this, the crown jewel of the world's democratic republics.  What we don't know how to do is to listen to the populace who has nothing else to give us but its time, its passion, its vision, its needs and its hopes.  That, we have an answer for, "Get a job!"  
We, just like the Arab dictators, are not afraid to ignore the reality in the streets.  "They're just students with nothing better to do."  Huh?  That's not what the pictures on television news show.  Or is that just "profiling?"  We are very human when it comes to rationalizing our situation when it is being described for us by others.  We don't like it.  We dig our heels in and refuse to give in.  When it comes to abdicating power, we become vicious and we lose a good part of our humanity.  It is not only in Arabia that it happens.  It happens here.  It also happens inside all of us, not just inside the politicians, but inside all of us.  We have to retire to our room, close the door and look to the Creator for help when it comes to this situation.  We are all vulnerable.  I know, cuz I am among 'em.  
My conclusion therefore is, empty yourself of your usual animal self; listen; learn; do the right thing for humanity according to your conscience, not according to your wallet.