Inauguration of a People

So I just finished watching the inauguration for President Obama's second term. I generally want to stay away from political discourse on this blog and site for pretty obvious reasons and I will try my best to stay under those guidelines with this post. Naturally, in the days of social media, we all have the opportunity to post our opinions and feelings on landmark moments like the one we witnessed today. It were these comments that inspired me to write this post and not the actual ceremony. I have an anecdote if you will indulge me. About a month ago, I was walking with Eljon and on the corner of Kenmare and Mulberry Streets there was a homeless man laying face down in the middle of the sidewalk experiencing a seizure. Outside of the convulsions, the man was paralyzed and seemed to be tearing. I assume out of fear. There were two people standing near him and one of them had called 911. I recalled that a pretty decent amount of people walked by us before we saw the man on the sidewalk. So that means that these folks saw him having the seizure and chose not to help him. Eljon and I were in shock to see him and were trying to figure out how to help him. I knew the paramedics were notified, but I felt like something else had to be done. Luckily, I saw a police van driving down the street. I literally jumped out in front of the van and made sure that they saw me. They stopped (thankfully so I didn't get hit) and pulled over. I told them that the man was having a seizure. When they saw that it was a homeless guy they IMMEDIATELY looked like they regretted getting out of the car. They were slow to respond and meandered instead of showing urgency. It was disappointing to say the least. I will say that the paramedics came, treated him and took him to the hospital.

I am reminded of that event today because I'm pretty certain that some of the people that walked by that man are the same people cheering for Obama during his inauguration today. These are the same people who had a chance to make their fellow man and community better, but chose not to do anything. I am not saying this to toot our own horn because we could have done more including comforting the man. We didn't do that. But the point I am trying to make is that there can't be a complete investment in our government, but not the same investment in ourselves and others. Why didn't more people help that guy out? Why did the cops change their attitude when they saw the man was homeless? Today is more about us than it is the government. There is potentially a moment every day to make this country better and what helps us move this forward is these moments. Not a dog and pony show. Not a vote. Not a liberal arts college debate that doesn't lead to action. Sometimes helping a guy out on the street makes things better. I don't want to make a grand statement with this post. But I do want to remind us all that helping each other out on a daily basis is just as important as the swearing in of a President. Our quality of life isn't just dependent upon decisions that our government makes. At the end of the day, we control that.

Thank you for reading.

Collapse...

Continuing in the movie a day challenge, I am going to give my impressions of the new documentary, "Collapse" by Chris Smith. Collapse features former LAPD cop turned investigative reporter, Michael Ruppert and his theories on the direction in which our global society is heading. He comes from a significant intelligence background with both of his parents working in some capacity with the CIA, and in fact since he was a teenager, Ruppert held above top-secret classification within the CIA. He has been following all forms of intelligence for over 30 years and paints a harrowing picture of our future. In its most simplest terms, Ruppert's premise is that when our natural resources eventually run out, our present global pardigm and system will collapse. This seems like a rather obvious statement to make but the film shows that this is way more complex than we imagine. "Collapse" goes into great detail to illustrate how oil lies at the foundation of everything that we do, spend, consume and expend. I think the film does a fantastic job of presenting Ruppert as an outsider character. The singular interview a la Errol Morris is a simple but wildly effective approach to letting the man use his own voice. I don't think there would be any other way to present Ruppert and his theories and capture the essence or danger of what they contain. There is an intensity, passion and sadness to the man that the film succeeds in capturing. The cinematography is beautiful for something that is so straightforward. It looks like an interrogation in a basement that looks like the Saw movies and there is a constant dolly shot that adds a creepiness and threat of danger throughout the piece. I think the film overall is great.

Now to the meat of this thing. I totally buy what Ruppert has to say. You can call me a conspiracy theorist or whatever but the man knows too much and analyzes the information too well for it to be dismissed. I wish I could go into detail but I don't want to ruin the film for those who haven't seen it. I will say that the issue is way more complex than just saying oil rules the world and Ruppert makes that abundantly clear. I do believe that we are running out of the one currency that makes this world go round and I do believe that we have to begin to figure out ways to adapt to this changing world. Collapse has definitely made me re-think a few things and I appreciate when a film can impact me in that way.

Here is the trailer:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lJ3r93ELuB4&hl=en&fs=1&w=600&h=338]