From Love-ins to Grieve-ins--Pluto/Uranus Squared

(Written on Earth Day 4/21/13 with Pluto in Retrograde and posted on the eve of Memorial Day within the shadow of a Full Moon lunar eclipse.)

I feel that my generation—that late-blooming Boomer club—is finally coming of age in our 60s. We had such high expectations in the 1960s, but we were young and idealistic. We marched for peace, equality and civil rights. We rioted to end an unjust war, as if any war is just. I thought surely that by the new millennium we’d have peace (instead of Iraq and Afghanistan), equality (instead of ruling billionaires and a dying middle class), beautiful and bountiful lands (instead of exclusive golf courses), alternative energy (instead of ongoing dirty fossil fuel and fracking), universal healthcare (instead of Obamacare), free education (instead of exorbitant student debt) and organic gardens everywhere instead of GMO monocrops controlled by Monsanto. I also thought we’d have Jetson flying cars by now, but never mind. We do have the Leaf and the Prius, but we could have done better than this!!! We could have at least had affordable solar and rain barrels in every home and a community garden on each block!!! I am aghast at what the world has become—a cesspool of pollution, fake food, obesity, increased gun violence, uneducated millions and increased poverty. We could not have imagined 45 years ago that 1% or 442 U.S. billionaires (according to Forbes 3/13) would own and manipulate the whole kit and caboodle along with the other 984 billies worldwide.

Holy crap!

I am often overwhelmed by rage that my country is still killing and profiting from war and selling arms, and that killing machines have become ever more lethal and available to anyone who wants them…without a background check! Thank you, NRA, and shame on you for being the most sinister and powerful lobby on earth!

I believe we need to come clean and accept our collective shadow side of living in a beautiful country where so many people want to live that has caused so much pain and devastation in the name of democracy, of empire-building, of capitalism, of religion, of money, of power. No one has been untouched by the insatiable consumer culture that has transformed the entire planet. Corporate institutions—the rulers of the planet—have put profit and conformity above honoring diversity and creative expression.

I think it’s time to honor the celebratory Love-ins and ideals we had in the 60s, and replace them with Grieve-ins in our 60s. There’s so much in our national psyche that I believe needs to be recognized, deeply felt and acknowledged before we can heal and find any real peace.

So, as I take a deep breath and allow my righteous rage to subside, I want to drop to my knees and weep out of deep world grief for our culture of violence and sob until there’s nothing left to feel. This is why I’d like to see Worldwide Grieve-ins, where we gather together in parks, on golf courses, in churches, in schools, in homes and at government en claves. We can gather to embrace each other and grieve for our personal pain and loss. We can grieve for the pain that has been inflicted on native cultures, on other countries and for the war victims. We can grieve for the pain of our ancestors, for femicide in India and Africa. We can grieve for the abuse of animals, the forests and for all we have done to the earth. She will survive, but I don’t know if we will or if we should. We have not proven to be worthy stewards of the planet and its inhabitants.

I believe that only through acknowledging the abuse and injustice and grieving it can healing and change rightfully occur. And we won’t stop grieving or being outraged until we see a window of world peace and acknowledgment that we are all One. Then we can return to Love-ins and expressing our birthright of unconditional love and joy.