Reason and Results

 Good Evening, Sisters and Brothers.  

I find that contemplation is a funny thing, best accomplished when the opportunity arises.  I have also found that revelation comes at the oddest moments, at least for the Rev.  

Saturday morning found me tackling non-Rev chores around the Fortress of Solitude.  There were many piles of leaves to load into the wheel-barrow, and mole hills to shovel away.  As I was finishing the work, a friend arrived to putter in the big shop.  My work completed and the day ahead of me, I retired to the back deck to be contemplative, watching my feathered friends and smoking a cigar.  

In my efforts, I was joined by my friends two French Bulldogs, Ike and Bea, who were not at all entranced with sitting in the shop when they could be having their ears skritched by an idle Reverend.  So it went, alternating dogs, until Ike climbed into my lap to allow me a better vantage point for lavishing affection on his doggie self.  The Rev highly recommends the company of critters for contemplation.  The cigar, of course, is optional.

Eventually, my pal wandered over to retrieve the mutts and to chew some fat.  In the midst of our confab, he announced that the Reverend's message was getting through to him, and he was using his tax return to pay off 20% of his consumer debt.  Hallelujah!!

Revelation followed contemplation in the following manner.  The Reverend Squeaky-Eye's message is clear:  "If 20% Pay Down 20%, We Strike a Blow!"  I want everyone to know, my Brethren, that I understand how difficult this is for many of our people.  My friend has a good job and is in a position to shake off some of the shackles of debt, and that is a joyful thing to hear!! It is a joyful noise, indeed, to hear those chains and shackles fall away from our Brothers and Sisters.  The Reverend understands, however, that this is no easy task, and for many of our Brethren it is down-right near impossible.

My Revelation is clear, Brethren, and that revelation is that I need to be clear in the message.  We our aim, our goal, is that the hard-working people of our nation, and our world, will be freed from the debt and corrupt financial influence of the Corporate Demons and their Down-Pressors.  Part of the method that I am advocating for achieving that freedom is for 20% of our Brethren to pay down 20% of their consumer debt.  I know how hard this is, and I know that not everyone can even make ends meet these days.  What I am urging, Brothers and Sisters, is that those of us who are able to take action, do take action.  If some of our folks can pay off all of their debt, we raise a great shout to them.  If some of our folks can't pay off any of their debt, they can still take heart that others of their Brethren are trying to strike that blow against the Down-Pressor!  

It is my belief, Sisters and Brothers, that we do not need to pay off all of the consumer debt in our nation to get the Corporate Demons to sit up on their haunches and take notice.  No!  It is my belief we only need to break enough of the shackles and chains that the Down-Pressor feels the sting in the one place he is vulnerable, his pocket!  I am urging my Brethren to back up the words with deeds, to take action and then spread the news of that action to others so that they may take action as well.

Make no mistake, what I am advocating is taking back the money, the money that we gave the Corporate Demons.  Take it back!  Hurt these Down-Pressors in the only way that they can be hurt, make them change in the only way they will ever change, by threatening their profits.    Take the money away from them, and they become empty and harmless.

Brothers and Sisters, if you can only pay off 1% of your debt in the next year, then do that, and know that you have struck a blow.  Brethren, if all that you are able to do is simply stop sliding further into debt, then accomplish that, and know that you have struck a blow.  It is not the single effort of any of us that will be the undoing of the Down-Pressor, but rather the collective action of all of us.

I have to remind myself, and this is my revelation, that a slogan, even a good one, is just a slogan.  It is a means to an end.  In the meantime, be well, live large, and in whatever way you can, strike that blow!!