Do Something

The Greek Stoic Epictetus wrote, “Do you know that old age, disease, and death must overcome us, no matter what we are doing? What do you wish to be doing when it overtakes you? If you have anything better to be doing when you are so overtaken, begin on that now.”

In Buddhism, the term “Samvega” means, a sense of urgency or passion for spiritual or life practice coming from knowing the preciousness of life and the constant nearness of death.

With a powerful sense of Samvega, I’ve decided to join the Obama campaign. I’ve always followed politics closely, but I’ve never been inspired to get involved with a political candidate before. While I write this, there are over 700 wildfires burning in Northern California because of a (mild) drought, a war rages in Iraq while oil companies and commodities traders make record profits on $5/gallon gasoline. Granted, my life, other than the smell of smoke in the air, is relatively unaffected. I can afford the gas…but I wonder how the yard-maintenance man can. I know that it is on his back that those oil executives and futures traders just had a great 2nd quarter.

I believe that climate change is at hand.  That economic and political forces have become grossly corrupt such that the poor are getting much more hopelessly poor while the rich shore up their wealth in a world on the brink of dramatic and alarming change.  I know first-hand how horribly wrong our private health insurance system has become. Health insurance companies pay their employees bonuses to reject claims and I’ve personally had claims for medication, and time in the hospital rejected by Blue Cross for bogus reasons. But oddly, it was the news I heard at an upscale San Francisco restaurant that struck me: I learned that salmon fishing has been stopped for the summer because the fish have all but disappeared from the pacific coast. No one really knows why, but it’s likely overfishing, runoff from logging and pollution of the waterways and ocean.

As Americans, I see us losing touch with the values that made us great and see us cowering in fear while economic forces weaken our dollar, force home foreclosures and make us hopelessly less relevant on the world stage. Our best hope for drastic and lasting change is electing Barack Obama as President. I believe that a President Obama, with a democratically-controlled congress will help our country drastically alter course, develop a new era of world leadership and re-establish goodwill and community contribution as 21st century American values.

Yes we can.