I am here at Vox.

I rarely come here now, there are many reasons why I don't.

I just came across a person's blog and there were some old familiar names; not the names of people I would call "nice." 

Then it hit me, a rush of anxiety and a sinking feeling of dread and my skin is still crawling.  I cannot tolerate these people any more and I don't want to run across them in my travels.  We are taught to be tolerant, but I am sorry i cannot be tolerant of people who want to harm others and think it is their duty to do so.

Life is tough and why do people feel the need to make it even tougher for other people.  Why can't people just leave people alone if they are not hurting them.

Oh and by the way, I do not need to be saved or converted to your way of thinking.  I am fed up with people who tell me they respect me and then they try and change me to their religious views.  Either you do respect me and accept me for who I am or you don't and if you don't then leave me the hell alone.

To the few friends I have left here at Vox, I apologise for not visiting but I just have not been able to face Vox and I know some of you will find that strange.  Sometimes it seems no matter how hard I try and just keep to myself someone will come along and be a total killjoy and I end up wondering what is the point!  The fact is my life is bloody tough and I rarely complain and I don't need people bringing me down.  Everyday for me is a struggle and some days it is actually a struggle to keep going. 

These days because I know just how tough life can be I just have no patience for people who want to make life even harder for people, no time for people who want to interfere in people's lives who have no business doing so, no time for people who want to prevent people from expressing their real and devoted love for each other, I think anyone reading this will get where I am coming from.

Just so I am perfectly clear on a few matters which people seem to have issues with:

I do believe in gay rights and same sex marriage.

I believe that unfortunately sometimes abortion is necessary, but at the same time we should try to do the best to reduce the number of abortions.

I do not believe in the traditional Christian, Muslim, Jewish or Hindu god.  I do believe we are all connected by some force but it is not what people traditionally call god.  That does not make me a evil person.  I am still very spiritual, but I repeat I do not believe in god.  But if you do believe in god well that is just fine, so long as you don't oppress people with your beliefs.

I am centre left in my politics and I am not about to change.

I do think love is the answer to a lot of the world's problems.  The problem is most of us are too selfish to really love enough to allow others a foot up in this world; because to allow others a foot up will most likely mean that we have to take a step down.

Oh and then there is the environment.  Yes people I do believe we humans are destroying our planet and we do need to do something about it for our future generations.  No I do not think that climate change is some divine plan from a loving god and we should just continue on as normal.

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Thank you to Vox for showing me just how loving and wonderful people can be and at the same time opening my eyes to just how absolutely horrible other people can behave.

Well I should go now.

"Oh, life is bigger
It's bigger than you
And you are not me

That's me in the corner
That's me in the spotlight, I'm
Losing my religion
Trying to keep up with you
And I don't know if I can do it
Oh no, I've said too much
I haven't said enough

Every whisper
Of every waking hour I'm
Choosing my confessions
Trying to keep an eye on you
Like a hurt lost and blinded fool, fool

 Oh no I have said too much, I haven't said enough, I set it up.

Try, cry, why try?"

Peace.

P.S. This is not goodbye.

It seems I bamboozled a couple of kind people when I wrote a post which included that fact that I was about to increase my MP medications.  Some of you have been here with me from the beginning of my treatment, so you have an idea of what I am going on about, but some of you are new friends and missed out on the intro so to speak.  So here is what is going on.

First I will give you a brief bit of background.

In May 1995 on a Saturday at noon while alone I was closing the pharmacy that I managed and I was the victim of an armed robbery.  The offender took money and sadly enough drugs to do himself in.  He left me bound and gagged and took the keys and locked the pharmacy from the outside as he fled.  Luckily I was able to free myself and call the police.  The event was rather traumatic and unfortunately it was the trigger for an illness which would eventually be diagnosed as Chronic Fatigue Syndrome or Myalgic Encephalomyelitis or ME/CFS for short.

For 5 years I battled on working as a pharmacist, raising a family, hiking, and camping and I was a Venturer Scout leader (boy scouts from 14 to up to the age of 18).  It was a battle; I fought total exhaustion, incredible muscle pain and felt like I had the flu more often than not.  But I kept going until it was impossible to carry on and in 2000 I experienced three bouts of the common cold within 2 months and one day I collapsed at work.  I was so weak and ill I spent at least 6 months totally bed bound, followed by a long period of being house bound, mainly just going out for doctor’s appointments.  After about 2 years I slowly started back at work, but I was still no where near being well and my life was still very much restricted. It was an extremely slow process of increasing my working hours.  Unfortunately after working so hard at getting back to work I once again succumbed to a number of viral infections and I had a severe relapse and as hard as it was for me to believe, this relapse was even worse than the first serious bout, because there were new symptoms which were intolerable. I could not handle any light or sound, which meant watching even a DVD on a laptop was out of the question, there was nothing that could take my mind off the situation I was in.  I was bed bound, so weak I could barely feed myself and I could not lift my head off the pillow without the blood dropping from my brain and causing me to nearly pass out (neurally mediated hypotension).  The problem with ME/CFS is that it stuffs up your immune system and your neurological system and nothing works properly.

Thankfully I found a doctor who specialised in this illness and thankfully a medication was prescribed which dampened down my intolerance to light, sound and smells – the medication worked instantaneously and although I was still bed bound, at least some of my life was tolerable. I know that if I did not get relief from those intolerable symptoms I would not be here today, because everyday was a nightmare.  Going to sleep at night was a nightmare, because I knew what I would once again wake up to.

With time I improved, but never getting anywhere near the point of a full recovery and my life was still very much restricted.  In 2006 I started blogging as a way of communicating with people.

In 2007 I made the difficult decision to start the Marshall Protocol as a form of treatment for ME/CFS. This treatment is not a mainstream treatment and is still very much experimental.  I began the protocol in 18^th September 2007.  I won’t go into to much depth as far as the reasoning behind the treatment and how it is supposed to work, but the goal is to have an improved life at the end of the treatment. The treatment itself is very challenging.  To be honest it has been more of a challenge than I had prepared myself for and at this stage I am unable to gauge if it is helping.  It is difficult to gauge if it is helping because the treatment comes with its own side effects which can be debilitating too. Some of the side effects resemble the symptoms of ME/CFS.

I am unable to actually name the medications involved in the treatment because I am now in stage 2 of the protocol and the medications are not to be disclosed to people until they are ready to enter stage 2, due to the serious nature of some possible adverse reactions.

But here is a bit of an outline of the treatment.  It is extremely important to decrease vitamin D levels in the body to a very low level, so this means no exposure to sunlight and no consumption of foods high in vitamin D.  When the vitamin D levels drop to very low levels the eyes become extremely sensitive to light, so special dark glasses have to be worn both indoors and outdoors.  Obviously to avoid being exposed to any sunlight is a major task and it means most of the windows in our house are blacked out.  I very rarely go outside and when I do I must be completely covered with clothes which do not allow light to enter.  Just 5 minutes of a hand exposed to sunlight can be too much.  If you want to get a laugh go to this post which I did back in September 2007 about my “Anti-Sun Clothing”

The point of the MP protocol is to kill off an over growth of cell wall deficient bacteria which are believed to live in the human cells of people with ME/CFS. 

The first medication “O” is taken every six hours or every four hours if I have been exposed to sunlight.  Medication “O” is usually used to treat blood pressure, but it also has an effect on Vitamin D in patients with ME/CFS and helps expose intracellular bacteria to the immune system and to antibiotics once they are commenced. “O” also is said to help protect the body from damage by the dying bacteria and damage to the body by huge surges in Vitamin D levels when a patient is inadvertently exposed to sunlight – trust me I know when I have had too much sun, I do NOT feel well at all.

Once the vitamin D is low enough and symptoms are tolerable a low dose antibiotic (“M”) is added to the regime, it is taken every 48 hours. As the bacteria is killed off toxins are released which cause unpleasant symptoms and these symptoms can be very debilitating and they typically resemble the symptoms of a very bad case of the flu.  The dose of this antibiotic is gradually increased every few weeks once each level is tolerable. 

Once the maximum dose of “M” is tolerable then another antibiotic (“A”) is added to the regime and it too is very slowly increased and the rate depends of how well the symptoms are tolerated.  To give you an idea of how slowly “A” may need to be increased, it has taken me 6 months to increase from the last increase to this current increase. Now I am in a state of shock because this is the first time I actually realised how long it took me to move to the next level.  Urggghhhhh.

Once I get to the maximum dose of “A” then another antibiotic will be added to the regime. After that who knows.

So that is a bit of an explanation of where I am at with the Marshall Protocol. I am still unable to work due to the symptoms of my illness, the unpredictability of the adverse effects of the MP Protocol and also due to the problem with exposure to sunlight.

Thank you to those of you have taken an interest in my ongoing battle with my illness, I really do appreciate it.

Yesterday was the first day I visited Vox in about 3 weeks.  In the two years since I have been blogging I have never been away from a blogsite for so long.  Never has the desire to post anything left me until 3 weeks ago.

It is true that I have been exceedingly busy, but that is not the reason I haven’t been here, the truth is I just couldn’t face Vox.  I couldn’t face blogging.  The desire to come here left me over night on the night of the 14/03/08.  That is when the straw broke the camels back for me and blogging.

I was listening and watching the Winter Soldier commentary.  I wasn’t shocked by the returned service men and women’s stories; I was expecting them to be as devastating as they were.  That was the problem, there was no surprise.  Five years ago the US and the Coalition of the Willing went to war with Iraq and I was totally opposed to the war, not because I am a pacifist because in reality I am not.  I was opposed because I knew the war was based on poor information and there was no real justification for going to war with Iraq.  I also knew what the consequences would be if we did go to war, a long drawn out occupation, many killed and injured on both sides and the risk that the world would become an even more hostile place.  I wish I was wrong, I had hoped when the statue of Saddam Hussein fell that just maybe I was wrong, but I wasn’t. It didn’t matter that I was against the war for what I believe to be the right reasons, it didn’t matter that I spoke out against the war, the war still happened and I was powerless to do anything about it.  In reality I am just as powerless today.  Even with all of that death and destruction, people still want to plough on and cause more death and destruction.  My faith in humanity left me three weeks ago.  But like I said the Winter Soldier commentary was just the straw that broke the camels back, my faith in humanity was already well and truly on the slide before the 14/03/08, I had just been trying hard to fight it.

Unless I say what I need to say now there is no way that I will be able to blog again.  I need to say what I have to say so that I can move on.  Yes I know very melodramatic.

I live by a very simple principle, I try and treat others how I would like to be treated and I expect people to treat others and myself with compassion and respect.  As long as a person is not hurting others or me with their actions then I am okay with that.  I don’t care what your race is, what your gender is, what your skin colour is, what your sexuality is, what your culture is, what your religion is, what your education is and any other label that can be applied to some one, as long as you treat others well, then I will be in your corner.  However, I don’t take much crap from anyone these days, treat me unfairly and I won’t hang around for too long and take more of your crap and I certainly won't happily and silently watch on as you inflict your crap on others. 

Yes this is leading some where, I have said I have lost my faith in humanity, well it isn’t just humanity I have lost my faith in, the biggest loss of faith for me is in organised religion.  You know religion that self professed bastion of humanity, compassion, love, truth and well apparently all that is supposed to be good in the world, yes good as distinct from evil.  Oh yes there some members of organised religion who seem to display those good traits, my own grandmother was certainly one of those saintly figures. 

To all who belong to an organised religion I am not criticising you, like I said if you treat others well and don’t use your religion to kick others in the guts, well you have got my respect and support. But as for me, I am jumping off the religious bandwagon because it is not for me; I have lost my faith in religion.  Way too many hypocrites, way too many people using their religion to knock people around and way too many people hiding behind their religion instead of using their brain and thinking for themselves. It is not okay to oppress others just because you believe your holy book or your spiritual advisor seems to indicate that it is okay. In case you missed that last bit I shall repeat it again, your religion does NOT give you the right to oppress people, or to dictate your beliefs onto others.  If people are not hurting you or others then leave them alone, mind your own business.  Stop spreading hatred and intolerance and hiding behind your religion, hatred and intolerance of people who are not hurting anyone is WRONG!

So just to make it absolutely clear I am no longer associated with any organised religion.  I want to be free to express my own views, to have my own opinions, to be free to think for myself and not be answerable to religious thought police who seem to be around every corner. I know what is right and what is wrong and I am grown up enough to think for myself.

So now that I have said what I needed to say, I can now move on and deal with this planet and the people on it. Luckily there are enough good people out there to restore my faith in humanity and they come from all walks of life and some prefer to belong to a religion and some like me don’t.

Chezza

2 comments

Anyway here is some great music which basically sums up how I feel.

wear my heart on my sleeve,
I'm not afraid to say what i mean,
Mean what i say.
I set myself up, let myself down,
I may be a fool to spread it around.
But i just wanna let you know,
Sometimes i find it so hard not to show,
So i sigh and i let my feelings go.

When I was young, it seemed that life was so wonderful,
A miracle, oh it was beautiful, magical.
And all the birds in the trees, well they’d be singing so happily,
Joyfully, playfully watching me.
But then they send me away to teach me how to be sensible,
Logical, responsible, practical.
And they showed me a world where I could be so dependable,
Clinical, intellectual, cynical.

Supertramp - The Logical Song

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Crazy - Gnarl Barkley

Thanks to a fellow crazy friend for 'dedicating' this song to me.
Poor thing she is as crazy as me.

Black Eyed Peas- Where Is The Love

And to another great friend for telling me about this song.

James Blunt - No Bravery

The utter futility of war.

T'is the time of the year to be jolly.  I would say "Ho, Ho, Ho Merry Christmas" but that is now politically incorrect as I  maybe referring to some one's whore and there are some that don't even like the "Merry Christmas" bit.  So I guess I shall say, "Have a good one!" whatever 'one' is.

Nah stuff it, "Merry Christmas" to you all and have a BONZA 2008.

Thanks to all who dropped by and read some of my posts.  Thanks to all of you who wrote interesting, thought provoking and amusing posts (sometimes all in the one post) and shared your inner thoughts with the world.  Thank you to those who shared their beautiful talents in so many varied artistic forms.

I am grateful to all of the friends I have made along the way and the support I have received from many of you.  Sorry to the odd one or two I set free along the way, I sincerely hope that you are doing well.

This past year has been a big year for me, especially the 2nd half of the year.

My youngest son decided to play Aussie Rules football for the first time, so I became a 'footy' Mum.

I lost my grandfather just 5 weeks short of his 102nd birthday.

One son was married and he and his bride bought their first house.

I started a new treatment for my ME/CFS. There have been tough times along the way, it has not been smooth sailing but I am working through it day by day.  Since starting in September time seems to have just escaped me.

This month has been eventful.  Our daughter and her partner bought their first house and they became engaged the night they moved in.  Last weekend it was Hubby's mother's 90th birthday party - that was a big event.  I have had a couple of 3 hour (each way) trips to Melbourne for various reasons and they have zapped my energy.  December has also been a month of continual dramas with internet and phone companies for one reason or another.  The latest drama was so ridiculous that for the first time in Chezza history I will be making a formal written complaint.

The Christmas presents have finally been bought and wrapped.  I have never left buying Christmas presents to nearly the last minute, it is a huge relief to have them finally sorted out.  *Big Sigh*

We haven't put a Christmas tree up.  Not one Christmas card has been written - Oh dear will they ever forgive me.

Tomorrow the Christmas celebrations begin with a visit from part of my side of the family for lunch. 

Then Christmas Day we will have a family breakfast with the kids and then head off to Hubby's extended family's Christmas lunch.  Naturally I shall be in blackout gear to repel the nasty sunbeams.

Due to a mountain of things I really must attend to, I will not be around much for a while.  I have a "To Do List" that MUST be done and there is only one way that it will be done and that is less time hanging out here.  Of course I am addicted to this place so I am sure I will be around just a tiny wee bit.

Christmas Nativity

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Christmas Reindeer

3 comments

Oh one huge event I forgot to mention, the Australian Liberal (RW conservatives - don't let the name fool you!) Party fell in a landslide election defeat and now Australia has a new Prime Minister and the Australian Labor Party is now in power.  Hopefully good things will come from the change in government.

Hey there to all of you that have been worried about this treatment, thank you very much for your concern it is appreciated and I understand your concerns.  I may be putting off my commencement date until after Ben's football presentation night which is the 14th September, so those of you who are worried can stop worrying for a bit longer.  I would rather start the treatment asap, but I wouldn't want to miss out on his presentation evening.

In this case my hair will not be falling out, but I will have to make dramatic changes to my lifestyle and I will look strange because I will be covered from head to toe whenever I go out into the sunlight.  If I had cancer people would understand, but in my case why is it so difficult to understand.  People do not understand what I have been through, what I have lost, what my day is really like.  If a fair dinkum scientifically controlled treatment came along that may ultimately improve my quality of life, wouldn't I be a fool not to give it a try if I was in a position to try it. 

Should I just totally accept my life the way it is and not find solutions.  I am not naive, I know that this may not work and I have accepted my life to a degree, I have little choice in the matter.  But I also will try and find a solution to this problem if there is one.

I am grateful that I have a supportive partner - now, I didn't always.  We have been through some very tough times with our children, tougher than what some of you can imagine and just as he is being here for me now, I have and still are there for him when needed. If my Hubby wasn't around I don't know where I would be and I know in that respect I am fortunate.  I have a family who need me and I need them and I need to do everything that I can to be there for them and that includes finding effective treatments.

I don't expect anyone else with this illness to try the treatment, that is your own choice and it may not help in your case or even in my own case.

Anyway thank you to those of you who are concerned.  I am concerned too, but sometimes we have to take a risk and this is my next risk.  I will keep you updated.

Peace be with you my friends.

The following is taken from the Marshall Protocol Website and I think it demonstrates that I have not taken this decision lightly and the people conducting this protocol do not take it lightly either:

 

Do I have the 'right stuff' to be successful with the Marshall Protocol?

You have the 'right stuff' if you have:

-A willingness to study the MP and an ability to understand it at a level that will permit a measure of belief and commitment strong enough to carry you through the difficult adjustments and unpleasant immune system reactions.

-Access to and ability to use a computer to read the MP.com site regularly and a willingness to watch the DVDs.

-Finances to afford the initial D-METABOLITES TESTS, Benicar, 2 pairs of NoIR glasses, and the other MP medications .

-A personal temperament that is willing to take risks, break new ground, tolerate uncertainty and have the patience to defer gratification. It is not for "I want it to work right now" types or the cautious " I'll wait and see" types or the "I want to feel better right now" types.

-A degree of illness that makes the cure worth the time, effort and cost.

-Access to a doctor who will provide medical support and prescribe the MP medications.

-Access to a reliable supply of Benicar (especially if it is not available in your country).

-The willingness to adapt your lifestyle to avoid sun/lights, including looking unconventional because you are covered from head to toe and wearing NoIR sunglasses indoors and out.

-The willingness to give up some favorite foods and supplements to avoid Vitamin D.

-If necessary, the capacity to avoid or limit sun/lights if still employed or responsible for raising children.

-The willingness to accept online support and the judgement to know when to ask for it.

-A system of social support in place, especially if you live alone, and become too ill in the initial adjustment weeks to care for yourself.

-It is important that, after taking all of the above into consideration, you use your own judgement to decide if the MP is right for you. 

Occasionally patients discover, through word of mouth, that the Marshall Protocol is an effective treatment. However, the MP is very detailed and must be followed correctly to ensure safety and success.

Patients must acquire a basic understanding of the scientific rationale and a thorough knowledge of their role in the recovery process. They must be followed closely long-term to individualize and manage their medications as they progress. This is best accomplished by accessing http://www.marshallprotocol.com.

Patients who cannot access the website for assistance or do not have an MP-experienced doctor who can provide essential patient education and frequent counselling in the absence of website access may not be able to proceed with the Marshall Protocol.

Crisis & Opportunity - Opportunity is always present in the midst of crisis. "Every crisis carries two elements, danger and opportunity. No matter the difficulty of the circumstances, no matter how dangerous the situation.... At the heart of each crisis lies a tremendous opportunity. Great Blessings lie ahead for the one who knows the secret of finding the opportunity within each crisis."

My God is love, inspiration, compassion, empathy, wonder, inner beauty, peace, understanding, humility, kindness, equality and strength.  Through my God I am to do what I feel is right.

My God tells me not to kill, lie, or steal.  My God also tells me not to use divisive or hurtful speech or not to wish that harm comes to others.  My God tells me not to be greedy or want what does not belong to me.

My God tells me to love and accept all without discrimination.

My God lives in my heart and I am free to talk to my God in person.  My God tells me I do not need others to tell me what my God thinks, as my God lets me know.

My God tells me to never stop learning and always broaden my views, so that I have a greater understanding of people who are different to me.

My God tells me I am a human who makes many mistakes.  My God tells me to learn from my mistakes and openly admit them.

My God tells me to look for the inspirational people from this world and learn from them.

My God tells me that it is okay to be happy, but never at the expense of another.

My God tells me to protect those that cannot protect themselves and to do so in such a way that does not cause them any further harm.

My God tells me I am free to choose how best to acknowledge my God.

My God tells me to enjoy the wonder of the world that surrounds me and also the cosmos that surrounds my world.

My God tells me to look after this world, because it is the only world that we have got.

My God tells me to live in the present, learn from the past, move forward to the future and not worry about the afterlife, as that is currently not my concern.

My God is the life that I aspire to and I hope one day I will get it right.

- ChezzaG

Live a good life. If there are gods and they are just, then they will not care how devout you have been, but will welcome you based on the virtues you have lived by.

If there are gods, but unjust, then you should not want to worship them.

If there are no gods, then you will be gone, but will have lived a noble life that will live on in the memories of your loved ones. Possibly said by: Marcus Aurelius

Sounds like a fair enough statement to me, I will agree with this quote.

But hell I am happy to be called all of those things if it means:

I have love in my heart,

I have compassion for others,

I want the best for mankind as a whole,

I want true and lasting peace,

I believe there is good in most people,

I want freedom and equal rights for all,

I want to do what is right the best way I can.

I know that to live like this means that sometimes I will be taken advantage of, but the alternative that is continually presented to me is so full of hate, resentment, bigotry, oppression, violence, segregation and a lack of humanity that goes beyond words - I think I would rather die with love in my heart than die with the stain of hatred on my hands.

I am not totally stupid, some crazy people in this world need to be stood up to, Osama Bin Laden and Hitler are classic examples, even though they believe/d they are/were doing what is good for this world in their twisted sense of what is right.  So yes I wish it wasn't so that sometimes we have to take action we would rather not, but in most cases I think diplomacy and open and honest communication is the right way to go for the benefit of all.  I think many have forgotten how to communicate and that is sad. - ChezzaG

A 10-Step Plan for Antiwar Activists

06/13/07 "ICH" -- - I often hear from people asking me, "What should we do about all this? How can we stop Bush?"

I would first say that we must move beyond blaming Bush. The fact of U.S. empire is bigger than Bush. Hopefully by now, all of us are clearer how the Democrats have been, and are now, involved in enabling the whole U.S. military empire building plan. It is about corporate domination. Bush is just the front man for the big money.

So to me that is step #1.

Step #2 is to openly acknowledge that as a nation, and we as citizens, benefit from this U.S. military and economic empire. By keeping our collective military boot on the necks of the people of the world we get control of a higher percentage of the world's resources. We, 5% of the global population in the U.S., use 25% of the global resource base. This reality creates serious moral questions that cannot be ignored.

Step #3 is to recognize that we are addicted to war and to violence. The very weaving together of our nation was predicated on violence when we began the extermination of the Native populations and introduced the institution of slavery. A veteran of George Washington's Army, in 1779, said, "I really felt guilty as I applied the torch to huts that were homes of content until we ravagers came spreading desolation everywhere....Our mission here is ostensibly to destroy but may it not transpire, that we pillagers are carelessly sowing the seed of Empire." The soldier wrote this as Washington's Army set out to remove the Iroquois civilization from New York state so that the U.S. government could expand its borders westward toward the Mississippi River. The creation of the American empire was underway.

Our history since then has been endless war. Two-Time Congressional Medal of Honor Recipient Major General Smedley D. Butler, U.S. Marine Corps, told the story in his book War is a Racket. Butler recalls in his book, "I spent 33 years and 4 months in active military service....And during that period I spent most of my time as a high-class muscle man for Big Business, for Wall Street and the bankers. In short, I was a racketeer, a gangster for capitalism....Thus I helped make Mexico and especially Tampico safe for American oil interests in 1914. I helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent place for the National City Bank boys to collect revenues in. I helped in the raping of half a dozen Central American republics for the benefit of Wall Street....I helped purify Nicaragua for the international banking house of Brown Brothers in 1902-1912. I brought light to the Dominican Republic for American sugar interests in 1916. I helped make Honduras right for American fruit companies in 1903. In China in 1927, I helped see to it that Standard Oil went on its way unmolested."

Step # 4 We have to begin to change how we think about our country. We have to learn to understand what oligarchy means. I'll save you the trouble of having to look up the definition - A government in which power is in the hands of a few. When you have lost your democracy then what do the citizens do? They must fight (non-violently) to take it back. This of course means direct action and sometimes civil disobedience. Virtually everything good in our nation (abolition of slavery movement, women's suffrage, civil rights movement, anti-war movements, etc) have come from people stepping up when they were needed. Calling for impeachment by the Congress becomes imperative today. Are you in or out?

Step #5 Forget the "every man for himself" mythology. We are all brainwashed in this country to believe in the rugged individualism story. But movement for change can only happen in community - working with others. So forget the ego centric notion that "one great man" is going to come save us. It's going to take a village - in fact all the villages. Just like an addict goes to a group to seek help for addiction, knowing they can't do it themselves, so we must form community to work for the needed change if we are to protect our children's future.

Step # 6 What about my job? Another smothering myth in America is success. Keep your nose clean and don't rock the boat. Don't get involved in politics, especially calling for a revolution of values (like Martin Luther King Jr. did) or you will get labeled and then you can forget about owning that castle on the hill you've always dreamed of. In a way we become controlled by our own subservience to the success mythology. We keep ourselves in line because success and upward mobility become more important than protecting free speech, clean water, clean air, and ending an out of control government bent on world domination. Free our minds, free our bodies and we free the nation.

Step #7 Learn to work well with others. Sure we all want to be stars. But in the end we have to learn to set aside our egos if we want to be able to work with others to bring about the needed changes. Cindy Sheehan should not be hammered just for telling the truth about the Democrats playing footsie with Bush on the war.

Step # 8 It's the money. How can I do this peace work when I have to work full-time just to pay the mortgage? I'd like to help but I've got bills to pay! Maybe we can begin to look at the consumerist life we lead and see that our addiction to the rat race keeps us from being fully engaged in the most important issue of our time - which is protecting the future generations. How can we begin to explore cooperative living arrangements, by building community, that free us up economically to be able to get more involved?

Step # 9 Learn to read again. Many of us don't read enough. We spend our time in front of the TV, which is a primary tool that the power structure uses to brainwash us. We've got to become independent thinkers again and teach our kids to think for themselves. Reading and talking to others is a key. Read more history. All the answers and lessons can be found there.

Step #10 Learn to trust again and have fun. Some of the nicest people in the world are doing political work. Meet them and become friends with them and your life will change for the better.