"I'm mad as hell, and I'm not going to take it anymore!" -- Howard Beale, in 'Network'.
Right now, during this particular phase in history, we are watching the word "occupy" transform in definition from it's original "to fill up space," to "I'm mad as hell, and I'm not going to take it anymore!"
It is said that the ever growing number of people who make up the social and revolutionary movement known as, "Occupy" are unclear as to what their mission statement is. But, that has not stopped the thousands of people who are occupying public spaces in protest, because in the long run (and that's what Occupy is all about -- the long run) there are thousands of individual stories that make up the anger behind whatever the "mission statement" will eventually become.
It goes something like this:
I'm angry!
My country isn't helping me.
I have no job, and I can't get one.
I haven't had health insurance in years, and I can't even afford a doctor's appointment. Forget about it if I get sick!
I have worked all my life, my unemployment checks are kaput, my life savings has run out and my family and I are about to become homeless.
My house was foreclosed.
I just got out of school and now I can't get hired.
I'm sick and can't afford the medications.
I work a 40-hour week and I'm still struggling to pay the bills.
I can't get hired because I'm too old.
I can't get hired because I'm too experienced.
I can't get hired because I'm too young.
I can't get government assistance because I make a dollar more than what is considered the deep poverty line.
I have nowhere to turn.
The only reason I can stand in an Occupy gathering is because I'm jobless.
And of course, I'm mad as hell and I can't take it anymore.
So, this isn't about being anti-Tea Party. It's not about giving another politician the opportunity to "recognize our frustration" so that they can work the sound of their own voice into something that resembles compassion, while ignoring everything we really need. This is not something that any politician can use to prove to the people that, because they showed momentary interest, they should therefore be voted into office on an assumption that they will represent this cause -- because they won't. It's not a political movement -- it's an anti-political movement.
We don't care about Washington's or Wall Street's opinion anymore. It's moved beyond their false concern. Their interest in the people is all yap. Big mouths and bigger money -- money that "we the people" do not have. Money that we no longer have access to, which leaves us starving, homeless, sick, scared, frantic, desperate and eventually dead.
So, are you angry enough to take your own life back? Are you ready to be heard? Are you at the place where your present condition is so threatened that the only thing that could possibly save you is your own rebellious voice?
Then get your voice out. Make your anger work for you -- because you're not alone. The people's revolution is just beginning.
To quote the fictional character, Howard Beale, once again, "I'm a human being, God damn it. My life has value!"
Yes, Howard. Our lives do have value. And we can no longer lay down and accept the devaluing of our humanity. We have to occupy our own lives, now.
Steve Jobs -- another revolutionary mind -- stated in his Stanford Commencement Address: "Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma -- which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of other's opinions drown out your own inner voice."
Make your inner voice your outer expression. Know your value, because you are a human being and in the end, the only one who's really going to fight for you is you.