Who owns this country anyway?

Slave shipping manifest--one of many

"In the 1700s, China was the largest economy in the world. However, it was overtaken in the 1800s,  first by England, then the United States."*

And the reason for our gain, say some economic historians, is that our slave-based economy rose on the backs of those black men, women and children brought here against their will. Their value contribution was more than all the railroads and factories in America at that time.

Of the 12 million slaves hijacked and shipped to America, 1.5 million died in route due to the harsh and often inhuman transit conditions and treatment. Once here, they were used to work on the tobacco and rice plantations as well as harvest cotton and other labor intensive needs. By 1750, almost 25 percent of the population in the colonies were slaves. They were bought, sold and traded as chattel (a personal possession, an item of property other that real estate).

"All men are created equal... " 

is part of The Declaration of Independence penned by Thomas Jefferson in 1776. It has been called "an immortal declaration" and "perhaps the greatest single phrase of the American Revolution period... with the greatest continuing importance." Ben Franklin.

While slavery is officially over, the Confederate flag and what it stands for still flies high is some places.

It is puzzling and problematic that some Americans seem to pick and choose which parts of the Declaration of Independence and The Constitution of the United States of American  and its amendments we choose to hold holy, as if adherence is optional to our personal agenda.

Yea! We're number 1... or are we?

Isn't it ironic that we stole our land from the American Indians, its rightful owners, then hijacked the slaves that boosted our economy to the top of the wold. We, the immigrants, did that, even though we did actually buy Manhattan for $24 worth of trinkets.

Then we fought one another in the American Civil War over slavery and other issues... and we killed 620,000 of us, an awful number. But in perspective, that number represents less than 20 percent of the slaves we stole.

Now I'm going to play a little trick by reminding you that Disney World's "It's a small world" has it right. Try not to hum that for the rest of your day, but truly believe the message: we are ALL in this together to win as one... or lose divided.

*Much of this information thanks to Slavery's Capitalism, by Sven Beckert and Seth Rockman and Delanceyplace.com




 

I Just drove 1/10th of the way around the world!

Really, on a road trip in our RV, I just drove 2,500 miles-- 1/10th of the way around the world at the equator.

So how big is our earth if you can take a road trip from North Carolina to Oklahoma and back--1/10th of the circumference--in just a few leisure weeks? The answer: Not very big at all.

Of course, one might have a spot of trouble driving across the oceans or over the Andes but theoretically, the earth isn't so large that you could drive it without much of a sweat. The cost of gas at 8mpg might kill you though.

Want another perspective? Here's this:

The earth, upper left, the moon, lower right

 

That's an actual black and white photo taken from NASA's OSIRIS-REx satellite on September 25th, this year. We see the moon's face, about the size of Australia's map image from where we stand but in space, we both look pretty puny and fairly close at 238,99 miles--less than 10 times around the equator--in space scale. And in the universe, we're less than a speck of sand.

We're not even so big in our planet line-up:

L to R from the top: Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Earth, Venus, Mars, Mercury

 

 

But, if you have ever look out of an airplane window from 30,000 feet over Kansas and marvel at the vastness of the prairie or taken a flight lasting 15 hours and you're still not there, don't you imagine our world is enormous?

 Now how does that song go again? 

 

Perhaps the most diabolically addictive song ever written is It's a Small World After All. (Try to get the tune out of your mind... good luck with that.) But maybe it makes an important point. If we are now all within range of a nuclear weapon, then we are all closer together than we ever conceived we could be. 

Technology has come so far as to realize that just one person--one crazy person--could bring the sky down on all of us. There are now 7.5 billion of us and that number will grow to 9.5 billion by 2050. On a smaller scale, we've seen the evil power of one with every mass shooting. 

As a civilization, we have rarely enjoyed a prolonged period of peace in the world. There is hate, envy, revenge, guns, bombs, super bombs, germ warfare and a total lack of respect for so many from so few. There are wars all over the place almost all of the time. Thanks Adam and Eve.

Social media makes our world even smaller by giving everyone a world-wide soapbox to spread both fact and fiction so that one can't often be told from the other, and--true or not--so many of us believe every word passed along, especially if it fuels our fire.

In Mark Twain's lifetime, he could play to standing room only crowds with the same material and it would be new to the audience's ear every time. Today, a tweet is heard by all instantly and new material is only new for the blink of an eye.

Wouldn't you think we'd have learned something by now. Sadly, I don't think so. We would be wholly brilliant if we just realized that the world is much too dangerous for anything but truth and much too small for anything but love. So a plea to God and/or your higher power... HELP! We need you desperately.

The redeeming take-away... there is more good in our world than bad... and we're all trying hard to make it better... but it takes so little to taint the human pool that it makes for a tough battle, won only by a greater realization that we need each other so much more than we don't. Otherwise, who is going to buy from Amazon and Walmart?

Take a deep breath... now All together:

 

 It's A Small World After All

its a world of laughter and a world of tears
its a world of hopes and a world of fears
there's so much that we share
that is time we're aware
its a small world after all

its a small world after all 
its a small world after all 
its a small world after all
its a small, small world

there is just one moon
and one golden sun
and a smile means friendship to everyone
though the mountains divide 
and the oceans are wide

its a small world after all 
its a small world after all 
its a small world after all
its a small, small world

 NOTE: It's A Small World plays 1600 times a day. How'd you like to work that ride?

Phew! Got that off my chest.