Social and Political Relationships and Friendships.

"Some of these cultural differences quickly became apparent. From the Native American perspective, the significance of the [treaty between the Pilgrims and the Wampanoags] lay not in the document itself but in the exchange of gifts and speeches accompanying it, which ritually ended the enmity between the two peoples and redrew the boundaries separating them. Their new relationship was not merely a political alliance, but a spiritual realignment that brought the two peoples into a shared social network where they were bound together by mutual obligation. Shortly after the treaty was signed, passing Wampanoags started calling in at Plymouth, expecting their new friends to offer them food and accommodation. For the Pilgrims, so fearful of pollution even by their own compatriots that they had been forced to emigrate (from Europe), these casual visits by ’Savages’ seemed to transgress all the physical, cultural and religious barriers on which their sense of identity and purpose in the New World depended." -- James Wilson, The Earth Shall Weep: A History of Native America (Grove Press, 1999), pp. 80-81.


When I in December of 07 read the above quote
I found myself thinking about the day after next presidential election.
I found myself imagining Men and Women who believe in progress, because they had
experienced it in there lives, across the nation making a gesture to underscore that they were
making a commitment/contract/compact, to see themselves as a part of the others community.
Not that the adorable Lesbian couple visiting the the soup kitchen run bythe local church would be that unusual! But with a gesture perhaps involving the giving away of something; one onone
or as a simple public event at a park or street corner, or in churchesand temples stating that,
"We Are In this Together."

Hopefully it could draw attention the the fact that the statement "We are in this together"
besides being true is a perspective that among other things, promotes security for us all. I didn’t
expect the divisiveness in this country to evaporate over the next year.
If anything I expect it to get worse.

With the historic victory of Barak Obama in Iowa came statements underscoring the historic significance of the moment.Then the proud pronouncements of how The United States had progressed.These were finally followed by the analysis of reporters and pundits; "Now it’s going to get ugly."
It has.
And I feel it’s going to get worse.

Between now and the election I’ll be thinking about and formulating/developing/composing,
ome kind of personal out reach to communities who have embraced for what ever reason the
"Global warming is a plot, evolution is JUST a theory, schools should be a for profit enterprise,
marriage should be defined as between a man and a women, immigrants are themselves the
problem, Muslims want to kill me, ..."(You get the idea I hope) and make a "We are in this together." statement.

I think it would be easier for folks to accept as a truth of "We are in this together." statement then the, "This Homosexual Skinhead of Puerto Rican decent with HIV is
family."statement.Although...after a year of thinking about it and developing relationships
ya never know what I may come up with.

Pedro

Anniversary Haiku

War on terror ends

Beating them at there own game

That was how we lost

Pedro Angel Serrano[14th March 02008]

Winter to Spring to....

Crocuses blooming

Green Daffodil leaves growing

Two cold calloused hands

[Pedro Angel Serrano 02-09th-02008]

When I saw the crocus bulbs I planted yet again
piercing the leaves of the past AutumnI thought to myself
yet again,
“But it’s not yet spring.”

I used to see the Vernal Equinox as the start of spring but
in the Japanese tradition the Vernal Equinox is not the start of spring but springs peak.

Look at it this way.
The Winter Solstice is the longest night of the year.
From that day onward the days begin to grow longer.
Winter begins to wane and spring asserts itself more and more.

This is in keeping with the Taoist view expressed in the Yin Yang symbol.
The circular image with one dark form and one light has a spot of the opposite color in each. If you don’t know what it looks like, just do a Google image search.

The dark area is referred to as Yang (Man, Light, Out Going, Sun, Mountain Top) and the light is Yin (Female, Dark, Inward Going, Moon, River Valley.)

It is said that the Yin Yang symbol developed after a pre Taoist mystic sat and observed a hill from dawn till dusk. In the morning one side of the hill was illuminated while the other was in shade. As the day progressed that which was in shadow was in the sunshine while the other side was dark.

People in the West tend to separate both Yin and Yang.
Yet neither Yin nor Yang can exists with out the other except as an abstraction.

The lit candle on the window during the day is Yin to the Sun.
When the Sun sets the candle is yang and the stars are yin.
When the moon rises the candle is again Yin and the Full Moon is yang.

From this perspective on the day of the Vernal Equinox Spring is yang: dominant,
while summer is Yin. After that day the summer grows more Yang as spring becomes more Yin.

Nothing exists with out its correlative “opposite.”
We exist in a reality composed of
a unity of difference.

Polar principles

Ingredients in what’s real

Hot coffee, Cold milk

[Pedro Angel Serrano Jr. 3-10th-02008]