LET US GO

by Judith Moriarty

Let us go now even unto Bethlehem and see this thing which is come to pass:

Bethlehem means House of Bread. In the Holy Land it now means, House of Walls.

There is a Wall snaking through Israel. It means to put the Berlin Wall to shame. The Berlin Wall was 96 miles long and 11.8 inches in height. The Apartheid Wall in Israel will be 403 miles and 26 feet high.

The purple and red are parts of the Wall not yet complete

Bethlehem is five miles south of Jerusalem. It might as well be in the suburbs of Moscow. The Mayor of Bethlehem remarks that they are now the world's largest prison.

The Wall separates families, has destroyed the olive groves, and keeps goods from entering or leaving.

Citizens can not get to hospitals or school. The pilgrims no longer visit. Bethlehem is now only 30% Christian as the inhabitants are taking flight. Ironically we are helping to build this Wall with the $10 million a day we give in 'aid' to Israel.

Mary and Joseph had to travel to Bethlehem to register for the census. Hardships on the poor were no different then than they are today. There was no 'room at the Inn'. The Inn stands for the place of commerce, of public opinion, the place of  the worldly and wise. Joseph and Mary would be hard pressed,  to find even a stable in today's world. With numerous checkpoints and hours or days of waiting,  chances are Jesus would have been born in a roadside ditch....much like the Palestinian babies of today. And still there is no voice that cries, "Tear Down This Wall!"

The Nativity of today should be  represented as walled and caged with warning signs!

Walls -'There's something that doesn't love a wall' Robert Frost

We are becoming a world of walls: Walls of hatred, affluence, poverty, and depraved indifference. There are  prison walls, the windowless walls of malls, walls of waste, and walls of separation, either physically or geographically.

There are walls of fear that separate. The walls of marbled power,  separate the elected from the people.

Walls. The move is on to wall out the 'other'. Nearly seven million people now live in gated communities. In past eras, you obtained security with stone walls, a drawbridge, and armed sentries. These gated enclaves (many) are privatized; with their own police, schools, and shopping etc.

They have set themselves apart from public commerce. The 'other's have  built platforms so that they could look over the 'walls' to see what they were being shut out of

 

 

Then one day, outside the will of the people, the politicians, regulatory personnel, and corporate snake oil salesmen,  conspired to turn their removed village,  into a colossal dump.

 

 A wall of garbage grew and grew. The corporate waste hucksters (who didn't live there) brought in millions of TONS. 

They cut the trees down to make room. The garbage leaked thousands of gallons of waste water (leachate) into the groundwater and river. The man from the NH  Department of Environmental Services  said, "Iron is good for you". The people  in Bethlehem, NH, have been fighting for 20 +years. When greed rules, people and their lands are destroyed. No major media covers such depraved indifference - not even Al Gore. There are many 'Inconvenient  Truths' - some are more politically correct than others?

 

Let us go........ Bethlehem means House of Bread.

 In Bethlehem, Pennsylvania,  once  home to our nation's largest steel mill (Bethlehem Steel) it now means  House of Slots (NEON Lights).

 

The people in Bethlehem, Pa.,  lived, worked, and died in the shadow of the mill. Theirs was a simple life of street fairs, the yearly carnival, weddings, baptisms, and funerals.  The jobs at the mill were passed from father to son. This mill won a war (WWII).  The men from Bethlehem Steel,   built our tanks and Navy ships. They built the Golden Gate Bridge, and the Statue of Liberty.

The politicians, and corporate hucksters, conspired through various trade agreements, to let America's steel mills rust away. These men (some for campaign funds - others for profit)  found that shipping our nation's steel mills to foreign lands  would result in bigger profits.  They wouldn't have to worry any longer about livable wages, health benefits, or pensions.

Labor in foreign countries  comes cheap,  as does life. Best of all in foreign countries there are  no unions and no protections of workers rights. If you're injured or die on the job - tough luck.

And then one day, big shot investors from New York,  came to Bethlehem. The mill was all rusted and overgrown with weeds. They bought the land for a song,  and announced that they were going to  build a casino (hotel - mall - restaurant). They promised 5 million gamblers would pour into the area.   Nobody bothered to explain,  that gambling produces profits for the owners,  and grief for the gamblers. Gambling brings its own legion of vices, i.e. prostitution, drugs, crime.    A deck of cards, a pair of dice, and walls of slot machines,  cannot sustain a nation. Janitors, waitresses, cooks, blackjack dealers, maids, etc;  won't be producing steel to repair our nation's infrastructure.

Let us  go .........From the NE to the Midwest and the South, the towns that supported the corporate vultures, are vacant and shuttered. They invested nothing in modernization of the foundries or mills.

The past few decades of downsizing, outsourcing and trade agreements,  have insidiously and systematically,  robbed the people of any  worthwhile  work. These steel workers (when the mills closed)  were offered jobs as nurses aids, or McJobs etc!  When a company brings in hatchet men to fire the workers -  all the supporting businesses close up shop

Gone with the steel workers jobs, were  the sheet metal shops, the machine shops, the drug store, the JC Penny, Sears, hairdressers, garages,  car dealerships, barbers  and diners. Casinos, malls, high end condos, prisons, etc;  are invited in  to hopefully boost the economy. They won't. Men need to know that their lives are meaningful. A man wants nothing more  than to be able to support his family. The politicians, with their lofty promises,  haven't a clue,  as to the desperation of the multitudes. They are far removed from the common man in their moneyed enclaves  and Georgetown eateries!  It is they who voted that the  people's jobs go to  foreign lands.

Let us go...........All men may be created equal but they don't live or die equally. Some animals are more equal than others.  A child born in a coal mining/ mill town/ghetto;  does not have the same opportunities (health - education) that a child born of wealth (inherited or otherwise).  The poor don't get (rarely) elected to high office. Today, money and connections,  rule the political  GAME. The corporate media programs the masses on whom to vote for.  Politicians don't hold debates in shelters or decaying auto plants.

 

We are a nation of isolated  cocoons. Be it Detroit ( a wasteland), Cleveland (shuttered mills) or the numerous small towns scattered across America, struggling to make ends meet, many feel invisible - they feel like non-persons. They have SS numbers, license plate numbers, house numbers, phone numbers, bank account numbers, etc, but no names.
 

 

One half  has no idea how the other lives. Poverty, if viewed at all by the wealthy, is  during a  photo-op,  charity event,  a disaster, or a glimpse from a highway. Geographically, the wall of economics,  keeps  people separated. Those in industrial towns are trapped in dusty, smog filled air, (chemical alley - Gulf) because of needful  employment or poverty.

One doesn't pack up a U-Haul,  and move to a serene village (no industry - no jobs) in Vermont, or New Hampshire on a whim. Many tenement dwellers would love to reside in these places of majestic beauty. The price of real estate, and zoning  effectively 'Keeps Out' the undesirables.

This isn't spoken out loud.  When the wealthy & tourists  discovered the beauty (ski slopes - lakes) in Vermont and New Hampshire, the locals were priced out of buying land and homes. There are many second and third homes in Vermont & New Hampshire.  Owning one isn't enough when you're  rich?

 

Let us go..........The untold story of 911 was of the 'Falling Man' and the 'Tumbling Woman' (commemorative sculpture). The 'Falling Man' was shown only once (pg 7, New York Times, Sept 12, 2001). The 'Tumbling Woman' was put on display at Rockefeller Center, and then quickly draped. Why? They both were thought to be too disturbing for the American public! And perhaps they were? Over 200 + jumped to their deaths that day.  Maybe its the extremity of choice that  these people faced that bothers us?  After all, we are thought to be too fragile,  to view the coffins of returning soldiers. Perhaps the real issue is that we're being desensitized? To empathize is to feel! We have become shallow  and apathetic.

We no longer recognize  that when some terrible, powerful,  happening occurs,   you want art to speak to it.  The 'Falling Man' speaks to the inner landscape of a couple hundred people that day -  who were compelled to throw themselves to a sudden, unspeakable death. It happened !  We need to FEEL.

Ah - but 911 was to be a story about heroes - not the unscripted event - of people jumping to their deaths. Instead we were shown  scenes of the falling towers, clouds of ash, flags at half mast,  numerous memorial services,  and the President with his megaphone.  The 'Falling Man'  didn't play to prime time!  We need to have that PERFECT photo  of staged heroics,  without a moment of spontaneity. The thing is, in the real world,  nothing scripted ever sticks. But then we're not dealing with reality.

Let us go..........We can 'choose' to avoid the decay of America,  the shelters,  and the shuttered mill towns. We put our garbage out and forget about it. We're not planning a trip to the Holy Land, so we  needn't  worry about  ghettoized Bethlehem. If we're not Christian,  why  we're even further removed. 

 

To date, we're not required to go through numerous checkpoints,  to get to a hospital. The 'Falling Man' and 'Tumbling Woman', are disturbing,  only because there was no choice - no exit.  They represented all of us. They went to work on a bright September morning  and before noon were dead. The 'Falling Man',  pulled aside the curtain,  and for a moment in time,  showed us the fragility of life. They (200+)  were the husband, wife, brother, sister, etc;  that never came  home. They were waiters, cooks, stockbrokers,  receptionists, and janitors etc. All were equal in death.  In a world of gated security, health clubs, liposuction, hair implants, tummy tucks, 500 TV channels, travel brochures etc, we have choices! We can't imagine not being in control! We can't imagine that the ONLY choice that day  was death.

The 'Falling Man', be he in a corporate  tower,  or in the bayou,  he  is the  victim of chance, violence, or man's inhumanity to man. Nobody wants to imagine that the 'Falling Man' or 'Tumbling Woman' were  prophetic. More than two towers fell that day. We all fell.
JM

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