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all right Obama!!!

i stood, along so many others, as he took his oath. may the White Light of protection surround our new president and his family, and all his cabinet and advisers, to help us through this challenging time.

to the rescue!! SuperObama

to my horror–along with the hundreds of Obama supporters in st. augustine’s square yesterday, gathered to watch the inauguration as a united front of support–there were two cowardly men across the plaza. they were pale and pasty and fast-food fat. both of them carried shocking placards, with one showing barack with “666” pasted on his forehead! can you imagine such odasity of stupidness! one of these men’s protest poster read, “no true christian supports Obama,” the other called our new president a “baby-killer.” i shudder to even write these words, they are so dense, so out-of-it, so down-right hateful. i can only hope that such fanatics do not take any further action, and i mean of the violent kind–the kind a few misguided right-wing Chiristians have done by killing abortion doctors while hiding behind trees.

MAY NO HARM COME against our president. Amen, amen, amen! and ahhh-women, too! let’s put our collective prayers of protection around our blessed Barack! and all his family, and helpers.

voices of fanantics will always rise up, but–these men in our plaza didn’t even have the courage to give their real names to the st. augustine Record reporters, and only identified themselves as “Ben Franklin” and some other American founding father whose ghost would cringe being shamed so.

Yesterday Barack reminded us all that yes, whenever we find people, or countries, that are willing to un-loosen their tight-fisted domination over others, as he said in his inauguration speech, the American spirit of freedom-for-All is there to safeguard every humanity’s basic right to be–FREE.

if we’re not free, we’re nothing.

when we have a "hard-nut" heart

and…what happens when our hearts and our minds have been opened…by Grace

humans with open mind, open hearts

i watched the hour-long emotional ceremony with my 90 yr. old mother, here in st. augustine, and it was singularly the most moving hour i’ve spent, ever! my mom agreed, as we passed the kleenex box back and forth. such heart-swelling excitment as i stood with all the millions of others to backup Obama’s oath with my own. the thrill of a new Obama era is like a bountiful oasis in a desert of despair, for all of us. the right to freedom is what this great country of America was founded on, and we need to remember that each day, each moment.

now that the era of complaints and blame have ended with GW as “ex” and BHO the newly installed president, let’s all join together and speak, and sing and dance and shout and laud the ways of freedom–both the inner kind of freedom, and the outer. freedom of many flavors: freedom to believe what we choose to believe in, freedom to express ourselves without being labelled anything but a “human with free will” are the very rock, the sturdy foundation upon which our American way was founded.

so…in response to sharing my thoughts on my blog called “being human in habana,” the initial one i posted about my visit to Cuba, i’ve received a blast from a few scattered supporters of the castro revolution. one person wrote me that i didn’t live up to what i said before going there, to be open-minded. this person thought i was overwhelmingly condemning of the situation, and chastised me for being too quick about forming an opinion.

if i need to state it more clearly, i will: i’m for the people … not any government, revolutionary or democratic. let’s me bravely state my opinion: it’s people who make up any government…and people need to be free. when people are free, then their governments will likewise, even if it takes time to overthrow authoritarianism for a more democratic society.

the following is my response to that person who wrote me (privately… he didn’t post it here, as one might think a protestor would). his unkind note i’ll leave for him to post, if he wishes:

to someone (who didn’t have the courage to leave a post here, on the blog) who calls lordflea “not open-minded” about cuba:

to call me not “open minded” because I report on my blog what i see and hear and feel is another way of saying that you’re mad because i don’t agree with your opinion. my job as artist and writer is to speak my truth…not parrot others’ opinion. all my life i’ve trained myself to be open-minded and to search out the distinction between what is, and what “really is.”

things are much more than what they appear to be. always.

i feel sad you criticize me for speaking my truth…but this is the price one pays to be public. say what you want, but don’t be cowardly and hide with your opinion. say it aloud! i can only presume you don’t understand the role of art in society. without art, starting back in the cave era 50,000 years ago, humanity would never have had an outlet for their feelings of powerlessness. with art, with those first cave paintings, people could assimilate these strange feelings of being awed into their own daily lives. without art (NOT politics, NOT religion, NOT the complex congruancies of personal opinions) the dark ages of Europe would never have evolved into the Renaissance. without art, humanity would only be subject to the person’s opinion who can SHOUT the loudest (politicians, revolutionaries, dictators, bullies, etc).
 
a more effective thing, for the entire world, would be if you care to say what you said to me, to the entire world–right HERE.  please feel free to leave your comments on my blog. I appreciate any comments, pro or con.
 
Truth is always relative to the observer. speak your truth on the internet. make your opinion count, more than just striking out at a person who only speaks what is seen, heard, felt.
 
however, being a good friend of an artist who had to leave cuba JUST before he was to be jailed (for being homosexual, for continuing to paint in his spirited, naturalistic style instead of following the government’s unreasonable demands to laud people more than Nature)–yes, i am perhaps tainted by the oppression of artists in cuba. people need more than food and education. they need the basic right, the freedom to have opinions, even if they differ from the establishment.

in the Light, lordflea