Well one way is to dissolve the disillusion of rich and poor and redefine richness.
I was recently asked about why so many Nepalese want to go to the United States and so many people from the United States come to Nepal.
I think it is because both places have a type of wealth the other is missing.
Why can’t we all have it all?
My favorite thing about the United States is all the diversity and the beautiful art that comes from it.
And ironically, my least favorite thing about the United States is the lack of tolerance for that diversity.
I will try to make a long story short, and I admit I am only telling one side of this story, but it is a really real and relevant side that isn’t often told, and it needs to be spoken before we can start telling a new story together. The United States is a colonized country… I remember that whenever I get sunburn. It was basically started when some European bros and bullies stumbled upon it in search of the freedom to do whatever they wanted and make a big mess without cleaning it up. They killed and slaved most of the indigenous people… then they stole more slaves… then they stole most of the world’s stuff… and now they are building a big wall to keep people from taking it back. This cycle of oppression and racism and fear continues to this day in the systems and structures and institutions in the United States. That is why it is first in the world for its spending on the military and prison.
In this crazy capitalistic global economy…
Rich countries are rich because poor countries are poor… and because of war.
And to create material wealth as we know it, we take away from the real richness of nature, of health, and of the human spirit.
I remember a song I made up when I was five years old playing the game Monopoly…
‘The rich get richer and the poor get poorer’.
Yes, that is the game… and it’s not fun.
I feel like this conversation wouldn’t be complete without asking ourselves what it means to be rich and poor… what is richness and poverty… what is given worth and what is worthy. Nepal used to be considered one of the richest countries and now it is considered one of the poorest.
What does that even mean?
Imagine what richness really looks like and feels like. What is it like to feel full, to feel fulfilled, to feel successful, to feel like you have enough, to feel like you are enough, and to feel loved. What stories and smiles and colors and faces and feelings come with it?
Now imagine the opposite of that.
I don’t mean for this to seem like the end of the world… I hope it is just the beginning…
Or put more poetically…
Come one, come all
To the masquerade ball
Roll out the red carpet
Sound the trumpets
You can have your cake and crumpets
And eat them too
And see the strippers dance for you
Ripping off their skins
Dripping blood red lips
Stripping to their skeletons
Run your fingers through their long black hair
Feel what you are longing for
Now let the games begin
It is rigged
No-one can win
It’s no fair or fun
Pound a piñata of paper presidents
And let them all fall one by one
Now the music is playing
And you are swaying
All alone
To a twisted tango
A bellowing trombone
Metal is melting and strings being stretched
Higher than the sky
And you sing along to the saddest song
And try to spread your wings and fly
But I know why the caged bird sings and cries
Because you came from the stars
But you came here in cars
Running on the remnants of dinosaurs
And everything that came before
From the core of the earth
And her beating, bleeding heart
You can’t hide from genocide
You are rich because people are poor
You are rich because of war
Your home is build from the sticks and stones you’ve thrown
On top of sacred burial bones
And you spin straw into gold
At the expense of everything that lives and grows
Well it’s time to reap what you sow
So take off your mask
Wake up from your sleep
See through the eyes on the other side
Witness the reflection
The resurrection of the truest essence
Of mystical intelligence
Of elemental elegance
Of resonant remembrance
Of metamorphic alchemy
Of the great mystery
See that each eye is a window to the same sky
And everyone is one
And hold the mirror up to the sun
And with the spark
Of leaves born in beauty telling new stories
Of leaves of tender fury
Of leaves from the tallest trees crown
Fuel the fire
And burn babylon down
And we will all be
Wildfire and free
Seeds that can’t be buried
Prayers that can be carried
By smoke to the sky
So rise and fly
Oh phoenixes from the ashes
Rise
Oh diamond hearts
Till the glass shatters
Rise
Oh humble human
You don’t get to choose whose life matters
Rise
Oh songbirds
Sing your song
Because silence is violence and it’s gone on for too long
And they say what makes you a human being
Is the willingness to sing another one free
Now the ‘end of the world’ party is over
No one was even having fun
It’s time to tell a new story
And this one has just begun
#Say what?! Who said that? It wasn’t me.