FARAWAY FACES COMING CLOSER

MY EYES WEPT FOR DAYS

Submitted to Shelton Blog by Christine Armond Mason County Progressive

A flood of visual memories arose in my mind's eye after reading Chris Hedges' poignant article "Finding Freedom in Handcuffs".

Some years after I returned to the USA in 1983 after my first stay in India, I went to an osteopath friend for a treatment. For some reason (later she said it was sheer intuition), she cupped her hands gently over my eyes (not her usual mode of treatment).

Much to my surprise (and hers), tears began silently streaming down my face...a seemingly endless stream of tears. I realized this endless stream of tears was for the endless sea of suffering faces I saw in the streets of the Indian cities in the early 80's.

Tears for the gaunt faces at the Indian train stations, peering desperately into the windows of trains where I sat. Tears for the doleful faces of child beggars (with legs purposefully crippled so they could bring in more money), crawling through train compartments whenever and wherever I traveled.

Tears for all the suffering that I saw that even if I gave away everything I had in the world, it would not have even made a dent in the all pervasive misery surrounding me.

My eyes had "seen" so much overwhelming suffering; so much more suffering than I could ever have believed possible before witnessing it for myself; so much suffering that until that moment with my friend's hands upon my eyes, my eyes that had "seen" more suffering than they had ever wanted to see, or had the psychic capacity to contain, began to weep away their sorrow.

My eyes wept for days.

These heartrending faces have remained with me over the years, and will no doubt remain with me for the rest of my life. These types of visual memories tend to etch themselves upon our consciousness, as anyone with similar experiences can tell you.

Although India is now finally beginning to establish a middle class, when I traveled the country decades ago, with few exceptions, it was the extremely wealthy (send your son overseas to Harvard wealthy), and the extremely poor (illiterate with no food and no shelter poor), with not much in between.

One time in Chennai (then called Madras), I was kindly invited to dinner by a wealthy Indian family. As we sat in their elegant dining room, being served a six course meal, I could not help but dwell upon the sight I had just passed on my way into their house. Starving homeless people were rummaging through a nearby garbage heap, competing with dogs and rats and stray cows for something to eat. My appetite left me on my way in, and I really wondered how this gracious family could possibly sit and eat at this opulent table, in full knowledge of the scene below their window.

The situation in India is getting better these days, and some parts of India are actually developing a thriving middle class (a result of ever expanding opportunities for education, and also in part due, no doubt, to the corporate outsourcing of jobs).

And the USA?

In contrast, it seems our middle class is in swift decline by systematic corporate design. The faces of abject poverty are no longer so faraway. These faces are now appearing in our very own American streets in dramatically increasing numbers.

Poverty has always been present in our country, but now poverty is becoming policy.

We must reverse this race to the bottom.

OCCUPY EVERYWHERE!

May all beings in all four corners of the world be free of suffering!

Photo: cameracrack.redbubble.com

SHELTON BLOG NOTE:

Link to Chris Hedges' article "Finding Freedom in Handcuffs":
http://masoncountyprogressive.blogspot.com/2011/11/chris-hedges-on-finding-freedom.html