Unable to die, and feeling every bit of the pain as your body is cut into four pieces with a two-man crosscut saw, slowly so as to give the villagers time to rest, and still unable to die, with a painful awareness of each assault from every stroke of every sawtooth, to have your body parts literally carried to the four corners of your land and buried, separately, all while continuing to maintain an awareness of each of your now suffocating quarter-pieces laying in the dark, damp earth, but no matter how you try, unable to gain control over any of your parts, unable to rise up as one to fight the powers-that-be, and still unable to die.

This scenario was presented in a story I read this week and it put me in mind of our circumstance in this country. To maintain power, those powers-that-be divide and separate and they have been doing so since before the birth of our nation. The most blatant examples are of course first Native Americans and then (and still) Blacks. And this division according to color and/or culture, represents the first (and perhaps most tragic) quarter-piece.

The second division includes many (if not most) of those individuals from the first division, and also includes many more who are simply unlucky and stuck; and in the eyes of the powers-that-be, undeserving. For a more complete accounting and understanding of this group, look at our laws, regulations and policies concerning discrimination, and look at the groups represented on the lists of those requiring any form of government aid. Of course these are the poor, both in wealth and in opportunity.

I think of those who are present in both of the first two quarters described above, and I can't help but cringe at their pain from being individually cut in two and then buried separately and forced to remain in both segments.

The third and fourth divisions are not buried as deep as the first two.

The third division is comprised of those who don't care to know, and the fourth division is comprised of those who don't know to care.

Apathy is the main characteristic of those in the third division. Sluggish and slow, as long as they see some occasional sunshine and are fed and watered more regularly than their more deeply buried counterparts, those in this group typically find no cause to rise up and look around, much less wander the land seeking wholeness. They are detached in body and mind. Many actually believe themselves to be comfortable in their dank, dark burrow.

The fourth division is the most favored division. The powers-that-be spend more time with this group because it is this group that is the most easily influenced. These are the followers. Ignorance is defined as a lack of knowledge, learning, information. Members in this group are not necessarily incapable of learning, they simply choose to learn from, (or more accurately, to believe), the powers-that-be and only the powers-that-be. The individuals in this group have linked their identity to the powers-that-be, perhaps believing that they are now powerful by association; and the powers-that-be have returned this favor by cauterizing their raw, cut edges, allowing more frequent sunshine, providing painkillers as necessary, and courting their allegiance to keep them on-board and in-line.

No matter the unctuous elocution, the poor and the unwashed remain buried deep. And by herding the sheep and anesthetizing the indifferent, the powers-that-be are able to keep the poor and the unwashed from rising up to stain the purity of the homeland.

Me. I am paycheck-to-paycheck poor; and lucky to have paychecks. I am poor in opportunity, and poor by association. I am given voice but I am not heard; I am given no place to be heard. I have also spent some time on the fringes of the unwashed, and I am better for the experience. Once upon a time I was a sheep; and as a sheep, on occasion I believed I represented power, but in hindsight I was a caricature, a parody, a joke.

It is good to maintain an awareness of all four quarter-pieces, and it is good to understand that the dividers, those that appear to wander their homeland freely, are in actuality followers. They are not given their power by a higher power. It is not their birthright. They are not more deserving. They are not more moral or righteous; or correct. Yes. The powers-that-be are merely followers who are where they are largely due to a random series of events, and in some cases perhaps partly due to some manipulation of some random events that have presented themselves for manipulation thus giving the individual an impression of control which translates as a feeling of power which in turn is misinterpreted by other followers as righteous or deserving or (at the very least) correct.

So, if the powers-that-be are merely followers, then the remaining majority of followers are following followers, and the reality is exposed as a duplicitous scheme structured to soothe egos and allay fears. The poor and the unwashed, (and for that matter, the sheep and the indifferent), are buried because they represent a fear that is buried much deeper. To embrace all Humanity as one, would mean that the ego would have to acknowledge that we are responsible for us and for the world we live in, and that scares the oblivion out of us because it is so much simpler to irresponsibly divide and separate and follow other followers who (like us) are moral, righteous and deserving.

Until a large majority of us are able to rise up as one:

• Until the indifferent look around and see this smaller majority that needs some help digging out, or
• Until the sheep see themselves as sheep and decide to undivide,

as a whole we will continue to languish and wither until all that is left are followers. And though this is what followers want, for everyone to think what they think and for everyone to believe what they believe, if all that is left are followers, as a whole we will be at one-quarter strength, and one-quarter strength is not enough. Imagine our strength and our potential if four quarter-pieces come together as one; a single focused body unconcerned with cross-cut saws, shovels and burrows.

I believe there will always be some that are indifferent, and I believe there will always be some sheep; and though these two divisions will likely maintain their association and identity for some time to come, more and more I am seeing a willingness to look around and on occasion a willingness to scrape away a little earth and allow a little sunshine to trickle through. We need more. We need kind and caring bulldozers and steam shovels to gently lift our quarter-pieces from their unresting places. The poor and the unwashed have so much to offer and add, and without them we are not whole.

The simple, sad fact that you recognize and acknowledge these four divisions, makes them real. We cannot rid ourselves of this reality by ignoring, refusing to utter, or outlawing these descriptions. Our Past, sanctions divisiveness. Our Present, confirms our past. Our Future, demands bulldozers and steam shovels. Our Future, demands a coming together as one. Our Future, will be decided by you.

Today we are a parody, a caricature, a joke.