In Defense of February

Who else hates February? Valentine's Day? Punxatawny Phil? Seasonal Affective Disorder? Snow?

Yes. February sucks. Yes. It is evil and must be stopped. Yes. It is merely a bridge between the despair of January and my birthday. Yes. I hate that I'm a Pisces now and not an Aries. Yes. A ram is cooler than a fish. Yes. I'm way off topic.

Actually, Punxatawny Phil is adorable, like all God's ugly little critters. Snow is temporary, and SAD is intermittent; the Earth's northern hemisphere has been tilting towards the sun for a month and a half now, so the worst really is behind us. Perhaps most importantly, Valentine's Day is just an attempt to organize Spring Fever, and is therefore doomed to failure.

Also, February is the shortest month. Small price for a quick reminder of what life would be without summer (insert John Keats reference here).

Looking on the bright side. Must be the drugs. Or the recognition that life is all about choosing your consequences, and making peace with the negative aspects of getting through life. Or the recent increase in exposure to direct sunlight. Or my discovery that vegetables are edible. The other day I even realized (to my grating chagrin) that there are things about my day-job that I (skin-crawling) kind of like.

Something's messing with the Dark Side here, and I will seek it out.

Meantime, Happy Valentine's Day or whatever.

Who Had a Town & a Rapper Named After Him...

Here's a quote for you. See if you can guess who said it. This is kinda like one of those "You just voted for Hitler" things, but give it a shot anyway:

"I want everybody to feel the same love I feel."

Need a hint? It wasn't Jesus.

Here's one from a few years down the road: "How very much I have tried my best to give you a good life."

Need another one? He was unequivocally bat-shit crazy.

Here's another quote from him, just a few minutes later: "Come on people. Try to die with some dignity."

Give up?

Last clue (and this one's the giveaway): "Drink the fucking Kool-Aid."

Okay, that was paraphrased.

Quick history recap for anybody who doesn't know the story:

Jim Jones was a charismatic social justice leader from Indiana, who moved his whole "People's Temple" to Jonestown, Guyana in 1974. Rumors of physical, psychological and sexual abuse in the community spurred a congressional review, headed up by Congressman Leo Ryan, accompanied by a camera crew from NBC and Greg Robinson of the San Francisco Chronicle, as well as a handful of temple members' relatives.

On November 18th, 1978, Jones ordered the assassination of Congressman Ryan and his entire entourage; fearing the repercussions, he then organized the mass suicide of all his followers. The method? Cyanide-and-sedative-laced Kool-Aid.

Incidentally, his wife fought his security forces til the last of the community's children was dead; then she drank the Kool-Aid herself.

Before that, Jones spoke of love, peace & hope; of establishing an Earthly paradise. This attracted thousands of followers. He was praised by the likes of Rosalyn Carter and Harvey Milk. He even reached out to the Nation of Islam and - after a shaky start - found common ground. He fought for civil rights, and for peace & equality among racial groups. He was compared to Martin Luther King Jr and Albert Einstein by contemporaries. He was apparently every inch the Peacemaker everyone wanted.

Make no mistake; Jones' followers had no idea what they were getting into. They were people of principle and good intention. Maybe Jones was too; just lacked your basic run-of-the-mill sanity.

When Jones' body was examined, it was found that he was killed with a single gunshot wound to the head. It was not self-inflicted. His son later said "I think he could not bear the thought of going out the same way he was seeing everybody else go... and lacked the courage to do it himself."

He's just an extreme example of human frailty, really. There are other examples of this kind of frailty on even larger scales that have brought entire nations - even continents - to their collective knees... but those examples have been a little overused lately; I think you know the names already.

It's really hard to remain open to the innate goodness of humanity in the face of tragedies like this. Really easy to give up, let the jade cover your skin and simply survive the disaster we call The Human Condition. Yet somehow hope continues to grow in my life, seeing the good in the everyday work and play of people I know; people who make the world better in small ways, trusting the ripple effect. These aren't heroes the way we're used to celebrating heroes; they are the best kind.

But the next time you hear somebody talking about "Earthly Paradise" or "eliminating all society's ills" or whatever, I reckon the best advice is to run for your fucking life.