\u201cDoesn\u2019t take much to rip us into pieces.\u201d Little Earthquakes. Tori Amos<\/p>\n\n\n\n
earthshine<\/a> asked recently what I saw as the major barriers remaining between me and enlightenment. I answered, somewhat flippantly, \u201chabituation.\u201d A broad space encompassing the fact that, as an article I read recently put it, \u201cthere are no prison bars \u2013 only extremely strong habits.\u201d The earthquake in Haiti has brought that front and center for me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhat doesn\u2019t bend breaks.\u201d Buildings and bridges. Ani Difranco<\/p>\n\n\n\n The great yogis of old would go to the charnel grounds for their meditation. Bodies were brought there to decompose \u2013 to be fed to the carrion beasts. They would, when they thought they were comfortably detached from attachment to the illusions of the world, go there to sit and watch unvarnished reality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cLook at this photograph.\u201d Photograph. Nickelback.<\/p>\n\n\n\n My father has a saying \u2013 that unless you put a band-aid on a cut or otherwise seek medical attention, your body has no way to tell that it\u2019s not in the middle ages. Haiti, right now, has very little way to tell that it\u2019s not the middle ages. It is up to us to be that band-aid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I\u2019ve been looking at the pictures from the AP \u2013 thinking of the charnel grounds. Also looking back at my pictures from 2006 and the other trips.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What we see in Haiti right now is unvarnished reality. This is not an aberration. This is not God\u2019s mistake. This is reality \u2013 as it exists unless we stand up for something better. When the Buddhists \u2013 we Buddhists \u2013 talk about the fundamental nature of reality being one of suffering and confusion, this is not an esoteric or complex claim. Look at the goddamn news.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI\u2019ve got no memory of anything at all.\u201d I don\u2019t remember. Peter Gabriel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In a couple of months, this will be old news. Just like the still un-memorialized attacks of 2001 (and no, war does not count as a memorial). Just like New Orleans. Just like the tsunamis of southeast Asia. Just like just like just like. I\u2019m filled with an urgency to do something, anything, right now. However I know that I\u2019m no good with lifting concrete.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIf I\u2019m not here, then you\u2019re not here\u201d. Hard to Make a Stand. Sheryl Crow<\/p>\n\n\n\n redmed<\/a> has a friend who went to help shortly after 9\/11. She describes her job there as \u201cputting the left feet in the left foot box.\u201d I\u2019m not sure that I\u2019m man enough to man the left foot box. I\u2019m sure that I still run from unvarnished reality. Take me to the charnel grounds \u2013 I\u2019ll vomit and flee. Port au Prince is averaging 90 degrees Fahrenheit during the day these days. Tomorrow will almost certainly be worse than today. Today the aid organizations had to count their own dead. Tomorrow, they will have to inhale the death of a city.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWould I take the work out of the courage?\u201d Grey Street. Dave Matthews Band<\/p>\n\n\n\n