Actress Felicity Huffman is seen inside the Edward R. Roybal Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse in Los Angeles, on March 12, 2019. – Two Hollywood actresses including Felicity Huffman are among 50 people indicted in a nationwide university admissions scam. (DAVID MCNEW / AFP/Getty Images)
There’s a lot of talk right now about the cheating that is going on by the rich and famous to get their kids into colleges. A lot of talk about wealth and privilege over merit, etc.. There are a lot of people who think this exposure is good. There are some who are surprised by it. I’m not. As a friend said, “I’m not surprised by it at all – but I’m not surprised by police brutality against POC – it’s how exposed you are to these things, to the world and how much you’re paying attention, and even your bias.” Like people who are so knowledgeable and opinionated (for good reason) about R. Kelly and Michael Jackson – but turn a blind eye to Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis and Steven Tyler. White people are so… Anyway, if someone says to you that you have to “pull yourself up by your bootstraps” or “hard work is rewarded” you have my permission to kick them where it counts (in a fictional way, but really).
I wondered to my friend – why these people? Why now? We all are aware that most people in the upper echelons (or rather their kids – the ones that inherited the wealth and didn’t do anything for it) have been doing this forever. So why now? It’s great to expose this – but what will it do? What will the exposure do to remedy the imbalance of wealth over merit. Isn’t it a little too late ? Hasn’t the damage been done to society as a greater whole? As with cop brutality – the damage is done, the bad seeds are still in the system and it is the system. It’s like poison – is there still time to flush it out – or are we doomed? Is society as we know it so corrupt that those who are bent towards it will always get the upper hand?
Look at the world now. More corruption in plain sight than ever before. And “there’s not thing one you can do about it.” Are we sick enough to pay attention? If I think about the world as an organism, climate change, social injustice, cheating, scapegoating, gaslighting, imbalance of power and wealth, are all symptoms of one disease, extreme fear – which manifests itself mostly as greed. It is a cancer that festers in all of us. You can’t cut it out. We all have the capacity to fear. When we have nothing to lose, we have nothing to fear – but the wealthy have everything to lose and live according to some tenet of reap rewards now – because there is nothing afterward. A cancer grows in unstable ground – that which you thought was healthy, wasn’t. Spiritually speaking if you have no ego, there is nothing to protect – but egos are huge and blown way out of proportion right now. There is nothing else to grasp onto if there is nothing powerful to identify with (ruling class). Like in the French and Russian revolutions, if you have no power because the system has shifted, you’ve got nothing. This fear, this torment is what is driving society right now. But is it too late?
The system has to topple as it is (in Aikido, you use the strength and momentum of your opponent against them). But what will replace it? Humans live in fear constantly – really, and with that comes corruption. If one regime falls another one, different yet the same, will replace it. What’s scary about what’s happening in America and Canada, is that the (democratic) tenets, principles and constitutions are nothing against those who want power so much that they can corrupt completely.
So yes – the exposure is great because it educates those who think that we live in some wonderland, Oz, Disneyland. Spoiler alert: we don’t. When we catch ourselves being desirous, wanting, covetous, think about magnifying that. Multiply it by how many decimal places it would take to pretend you make the kind of money that the wealthy make. That is how much they have to lose more than you. Now think about catching yourself and stopping yourself from taking something from someone that isn’t yours, stealing, lying, cheating because there is something within you that knows that some things just aren’t for you. That there is a way to acquire things that doesn’t or won’t take advantage of someone whether a weakness, a blind spot, a disability, a societal label or position. Think of that and remove all pressures to believe any of this: That’s how much more they feel entitled to have and take what they want, when they want it.
However, one caveat – we are all like this to a certain degree. If you look at your own life, there is a hierarchy that you might be imposing on your own familial, sociopolitical circle that you are not aware of. Check it and be aware. If they’re doing it, you’re doing it too, to some degree. That’s why most people keep their heads in the sand. Don’t wanna know. Well, now you know. In other words, check yourself. See where you contribute to the corruption – either by turning a blind eye, or by whether you are complicit in action bc you don’t think it can change. Keep looking and growing.
Love and peace!
Christine xo