Following The Yellow Brick Road

This month has flown by and what a full one it has been for me on personal levels. First, a friend dying from severe, chronic, alcohol abuse reminds me that marijuana has never been documented to have killed one person, and yet alcohol has killed millions, fact! Yet, we freely pour the liquor in this country and create alcohol dependancy while raking in the revenue. I used to tell my friend Bob, the one in a coma right now, that if he'd just switch to marijuana, he could stay functional and happier. But, "We all have to choose our poisons", he would say, then a quick toast to, "Eat, Drink & Be Merry". It's true, we really do all choose our "poisons". In a sense they're all around us. Even the air we breathe can be poison. By being born, we choose to arrive whole with the agreement that when our body wears out, we leave, and continue our experiences elsewhere. And, throughout time, humanity has looked for ways to ease the pain of life, both physically and emotionally. To seek a spiritual understanding of who we are and what is our place in this mysterious universe. Seekers have used marijuana for spirtual insight and comfort for at least 5,000 years and most likely closer to 10,000 years ago. In it's whole, unadulterated state, it is a "gift of the gods". And yet, here we are, in a modern, intelligent society, keeping bars of repression around the enslaved god out of fear and ignorance.

I am currently visiting relatives in Kansas and Oklahoma for the holiday season. 4 days before leaving for the very long car trip I got some very wierd health news. I have brain lesions consistent with MS, which explains the terrible migraines I've been getting for 8 months, which is why I had the MRI in the first place. I have many of the symtpoms as well and my neurologist is pretty certain we're looking at a form of MS. He said it so casually, as if he says it a hundred times a day. But the MRI is just the first step in diagnosis other than symptoms. Next is a lovely spinal tap the next time I have a bad "flare-up" so for now, we wait until I have more symptoms. But, all of a sudden, the medical marijuana debate gains even more interest for me as I continue my research on all of the many benefits of Cannabis Sativa by using both the male and female plants. It's fascinating to me that creation would choose to gift us with this plant that was useful to humanity in ancient days and knowing its possibilities are still being explored with positive potentials for commercial, medicinal purposes. All of a sudden, each aspect is equally important to me.

The reason we have not approved hemp production is the fear of the lightening of the dark, black line of demarcation that we've erected around this useful plant. I say it's time to erase the line, once and for all.

As I drove through the small Oklahoma and Kansas towns of my youth, my heart felt so heavy for the plight of the old agricultural community. Blackwell, Oklahoma, a place 15 minutes from my hometown of Ponca City, was once an oil boom town, like Ponca City and many of the oklahoma and kansas towns. The land is also good for agricultural purposes so there are many farms. Yet, in those fields are oil derricks that don't move anymore and have fallen into total disrepair. The small towns have become smaller and at a funeral I attended there on Wednesday I learned, many of the people in the area are big hunters out of necessity and they take great pride in hunting for their own meat and saving their families money. They take pride in knowing that their families will never be hungry as long as they can hunt. I gained a new appreciation for the cruel sport.

Wouldn't it be great if these small towns could be revitalized by the growing of hemp? It could be done, and soon. Much sooner than the legalization or decriminalization of marijuana at the state and federal levels.
I've commented on this subject in most of my posts so I won't rehash since I'm a bit tired from all the Tryptophan in the Turkey tonight but there are some great links to the right if you choose to review.

On this Thanksgiving day, I am thankful to the Spirit of America, the enduring spirit that always finds a way to survive and be fruitful and I am thankful for that Spirit that survives within me, aching to break the barriers of illusion so that my country can become one of true civil freedom and opportunity.

The yellow road to Kansas yearns to be lined with green but the silence in the fields reminds, "You're not in Kansas anymore, Dorothy". A few windmills both a reminder of early technology and new technology converging . Next to the old, rusted ones, that sit next to an old turn of the century barn , now sit for those that can afford it, a new, shiny, quiet wind turbine, selling energy back to the local electric co-op.

The new energy economy is waiting here, and there, and everywhere! But it will require we re-examine everything we think we know. Maybe with the new energy and infrastructure will come the common sense that we left at the church door of our ancestors and we"ll dare to breach the traditions that keep us enslaved to ourselves.

I am thankful for that vision.
Happy Thanksgiving Day!
Kim