by Matthew Krawitz
As we move further down the road of this amazing movement, I find myself repeatedly engaging with people who seem to get caught up by any “cause celebreté”. Whether it be drug policy, or immigration policy, monetary policy or anything else, I keep preaching, “we’re not ready to take a stand yet.”
I am part of the 99%.
I am a 40 year old, married (to a wonderful woman), unemployed father of 2 beautiful girls.
I lived the “American Dream”. I founded and sold my own business. I helped start an airline (no shit, aluminum objects filled with people in the sky!), and helped reform a general contractor. I bought into this American Dream 100%.
Then the dream stopped. I became terminally underemployed. I had my home taken from me by Wells Fargo, and now they are attempting to have a judgement rendered against me to the tune of an additional $200,000+ to payback the balance owed vs. what they seized! Bankruptcy is generally something one might consider in circumstances such as mine, but thanks to the Bankruptcy Reform Act of 2005 there is a gaping hole in the bankruptcy code denying the right to bankruptcy to middle-class families!
What does this make me? An indentured servant to Wells Fargo? Every dollar I make until I die will contribute to further perpetuating my enemies’ good fortunes.
As I thought about my future potential of living the “American Dream”, it became clear that I was gamed by the system, and I will not climb the ladder that the three generations prior to ours climbed. My children also seemed less likely to do better then I have. Our family’s “business,” unfortunately, was not “too big to fail,” so we’re failing, falling with no bottom in sight.
But my family isn’t failing. My family is loving and close, and once we removed the related stresses about money, we found that we spend more time together, and that we’re getting to know each other better.
The same can be said for what’s happening in the #Occupy movement today.
We are the 99%.
America has lost her way. She had noble ideas that suffered compromise before we even got started. Now a growing sentiment in America believes that we’re more than making “great compromises” to preserve this Union. We’re going further, changing the very nature of our Union for ill.
It’s true that the river of monied interests has clouded our ability to see precisely what’s wrong, but we all feel it in our bones. America has strayed. This movement, this occupation is beautiful precisely because we refuse to devolve into petty “talking points” and 2-minute discussions to solve what is at the core of the ills of our nation and our world. We are a megaphone to the voiceless. We are a router into a money-inspired-spin-free environment. We The People can solve this problem, together as the 99%.
The 99% includes many more brilliant minds than it has today gathered in our occupations. We require the best and brightest to throw off what they know is wrong, to come together and find the answer. The demands of the occupation is months away, if not years!
When we take a stand (any stand) as a group we diminish the 99% immediately, and silence an important voice.
Join with me in actively listening to the 99%. Revel in the wonder that is a civil discourse on how we want to leave this great nation to our children. Don’t allow hate speech or “talking points” to blur your ability to engage on a human level.
This movement is a thing of beauty, and our grandchildren will ask us where we were when the American Awakening happened. I’m proud to say I’m with YOU, the 99%, 100%.
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