ALL DREAMS DAY

"I am just one small part of forever..." Stevie Nicks, THINK ABOUT IT

Today is known as All Fools Day. For my purposes I understand the holiday to have originated with the Emporer Constantine when he allowed his Court Jester to be king for one day. (Apparently the Jester, or Fool, had complained that he could rule better than the Emporer.)

In the Tarot, the Fool is either the start or the finish, but usually, as the card is numbered "0", it is considered the beginning. One has completed a cycle and is ready for a new beginning. In many decks The Fool stands at a crossroads, with only a "hobo suitcase" (stick with a kerchief tied to it) and small dog to accompany him. In others he is about to step off a precipice. He is ready for any adventure, even dangerous risk; emptied of wisdom, ready to learn again.

Today, let us all be Fools in this sense of the Holiday. Let us dream the dreams beyond common sense. Let us admit that for all of our information, there is still little that we truly know. Information and facts have a way, sometimes, of limiting wisdom and knowledge; of preventing the kind of miracles that can occur when we turn our world upside down and allow the Fool to be crowned regent and the King to wear the rags of the Jester.

Join me, won't you, in dreaming a new world today?

Here is my "list" of things I would do if I were Queen for a day:

Schoolteachers would be paid livable wages and would have more teaching assistants to help with grading papers.

We would all have the same holiday and vacation time as the British.

There would be a 15% gratuity added to all dine-in restaurant checks, as is in Paris. This would not just be for large parties, but for every check, regardless.

Between high school and college men and women both would serve 9 months in the military, as they do in Switzerland. Of course, in my capital letter DREAM WORLD we don't need armies at all, period.

There would be one day a week when no one watched television. When, actually, there would be no television to watch.

All tampons and pads and feminine products-- including ibuprofen and evening primrose oil, red clover, etc-- would be free and available to all women.

All birth control would be free and available to every person that was capable of reproducing.

Medical care would be free.

Prescription drugs would be free. Pharmacuetical companies would be non-profit research organizations.

Louise L. Hay, Andrew Weill, and Caroline Myss would be in charge of the American Medical Association.

Marijuana would be legal, but regulated.

Peyote and psychedelic mushrooms would be available at certain times of the year, in certain restricted areas, for purposes of celebration and mind expansion, to those that wished to participate.

Our main priority globally would be health. All wars would cease in order for proper food and nutrition to be distributed. This would be most painful for countries like the U.S., since we would all be going through intense sugar and meat withdrawals. However, the relief in solving world hunger would be so great, and we would all be benefitting from a more healthy culture, this would magically work out. Alice Waters and Vandana Shiva would be in charge of the details.

Most people would have a little backyard vegetable garden or community plot.

Today would be a day of parades like Mardi Gras, except not so Dionysion. More family friendly. Like Rio Carnival at Disneyland or something. Or more like those crazy artist parades in 1920's Paris. A day where adults could dress up in costumes and behave in a silly manner, without society completely falling apart or so decadent that kids couldn't participate.

There would be more celebration and Feast days like Mardi Gras; more days like All Dreams Day. With community parades and big celebrations. On these days the elephant would dress like the donkey, the walrus like the carpenter, etc. Walking in someone else's shoes for a few minutes.

Dialogue would be very important. There would be a culture of self-examination, with self-responsibility being primary. A recognition that we all think our beliefs are "right". Once a year we would confront that part of ourselves culturally.

Our global motto would be Acceptance whenever possible, and at the least, tolerance and understanding.

Ecological health would be very important to us as well, even if it meant downscaling in some areas of our lives. Knowing that we were ensuring the planet's future accomodation of our species.

All technological advancements and improvements, all "upgrades" would be made with primary consideration on the fragile balance of mother nature that we humans need to live in. (The earth has survived for much longer without us, and been both much hotter and much colder. We would do well to remember that it is our species that can only live in a very narrow temperature range, and within very narrow conditions.)

High School's would teach Sexual Education with a serious eye towards really being informative and dealing with some seriously ignored issues: masturbation, self-control, relationship issues, self-worth issues (especially for girls). My curriculum would also include financial instructions like how to balance a checkbook and learning to track reciepts and do your own taxes, and invest for retirement-- even if you only have a job at McDonalds.

Harville Hendrix would design a curriculum for people who were planning to marry (gay or straight) and that would be a course you completed before you got married.

There would be no advertising on the television or the radio.

Blogging and reading books and comics would be alot more popular. There would be no reality television. People would be more interested in You Tube and blogfrogging and more interaction with other people "in reality". More creative interaction and more arts.

There would be no racism. Differences would be embraced and celebrated.

Everyone would dress more colorfully and everyday life would be more festive. Whimsy would run rampant in the streets.

Streetlights would be shut off during spectacular celestial activity.

People would walk more.

Public transportation would be BETTER than having a car of your own. Trains and buses would run on solar power.

Everyone would WANT to vote.

Everyone would recycle, re-use, and reduce. No more straws! No more plastic grocery bags! No more styrofoam!

There would be more religions and people would practice more than one religion. Learning other religions would be the same as learning another language. Religion would no longer be a reason to go to war.

My personal dreams:

Every person who wanted a subscription to THE SUN literary magazine would recieve one for free.

There would be "blessing" and prayer trees and shrines every mile or so. Full moon's would be celebrated, and we would go to a lunar calendar.

Xena and Buffy would still be on the air.

More urban areas would be zoned for horses and livestock. Malls would be replaced with parks and community gardens.

More men would wear kilts.

I came up with this idea listening to the Laurie Anderson song MY EYES:
"If I were the President/ If I were queen for a day/ I'd give the ugly people/ All the money/ I'd re-write the Book of Love/ I'd make it funny..."

PRAISES, THANKS, & BLESSINGS!!!

PS-- The moon is full on Monday the 2nd. I direct you to Claudia at Moonsurfing for an overview, as I don't expect to be back on this site until Tuesday or Wednesday.