DEATH BY CLIFF
By: Michael H. Gora
Before the white settlers had messed up the wild west for the Indians, the Indians, who never used the term until we arrived, hunted buffalo. In order to provide the entire tribe with provisions to carry them through the winter months a large last hunt of the fall season was organized.
After locating a large herd of buffalo grazing near a steep cliff they appointed a couple of dozen of their biggest, strongest and fastest braves to wear last year’s buffalo skins and infiltrate the perimeter of the herd .
Buffalo, look big strong and tough, but in fact they are a bit like cows in disguise. Like ourselves, they are jittery and always worry about what is going to happen to them next. The disguised Indians begin by making some noises with drums and rattles and advancing on the herd, which begins to move toward the cliff; first slowly.
The Indian warriors increase the noise and pace, and the buffalos surge forward, then trot and finally rush at stampeded pace over the 100 foot cliff to their deaths, where the waiting tribe will “put them out of their misery”, and slaughter and butcher them. That which is not used for meat might be used for other things, from weapons, to tools, to needles made from bone.
When discussing the current fiscal cliff with our friends, whether Republican or Democrat, keep in mind that “WE” are all the buffalo.
The Indians were driving the buffalo, we are being driven toward the cliff by the warriors of two tribes, the Democrats and Republicans. The Indians, however, were much smarter than the Senators and Congressmen of today, the Indians had a common goal, to feed and clothe the tribe for a winter or perhaps even two.
The Republican and Democratic warriors of today do not have our common good in mind, but just the hope and wish that they can defeat the other at the next election through bluster, bribe, trickery and obfuscation.
So it seems we are at once not only the buffalo being driven off the cliff to our economic deaths, we are also the tribe, waiting for a good result which will enable us to live long and prosper. We see the problem, but we hold the solution in our hands.
Whether you are a an “R” or a “D” call or e-mail your Senator or Congressman, send a “Letter to the Editor,” post your blog, or stick your head out the window and scream that you are mad as hell and refuse to take it anymore.
The road to our financial salvation resides with neither the Republicans nor Democrats but somewhere in between where common sense and compromise live.
Michael H. Gora has been certified by the Board of Legal Specialization of the Florida Bar as a specialist in family and matrimonial law and is a partner with Shapiro Blasi Wasserman & Gora P.A. in Boca Raton. (and occasionally writes political opinion.)
