In the New York Times Magazine a number of years ago (November 2002) there was a story about a Nigerian woman being stoned. The story was nestled between advertisements for rocks that a woman can wear around her neck if she has an extra ten grand.

I think about this story every time I read the Sunday paper, every time I see the ads for diamonds.

I hear stories about pornography as profitable mainstream business while I struggle to understand a woman’s right to do what she wishes with her body versus women as victims of sexual predation.

There is so much talk about the need for morality, but Western culture requires sex appeal and mostly naked women to sell soda pop and cars and a host of other goods and services. And though I enjoy reading the Sunday New York Times, I cannot abide the scantily clad nymphs and young men who adorn the “fashion” sections. The waif look is not what I would want my son or daughter to aspire to.

Our government is lying to us, corporations are stealing from us, banks are taking our homes, and food manufacturers are poisoning us. And we hide our heads in sex, entertainment, fashion, gourmet food, and jewelry.

I’d like to say that “I’m mad as hell, and I’m not going to take it anymore,” but I think someone already did. So what can I say that will be heard? How loud do I need to scream? And is anyone available to listen?

My friends nod their heads in agreement, but we seem powerless to do anything. We are not politicians. We are not powerful executives of multinational corporations. We are just trying to live in what has become a very complicated world. We work, create families, create needs, and then work some more to fulfill them. We are too busy to see the Greek tragedy of this life. We are too numb to realize we are Sisyphus pushing the rock up the hill for eternity.

In Ishmael, Daniel Quinn poses the right questions and a few of the answers, but how do we make it work? How do we change? Will it take a catastrophe? Aliens?

What if we dispense with “stuff” and keep life all simple? Pretty scary for most of us. But what would we need? Not much.

Clean air to breathe, clean water to drink.

Plants and animals protected from debasement and extinction.

Shelter from storms. A piece of clothing to keep warm. Food to eat. Songs to sing and stories to tell.

Everything else is window dressing.

Personally, I’m getting tired of running the maze, of pushing the rock. I vow to spend more time being and less time doing. Doing creates waste. Being wastes much less energy. Doing means pushing the rock.