Inglourious Basterds

The other day I found out that my astrological rising sign is in Libra, which makes total sense. The defining attribute of a Libra is the possession of an overwhelming sense of fairness. Nothing angers a Libra more than seeing  injustice go uncorrected. Easily upset by cruelty, violence, bloodshed and strife,  Libra is the champion of harmony and equality. I often find myself in visceral turmoil over the history of humanity. The Holocaust makes my stomach churn, as does the Civil War, the inequality of men and women throughout history, the civil rights movement, the Cultural Revolution of China, the murderous reign of Pol Pot in Cambodia, the military regime of Burma, genocide in Rwanda, rape in the Congo, the clear cutting of forests, the illegalization of marijuana, the forbiddance of gay couples the freedom to marry, the extinction of animal species, the mistreatment of animals, child abuse, the exile of the Dalai Lama….the list is long.

Tonight I watched the movie Inglourious Basterds. A good film. Welcome back Quentin Terrantino. This movie had me on the edge and I could have used a little stress ball to squeeze or some Tums, because my stomach was in celtic knots for 2 and a half hours. I had a mild case of anxiety from beginning to end, partly because of the suspense, partly because it ignited in me some deeply rooted desire to fight anyone who attempts to muzzle life and inflict harm. It’s not even conscious for me. Somehow it’s imbedded in my DNA and I like to imagine that the interstellar particles that collided to form my body and spirit 28 years ago were the floating debris that trickled down from whatever galaxy the Libra constellation resides within. To my core, I hate what the Nazis did. It hurts my heart. They are the byproduct of some dark and horrible tunnel humanity stumbled down and got lost in. Throughout the film I wished to have been alive then. To have been a part of the resistance to snuff out their evil. My lineage is German, and there is no way to know how I may have developed, given the circumstances of a life and the argument for nature versus nurture. However, for me, I feel so clearly that had I been alive in the 1940’s in Western Europe, I would have been perfecting the art of conspiring against the Nazi’s. I would have been part of the underground. I would have been an inglourious basterd.

I left the movie wanting to beat the living hell out of some perpetrator of injustice. My hands were shaking. Who knows. If you consider the concept of reincarnation, perhaps I was there. Perhaps I saw the injustice and died trying to right it. Perhaps I  hid a Jewish family under my floorboards or ushered a black family across the Confederate line. Perhaps I marched with Dr. King. Perhaps I stood my ground before a tank in Tiananmen Square. You know what? I fucking did. I was there for all of it and I still am. Whatever it is that courses through my veins, informing my heart of what is right and wrong, it’s been around and it’s gathered momentum.

My heart still beats with equality and harmony and justice and it always will, whether in this lifetime or the next.