like half of Americans and virtually all the rest of the world's population, i am in shock.
while the results of Tuesday's election are sinking in, i still find myself searching for another answer... what will the democratic party do to help carry us through the next four years? can they do anything? can we do anything? will the Bush administration completely destroy us?... the radio was consoling at first, but then it began to feed my depression, disbelief, frustration and anger even more... still at a loss for words, i feel like the struggle is over and we've lost all hope. the momentum, endurance and collective energy against the Right has hit a brickwall, and now we feel powerless in the hands of our own government. some democracy this is... or is it?
all this week, i've felt very sick to my stomach. i've wanted to move far far away, but for the first time in my life, i'm actually very afraid of the insurmountable anti-Americanism out there. will we ever again be safe to venture outside our borders? right now, we are a disgrace to all humanity, and i have never been more ashamed of being an American.
i've considered doing door-to-door evangelism (it's the only way they'll understand) to convert the souls that were lost to the darkside... thanks to their ignorance and fear, the "evil-doer" now has absolute and corruptive power, and the world as we know it is in fact coming to an end.... i've thought very seriously about what Kerry said in his concession speech: "the danger of division in our country and the need -- the desperate need for unity, for finding the common ground, coming together." somehow though, i don't really believe that's ever going to happen... until the our administration's dictatorship falls. only then can it begin to re-focus on its own people and recover its founding principles--freedom and democracy...
tell me, what can i do to reclaim my civic responsibility after being shot down on Tuesday? how can I embrace my "freedom" and "privilege" of being a citizen of this not-so-great nation?... hope is not yet completely lost, right?
1 comment:
Of course there's hope. More importantly, there's Hope!
I was over at Sustenance Farm (my old farm) the thursday after the election, having lunch with Harvey and Nancy, and my fellow intern, Jean, who has been a lifelong radical, and is now nearing Sixty. It was a wonderfully soul-nourishing encounter. Jean and Nancy in particular, set things into the proper perspective for me. They said, "It's always been important for us to do our Good Work, to fight the evil in the world. That hasn't changed. The election did absolutely NOTHING to change what we have to do."
It really drove the point home. Bush didn't bring the evil into our government. He's just made it more obvious. Kerry isn't a good guy. He's better, but he's still part of the power structure that oppresses the poor and the opposition. Democrat or Republican, remember, it was Clinton who pushed through NAFTA, and got us started on the road to the FTAA. It was Clinton who sat by and watched the Genocide in Rwanda. Clinton spearheaded the sanctions and bombing in Iraq while he was in office. We've been sponsoring dictators and drug kingpins in central and south america for as long as we've been involved down there. Only now it's obvious. Now it's all on the surface. The world always is and always will be hard on the poor. And it will always be up to us to fight it, and to see that the Kingdom of Heaven remains alive.
Anti-Americanism is certainly going to be a problem. But most people know the difference between a country and it's people. Don't let it stop you from greeting people kindly, and extending your love to them. If you travel abroad, and people greet you harshly, accept it as somehow collectively deserved, (because when you travel, you *do* represent your country to the people you meet) but don't knuckle under to it, and don't let it get in your way of doing what's right.
Jean told me a story once of a catholic monk who was being held at gunpoint, and told to do something, I can't remember what, which he refused to do. The gunman said to him, "Don't you know I have the power to shoot you dead?" To which the monk replied, "Don't you know that I have the power to stand here and let you do it?" The gunman was shaken by this and let him go. The world is full of stories like this, of the courage of love triumphing over the courage of war, and full of stories of tiny goodnesses standing tall in the face of massive evils. There have been saints in the worst of oppressive regimes, and ordinary people living their lives in the face of violent governments. I take great inspiration from those people, and wonder when we will realize that we are not exempt from the evils of the world because we live in America. Maintain your hope, but give up your expectation of a government that will do our good deeds for us.
Love,
Cliff
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