The tiny Cardinal above braving the elements
signifies to me the perspective we all need to find within ourselves. That
is, the courage and determination to face life unafraid and undaunted by
circumstance or events which have occurred in recent years, accepting the
fact that whatever we may face in these challenging times we must accept
responsibility for a problem before we can solve it. And we now face
grave problems created by the decisions made by those we have empowered
to act in our names which will affect not only the lives of those now here
but those who will follow us. It is our duty and responsibility to correct
those errors and call to account those who have so egregiously abused the
power with which we entrusted them.
We cannot solve a problem by saying
" It's not our problem," and hoping that someone else will solve it for
us. We can solve a problem only when we say "This is my problem and it's
up to me to solve it." And it is up to each of us to do exactly that,
now perhaps more than at any time in our lifetime. If we fail to do so,
it is our children and grandchildren who shall pay the price for our failure
to demand that our leaders remember the solemn duty bestowed upon them
by us and act in accordance with, and in keeping with, our countries much
heralded democratic and inherent standards and principles.
Robert F. Kennedy once said ... "
It
is from numberless diverse acts of courage and belief that human history
is shaped. Each time a person stands up for an ideal or strikes out against
injustice, he or she sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each
other from a million different centers of energy and daring those ripples
build a current which can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression
and resistance. "
He was right then, and the same holds
true today.
In his day the problems were similar
in nature but no where near as far reaching as they are today. And yet,
the outcry is muted. The voices of those who care enough to speak out still
are too few to be heard. The numbers increase by the day but still they
are not enough. Every single one of us should be demanding that those with
the power we ceded to them recognize that the only real voice in a democratic
society is the people. And that it is their sworn duty to listen to that
voice and act accordingly. Otherwise we become no better than any banana
republic led by a despot and his or her cabal. And we deserve the results
of that failure on our part to demand otherwise. Our children most assuredly
do not.
We are creating the enemies our children
shall face in the future. We are fostering the hatred for our nations
and our peoples that will fester and grow until it devours any chance of
a peaceful future in harmony with other nations on this planet. Not only
are we destroying the environment we are charged with bequeathing
to them, we are also multiplying beyond any imagining the multitudes who
will seek their destruction. How can we possibly justify our actions? It
is insane to believe that the children of the nations we now subject to
the horrors of war will grow up not holding us to account for the fear
and loathing we have bred into their very souls. It is our children who
will face that wrath. Not us. And most assuredly not the fearless
leaders who so mindlessly sent the youth of our nations to die in far away
lands as they sat in their comfy offices distorting fact, making the decisions
for us, and reaping the benefits of entitlement and power which
we bestowed upon them. And which we allowed them to perpetuate by our silence
and lack of courage to challenge their right to ignore every principle
upon which our nations were founded.
Dwight David Eisenhower, President of the
United States, General of the Army, wrote in 1953:
" Every gun that is made, every warship
launched, every rocket fired, signifies, in the final sense, theft from
those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed.The
world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of
its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children.
This is not a way of life at all in any true sense. Under the clouds of
war, it is humanity hanging on a cross of iron."
Another leader, in another time when
war was considered the abomination it is by sufficient numbers to be heard,
and who paid the price for his errors of judgment, once said ...
" If future generations are to
remember us with gratitude rather than contempt, we must leave them more
than the miracles of technology. We must leave them a glimpse of the world
as it was in the beginning, not just after we got through with it."
He was also right. His name
was Lyndon B. Johnson.
" Courage is resistance to fear, not absence
of it."
Mark Twain
For a complete listing of
all pages and sections and instructions
for navigating this site
please just click the icon below
MIDI "Just a Closer Walk
with Thee" courtesy of Les Gorven
February 2nd 2007
|
