Fired Up

In case you’re wondering, “What got Don so fired up ?” (about politics)...I thought I’d let you know. I’ve been fired up for some time. Federal employees have a lot of restrictions placed on them that keep them from participating in our political process. On one level, that is understandable. On another level, it makes you a second-class citizen. Put it down to “you don’t know what you’ve got until it’s gone.” Now that I’ve retired, I’m ready to participate. Fully.

Let’s just say I was already primed. What inspired me was a seemingly random series of events. They’re not so random. I choose what to read. First I read Robert Reich’s blog entry -- McCain, Obama, and the Inherent Advantage of Caring More About Ends Than Means . (There’s a reason I keep those links over there in the left column you know.) Then (and this was random) I turned on the TV to catch the news. My wife had other plans. She was recording Driving Miss Daisy and I just happened to turn on the TV at exactly the right moment to hear this;

"History will have to record that the greatest tragedy of this period of social transition was not the vitriolic words and the violent actions of the bad people, but the appalling silence and indifference of the good people. Our generation will have to repent not only for the words and acts of the children of darkness, but also for the fears and apathy of the children of light."

Who said that ? Read on and I’ll tell you later.

The final piece of the puzzle was in the book I’m currently reading -- The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power by Jeff Sharlet.

In it, I read these silly words; “Remember our war hysteria, when we called sauerkraut “Liberty Cabbage...”

Those words came from It Can't Happen Here, written by Sinclair Lewis and published in 1935.

“Liberty Cabbage.” Sounds a lot like “Freedom Fries” doesn’t it ? You remember those don’t you ? Here, refresh your memory. Be sure to note the party affiliations. And if you read far enough, you’ll notice that you don’t need to buy a book from 1935 to learn about “Liberty Cabbage.” You can read Wikipedia instead.

Ask yourself some serious questions. Do you really want to be on the side of intolerance and fear ? Do you really want the “vitriolic words “ and “violent actions“ to define your nation in the rest of the world’s eyes ? In forty years will you be proud of your “appalling silence and indifference“ ?

In 1965, the city of Atlanta held a tribute for a Georgian that had been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Time magazine has their archives on line. It makes for interesting reading. Take a few moments to do so. It’s all there. The good and the evil. The darkness and the light. Perhaps it’s easier to see in hindsight.

Make no mistake about it, it isn’t always easy to tell good from evil in the chaos of the moment. Good decisions are made for the wrong reasons. Bad decisions are often made for the right reasons. Don’t let the difficulty of the task beat you into silence and indifference. Don’t let others turn your fears into hatred or apathy. Do your best. Make a choice. Take a stand.

"History will have to record that the greatest tragedy of this period of social transition was not the vitriolic words and the violent actions of the bad people, but the appalling silence and indifference of the good people. Our generation will have to repent not only for the words and acts of the children of darkness, but also for the fears and apathy of the children of light."

Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.
January 27, 1965
Atlanta, Georgia

Don Brown
August 22, 2008