I’ve been feeling defeated and demoralized since the State of the Union address, wondering if there was anything I or anyone else could do to affect the course of this impending war. I wrote Arthur, who has been my anti-war idol, asking for his advice. What he said was so fantastic, I wanted to share it here.
Adam,
I admit that I feel the same way. I’m sure that one of the reasons I’ve all but abandoned give love:get love is that “spitting into the wind” feeling.
I don’t know what we can do. Sometimes I view it like this battle is lost but maybe the war can be won in the long-term. Other times I think of my money killing people around the world and it really bums me out.
I’m lucky enough to have a Congressman who is vehemently opposed to the war, but I feel like I might be more powerful if my Congressman disagreed with me and I could use my vote (and my peers’ votes) as leverage to convince him that working for peace would get him re-elected.
Being visible and active may be the only power we have. I’m going to miss this weekend’s peace rally in SF because of Frisbee practice in San Diego, but I think going to each rally is now extra important. I know of so many people who agree with the peace rally but don’t feel strongly enough to go. They are not counted.
Since the media is so distorted, maybe another thing we can do is use our economic power. Bowling For Columbine really clinched my decision to ignore the news and to choose my information sources from scratch. Maybe we should boycott news outlets who parrot the party line and whitelist news organizations that actually do journalism. Write to advertisers of bad news outlets telling them their products are being tainted by associating themselves with low quality journalism. If a couple dozen evangelical Christians can keep mildly sexual content off the air through their complaints, we should be able to do better since there are more of us.
Assuming it hasn’t been obliterated by then, I’m going to Italy in September for the freestyle world championships. In thinking about what to wear, I feel like I have to bring some slogan t-shirts. My latest idea is “on behalf of America, I apologize” in addition to the usual “dubya is not my president” and “I do not support war”. Some friends were in Thailand over Christmas and they said people came up to them, knowing they were Americans, and politely asked “why is America acting like this?” The world is scared of us, and that’s not a good thing.
Then there’s always the option of moving out of the country, but then I’d be leaving all the good things for people who don’t really deserve them.
I’m feeling hopeless myself, and I wish America would wake up and see these jokers for who they are. Maybe all we can do is live good lives and set an example. Maybe that’s enough in the long term.
Arthur
I feel, living a good life, and setting an example is the most powerful statement anyone can make. In my opinion, our #1 mission in life is to treat others as we’d want to be treated, not judge people, and learn how to love unconditionally. I believe those actions are extremely powerful, and when you live your life to achieve those goals, people take notice, your energy, attitude and thoughts spread to others. We are all connected by that energy.
There are events and issues in this world that are beyond our control. But in the end, when we pass from this world and look back on what we learned, it will be those little things that we’ll be most proud of, the times when we worked to do what we though was right and good-regardless of the outcome. Those actions, those thoughts are tangible things. It’s not about reaching the top of the mountain, it’s about the climb.
I think of it like politics. The most important elections you can vote in, are your most local ones. That is where you can make the biggest difference. I believe it’s the same in life, deal with the people you meet everyday, the best you can with kindness and without judgement. I believe if you have a positive effect on the things you CAN control, it will make a difference in the long run.
We maybe cannot effect great change, as individuals, or even as a group. But if you’re always working to have a positive effect on the things and people around you, you know you’re doing everything you can, and that the little things DO add up. If more people in the world went about their days treating people with care and respect, despite their religious, political, or racial differences, we wouldn’t be talking about war.
To get the whole 6 billion people in this world to respect eachother, and realize that we’re here to love and care for eachother is an insurmountable job. And it has to happen one person at a time. Our attitudes, thoughts and actions have a greater power than any of us could possibly imagine. IMHO.
I think part of the problem is that it is very difficult to argue against something without offering an alternative. The only option most people who are against the war offer up is inaction. Whether or not that is what we should do, it’s always harder to make a case for doing nothing than for doing something. It’s part of the biggest problem the left has right now – their entire platform is a reaction to the right in some way. They need a vision or a mission that people can get behind based on positives instead of a policy of reaction based on negatives.
I agree with Xkot, althouth many times the alternate would be accused of being off-topic. My alternative to war with Iraq would be to spend the $100 billion on schools, public works and subsidized clean energy research. That doesn’t quiet down the drums of war, though. Explosions are much more compelling TV than video of teachers grading math tests for the next generation of groundbreaking scientists.