Category Archives: world

this damnable war…

From George McGovern via the Progressive Historians (McGovern is speaking on the Senate floor):

Every senator in this chamber is partly responsible for sending 50,000 young Americans to an early grave. This chamber reeks of blood. Every Senator here is partly responsible for that human wreckage at Walter Reed and Bethesda Naval and all across our land — young men without legs, or arms, or genitals, or faces or hopes.

There are not very many of these blasted and broken boys who think this war is a glorious adventure. Do not talk to them about bugging out, or national honor or courage. It does not take any courage at all for a congressman, or a senator, or a president to wrap himself in the flag and say we are staying in Vietnam, because it is not our blood that is being shed. But we are responsible for those young men and their lives and their hopes.

And if we do not end this damnable war those young men will some day curse us for our pitiful willingness to let the Executive carry the burden that the Constitution places on us.

So before we vote, let us ponder the admonition of Edmund Burke, the great parliamentarian of an earlier day: “A contentious man would be cautious how he dealt in blood.”

While I don’t agree that someone who is mutilated (by war or otherwise) is necessarily without hope, I often feel hopeless when I realize how little consideration our nation’s leaders have for the human cost paid by their wargames.

for the 4th…


The day has only barely dawned and I’ve already read several fabulous Independence Day posts. You bloggers really know how to celebrate this great (and corrupt) nation of ours! My favorite, so far, is found at 37 Days. Patricia, discusses “Interdependence Day“:

“History books focus on the people who were in power as if all change comes from those in positions of authority. The truth is that ordinary citizens created much of what we love about America…At this celebration, let’s give thanks for the ordinary and extraordinary Americans whose struggles brought about those changes. Let’s give a toast:

* To the waves of immigrants from all parts of the world who struggled to accept each other and find a place in this country.
* To the escaped slaves and their allies, particularly Quakers, evangelical Christians, and freedom-loving secularists, who built the Underground Railroad and helped countless people to freedom.
* To the African Americans and allies who went to prison, lost their livelihoods, and were savagely beaten in the struggle for civil rights.
* To the women who risked family, job security, and their own constructed identities to shift our collective consciousness about men and women and raise awareness of the effects of patriarchy.
* To all those who risk scorn and violence and often lost connection to their families to lead the struggle for the acceptance of gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgendered, and queer people.
* To those who continue to work for equal access for people with disabilities.
* To all of the innovators and artists who have brought so much beauty and usefulness into our lives.

“All that we celebrate today in America involved struggles to overcome entrenched ways of thinking…. Today we celebrate the moments when the United States and the American people have acted not only from self-interest but also from genuine caring… We are proud of our country. We love its physical beauty. Many of us come from immigrant families who found refuge here when there were few other societies on the planet that would welcome our ancestors. Let us once again commit to overcoming the fear of the other and cultivating a spirit of generosity and love toward the stranger.”

I am not a patriot. I have not been able to salute the flag or recite the Pledge of Allegiance for nearly a decade. Rather, I pledge daily to serve all of humanity and I don’t wrap my fervor in the banner of any particular color or pattern. I celebrate those who have been willing to fight for greater opportunities for everyone, with liberty and justice for all.

this one’s for you


daisy yellows, originally uploaded by pilgrimgirl.

I look at this petite little daisy and I see the strength of one. In a sea of people we sometimes wonder if one person can ‘make a difference’, or if we really even matter at all. But I think we do, each of us!

I’ve been thinking a lot about SL’s post , which was a riff on an earlier post of mine. I think we both struggle with wanting to know what our place is in changing this world.

For me, lately, I have come to understand that I should be simple-minded in my efforts. I may not come up with a world-wide program for combating disease. I may not be a Paul Farmer or a Dorothy Day. But I can take pictures of flowers, and grow vegetables, and give a kind word. I can aim to have a welcoming home, where all can join in the simple pleasures of a good meal. I often play piano concertos on my record player and eat fine chocolate and hold a purring kitty on my lap. It’s all good.

In speaking of the women’s suffrage movement, Alice Paul wrote:

“I always feel the movement is a sort of mosaic. Each of us puts in one little stone, and then you get a great mosaic at the end.”

My efforts are my own little stone and I like thinking that they are a part of something bigger and grander than myself. Like one blossom in a meadow-full of flowers. 🙂

Dark Days

Yesterday I watched Dark Days as I was doing housework and eating lunch.* Wow. It’s about a group of homeless folks who made their homes in an abandoned subway tunnel under the streets of Manhattan. They had running water, electricity and well-built homes made of scavenged materials. There were drugs, rats, and some interpersonal tensions. But the ingenuity and perseverance of these folks is quite admirable. My favorite parts were watching them cook: making cornbread and meatballs and all manner of ‘normal’ foods in their tiny kitchens. Amazing. And somewhat reminiscent of the frontier era. Oh, and the cinematography was quite unique as everything was shot in the dark underground using ‘night vision’ cameras.

Here’s the trailer for your enjoyment (note: the music in the movie itself is a bit more subtle):

*Hat tip to John for netflixing this gem.

Mother’s Day Proclamation for Peace

The celebration of Mother’s Day originated with poet Julia Ward Howe, as a movement for women to fight the devastation of war and to show the way towards peace. Today’s sentimental-flowers-&-Hallmark-card bedecked event hardly measures up to the fiery rhetoric of the day’s founding mother…

Julia Ward Howe’s Mother’s Day Proclamation – 1870

Arise then…women of this day!
Arise, all women who have hearts!
Whether your baptism be of water or of tears!
Say firmly:
“We will not have questions answered by irrelevant agencies,
Our husbands will not come to us, reeking with carnage,
For caresses and applause.
Our sons shall not be taken from us to unlearn
All that we have been able to teach them of charity, mercy and patience.
We, the women of one country,
Will be too tender of those of another country
To allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs.”

From the bosom of a devastated Earth a voice goes up with
Our own. It says: “Disarm! Disarm!
The sword of murder is not the balance of justice.”
Blood does not wipe out dishonor,
Nor violence indicate possession.
As men have often forsaken the plough and the anvil
At the summons of war,
Let women now leave all that may be left of home
For a great and earnest day of counsel.
Let them meet first, as women, to bewail and commemorate the dead.
Let them solemnly take counsel with each other as to the means
Whereby the great human family can live in peace…
Each bearing after his own time the sacred impress, not of Caesar,
But of God –
In the name of womanhood and humanity, I earnestly ask
That a general congress of women without limit of nationality,
May be appointed and held at someplace deemed most convenient
And the earliest period consistent with its objects,
To promote the alliance of the different nationalities,
The amicable settlement of international questions,
The great and general interests of peace.

it’s the bomb…

The chilling beauty of these ‘mushroom cloud’ images might be an appropriate accompaniment to John’s Wednesday challenge. As I saw the homes leveled by the winds and thought of the untold devastation of Hiroshima, Nagasaki, and the Nevada tests, I found myself in awe of the power of humanity at the same time I was horrified that such weapons were ever developed, much less used on humans (enemy or otherwise).

I have often wondered if Utah’s nuclear legacy is a reason for my own bout of osteosarcoma. It may have more to do with my father’s research in petrochemicals during the time of my conception. Or it may be an entirely random ailment. In any case, I have bone-deep empathy for those whose bodies were and are maimed in acts of war or other violence.