When God Gets Tired
... so now I'm watching the State of the Union speech ... ugh ...
To adapt Junior's language: the state of our union is gutted, and soon we'll be throwing the chum back in the water. Coretta Scott King died, Samuel Alito got confirmed, and the president continues to champion a course of destruction throughout the Arab world in what has proved to be an unjust response to 911. That this is directed by the man we elected king is no comfort to those of us who could rightly say "I told you so." Has there ever been a leader of the United States who so transparently seeks to obviate the lessons learned from Martin Luther King, Jimmy Carter, Bella Abzug, and Patrick Henry?
Admittedly, I'm not a student of US history. Maybe if I was, then I might be able to see through the truism "an eye for an eye leaves the whole world blind." Maybe then I'd begin to understand why we shouldn't follow the dictum of turning the other cheek. Where is that light shining in the darkness? When did the word "freedom" become a sledgehammer?
We have the guns and the money, that's for sure. So, we make the rules. Fortunately we have not yet been able to re-write history, even though the president's speech writers seek to do just that. Will history will prove this eight year period to be one of our darker chapters; rife with greed, corruption, blasphemy, and tortured language?
Several weeks ago I read a fairly innocuous note in the Washington Post where the House Senate Conference Committee zeroed out the $50 million dollars that the president earmarked for the Sudan. We've been hearing about the Sudan for decades now, it's old news. But as I thought more, I wondered why this issue wasn't on anybodies political radar -- not Mr. Bush's (we could hardly expect that, now could we?) but not the Democrats either. Compared with the half a trillion dollars that we've blown on this farce of a war in Iraq, that $50 million feels like lint in my pocket. Trivial. Laughable.
So here's what I think: The great crime of this administration is not just in invading two sovereign countries in a criminal response to a horrible act of terrorism. The greatest crime is a lack of foresight, a lack of statesmanship, and a complete lack of conscience in not recognizing that directing a fraction of the money used in Iraq toward the Sudan could have helped avert one of the greatest tragedies of this age – comparable to the crimes of Cambodia, Uganda, and Rwanda, coming close to the Holocaust.
WE COULD HAVE SAVED THE SUDAN. But we didn't. Didn't even think about it. Why would we? There's no oil there. There're no ghosts of previous administrations to kill there. There are no war industry lobbyists in the Pentagon (Cheney & Wolfowitz) passionately pleading for our acquiescence while they make plans to save the Sudan. Guess conscience is too much to expect of our politicians. As an aside, can I say as a card carrying liberal that the Democrats are spineless and equally as culpable in all of this?
This weekend past found us in Park Cities, Utah at the Sundance Film Festival. By good fortune we found ourselves with a day off, in line to see a documentary titled: "God Grew Tired of Us." Neither Cary nor I had any idea what was in store. Both of us started crying at the opening credits and didn't stop 'til our tear ducts ran out of juice. The movie chronicles the saga of the "Lost Boys" of the Sudan, and their unbelievable trek of over 15 years through eastern Africa. I left the screening wanting to change my life, wanting to live my life on purpose, wanting to do all I could to help.
It reminded me of how it felt to come back to the US from India three years ago. I told Cary that I resolved to not waste my life, my time, or my money. When you see first hand what a dollar can do, it makes the money I spend at Starbucks feel obscene. The longer I can remember that a dollar could feed a whole family for a day in south India, the longer I can remain accountable to my conscience. The longer I remember the scenes of the "Lost Boys" coming to America only to work 3 jobs and send every penny they can save to their family and adopted brothers, the longer I can feel like a citizen of the world, not just a green card carrying Texan.
On the something to feel good about front, Cary and I heard the story of a woman at the screening at Sundance taking out her checkbook and giving 25 grand to one of the lost boys who was present at an earlier screening. That is what redeems us all – the capacity of some among us to do what our leaders obviously will never do. I make no resolutions here. I only state my intention to be more present in the irrelevant details of my life.
I hope you get to see the movie. 'Til then, visit www.godgrewtiredofus.com.
Namaste – Tom
To adapt Junior's language: the state of our union is gutted, and soon we'll be throwing the chum back in the water. Coretta Scott King died, Samuel Alito got confirmed, and the president continues to champion a course of destruction throughout the Arab world in what has proved to be an unjust response to 911. That this is directed by the man we elected king is no comfort to those of us who could rightly say "I told you so." Has there ever been a leader of the United States who so transparently seeks to obviate the lessons learned from Martin Luther King, Jimmy Carter, Bella Abzug, and Patrick Henry?
Admittedly, I'm not a student of US history. Maybe if I was, then I might be able to see through the truism "an eye for an eye leaves the whole world blind." Maybe then I'd begin to understand why we shouldn't follow the dictum of turning the other cheek. Where is that light shining in the darkness? When did the word "freedom" become a sledgehammer?
We have the guns and the money, that's for sure. So, we make the rules. Fortunately we have not yet been able to re-write history, even though the president's speech writers seek to do just that. Will history will prove this eight year period to be one of our darker chapters; rife with greed, corruption, blasphemy, and tortured language?
Several weeks ago I read a fairly innocuous note in the Washington Post where the House Senate Conference Committee zeroed out the $50 million dollars that the president earmarked for the Sudan. We've been hearing about the Sudan for decades now, it's old news. But as I thought more, I wondered why this issue wasn't on anybodies political radar -- not Mr. Bush's (we could hardly expect that, now could we?) but not the Democrats either. Compared with the half a trillion dollars that we've blown on this farce of a war in Iraq, that $50 million feels like lint in my pocket. Trivial. Laughable.
So here's what I think: The great crime of this administration is not just in invading two sovereign countries in a criminal response to a horrible act of terrorism. The greatest crime is a lack of foresight, a lack of statesmanship, and a complete lack of conscience in not recognizing that directing a fraction of the money used in Iraq toward the Sudan could have helped avert one of the greatest tragedies of this age – comparable to the crimes of Cambodia, Uganda, and Rwanda, coming close to the Holocaust.
WE COULD HAVE SAVED THE SUDAN. But we didn't. Didn't even think about it. Why would we? There's no oil there. There're no ghosts of previous administrations to kill there. There are no war industry lobbyists in the Pentagon (Cheney & Wolfowitz) passionately pleading for our acquiescence while they make plans to save the Sudan. Guess conscience is too much to expect of our politicians. As an aside, can I say as a card carrying liberal that the Democrats are spineless and equally as culpable in all of this?
This weekend past found us in Park Cities, Utah at the Sundance Film Festival. By good fortune we found ourselves with a day off, in line to see a documentary titled: "God Grew Tired of Us." Neither Cary nor I had any idea what was in store. Both of us started crying at the opening credits and didn't stop 'til our tear ducts ran out of juice. The movie chronicles the saga of the "Lost Boys" of the Sudan, and their unbelievable trek of over 15 years through eastern Africa. I left the screening wanting to change my life, wanting to live my life on purpose, wanting to do all I could to help.
It reminded me of how it felt to come back to the US from India three years ago. I told Cary that I resolved to not waste my life, my time, or my money. When you see first hand what a dollar can do, it makes the money I spend at Starbucks feel obscene. The longer I can remember that a dollar could feed a whole family for a day in south India, the longer I can remain accountable to my conscience. The longer I remember the scenes of the "Lost Boys" coming to America only to work 3 jobs and send every penny they can save to their family and adopted brothers, the longer I can feel like a citizen of the world, not just a green card carrying Texan.
On the something to feel good about front, Cary and I heard the story of a woman at the screening at Sundance taking out her checkbook and giving 25 grand to one of the lost boys who was present at an earlier screening. That is what redeems us all – the capacity of some among us to do what our leaders obviously will never do. I make no resolutions here. I only state my intention to be more present in the irrelevant details of my life.
I hope you get to see the movie. 'Til then, visit www.godgrewtiredofus.com.
Namaste – Tom
2 Comments:
To be nobody but yourself in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you everybody else means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight; and never stop fighting.
~e.e. cummings, 1955
You are the real thing TPR. You and your music inspire me to be all that I can be.
Namaste, Aunt Bee
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