What divisions don’t exist in our communities? Even on my little lane, the English Ivy attacks the fir and cedar trees and in this case, I am willing to take a side and cut and pull the ivy off of the majestic fir, cedar, hemlock, and Olympic maple trees.
Out in our little town the classicists have been fighting with the environmentalists over returning Capitol lake to an Estuary. The business owners are fighting with the homeless. The asleep are waring with the woke.
There is a small organization about 50 miles away from me, called the Ground Zero Center for Non-Violent Action. It is filled with older people who have deep faith in God and in resisting the evil of Nuclear Weapons. In particular, they resist the presence of the Trident Nuclear Submarine, a weapon system with unimaginable and indiscriminate destructive power. It is a nihilistic and evil weapon system if there ever was one.
Instead of condemning the people who work on the base, these non-violent activists communicate, gently persuade, and sacrifice their own independence through non-violent acts of resistance. They go to jail in order to alert people to the extraordinary danger this weapon system poses to the world. Their witness is spectacularly unpractical and idealistic. It is also constructive rather than destructive. The weapon system itself is an extraordinary expression of power and hopelessness. These aging demonstrators counter this with simple and heartfelt hope.
So much divides us and keeps us apart these days. A wonderful book, called Habits of the Heart, written back in 1985 posited that we have so identified with like-minded individuals in America. We spend our entire lives surrounded by folks just like ourselves. And in so doing the most diversity we are likely to experience is in our own family of origin where we often are confronted by different political and religious values. Since this book was written our country has become so much more polarized that some are trying to split us into red and blue countries.
I think the good people at Ground Zero may have an approach that we can borrow. All of the old non-violent resisters who have a former submarine commander among them take a strong position for life and diversity but stay open to the people who don’t agree with them. Idealistic, unpractical, difficult, and hopeful. I think it may be our only chance not to lose each other. Except in the case of the English Ivy. I'm cutting that down.
— DanielSouthGate
Out in our little town the classicists have been fighting with the environmentalists over returning Capitol lake to an Estuary. The business owners are fighting with the homeless. The asleep are waring with the woke.
There is a small organization about 50 miles away from me, called the Ground Zero Center for Non-Violent Action. It is filled with older people who have deep faith in God and in resisting the evil of Nuclear Weapons. In particular, they resist the presence of the Trident Nuclear Submarine, a weapon system with unimaginable and indiscriminate destructive power. It is a nihilistic and evil weapon system if there ever was one.
Instead of condemning the people who work on the base, these non-violent activists communicate, gently persuade, and sacrifice their own independence through non-violent acts of resistance. They go to jail in order to alert people to the extraordinary danger this weapon system poses to the world. Their witness is spectacularly unpractical and idealistic. It is also constructive rather than destructive. The weapon system itself is an extraordinary expression of power and hopelessness. These aging demonstrators counter this with simple and heartfelt hope.
So much divides us and keeps us apart these days. A wonderful book, called Habits of the Heart, written back in 1985 posited that we have so identified with like-minded individuals in America. We spend our entire lives surrounded by folks just like ourselves. And in so doing the most diversity we are likely to experience is in our own family of origin where we often are confronted by different political and religious values. Since this book was written our country has become so much more polarized that some are trying to split us into red and blue countries.
I think the good people at Ground Zero may have an approach that we can borrow. All of the old non-violent resisters who have a former submarine commander among them take a strong position for life and diversity but stay open to the people who don’t agree with them. Idealistic, unpractical, difficult, and hopeful. I think it may be our only chance not to lose each other. Except in the case of the English Ivy. I'm cutting that down.
— DanielSouthGate
Love this, thanks for sharing. - slowjamr
ReplyDeleteI like the role of the English ivy and the of the resistors. Your caring way of seeing and writing engages me. And ... good luck to the resistors!
ReplyDeleteGosh. "Their witness is spectacularly unpractical and idealistic. It is also constructive rather than destructive." Here is the crux, for me. There's no way to avoid the whole thing and still be "constructive." One has to move toward "unpractical and idealistic." You see it pretty clearly, and so gently. I just pulled all the English ivy off of our very house, so, even though I thought it looked sorta pretty, I was pulling like a Southgate. (Macoff)
ReplyDeleteAlso, I have that book: "Habits of the Heart." I read it years ago. I guess I should read it again. (Macoff)
ReplyDelete