2.23.2003
"Nothing is so unworthy of a civilized nation as allowing itself to be governed without opposition by an irresponsible clique that has yielded to base instinct. Who among us has any conception of the dimensions of shame that will befall us and our children when one day the veil has fallen from our eyes and the most horrible of crimes - crimes that infinitely out-distance every human measure - reach the light of day?" The White Rose Society, The First Leaflet
Yesterday was the 60 year anniversary of the execution of three young students, member of The White Rose Society that spread leaflets urging people to think and to passively resist Adolf Hitler. This link will give you their history as well as the text of their leaflets. If you have the time you should give them a read.
Saw the movie 'About Schmidt' today and the thoughts it evoked in me tie in nicely with commemorating these heroic people of conscience. Regular people like you and I. At one point Schmidt, the main character mentions aloud a basic truth - the fact that after we are gone, after the folks that remember us have passed; it is as if we were never here. What sort of world, what sort of legacy will we leave to our children if we don't speak out, if we don't work to further the vision of America our forefathers had, one that spoke to equality and social justice. Heros are ordinary people acting consciously in tumulteous times. Martin Luther King reminded us in 1967 that Silence is Betrayal of all we hold dear and of the future. Dan Handelman reminds us that it holds true today
"As Mankind becomes more liberal, they will be more apt to allow that all those who conduct themselves as worthy members of the community are equally entitled to the protections of civil government. I hope ever to see America among the foremost nations of justice and liberality." -George Washington
"The care of human life and happiness, and not their destruction, is the first and only object of good government."
-Thomas Jefferson
"History will have to record that the greatest tragedy of this period of social transition was not the strident clamor of the bad people, but the appalling silence of the good people."--Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Mother Jones Magazine features a really informative article in their March/April edition entitled 'The Thirty~Year Itch' by Robert Dreyfuss that speaks to my posting of the twenty first concerning the long range plans to seize the Persian Gulf. It contains a bunch of facts and figures- a real 'must read' to gain a full understanding of the scope of the basis for an attack on Iraq.
2/23/2003
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