King: A Time to Break Silence

[H2O Man]

When I read about Cindy S. in Texas, confronting the ignorance and aggression of George W. Bush, it makes me very proud of the anti-war forces in America. Perhaps especially those who participate on DU.

This demonstration of "good versus evil" reminds me of the greatest speech that the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr ever gave. It was called "A Time to Break Silence," (popularly known as "Beyond Vietnam"). King delivered this message at a meeting of Clergy and Laity Concerned, at the historic Riverside Church in New York City, on April 4, 1967.

By no small coincidence, those who dwell in the darkness reacted to King then the same way they are reacting to Cindy today: he was giving aid and comfort to the enemy; he had no business interfering with the president's foreign policy; and he had a political agenda.

At the end of this, the greatest American speech, King quoted the verses of James Russell Lowell:

Once to every man and nation,
Comes the moment to decide
In the strife of truth and falsehood
For the good or evil side;
Some great cause God's new Messiah
Offering each the gloom or blight
And the choice goes by forever
Twixt that darkness and that light.

Though the cause of evil prosper
Yet 'tis truth alone is strong
Though her portion be the scaffold
And upon the throne be wrong
Yet that scaffold sways the future
And behind the dim unknown
Standeth God within the shadow
Keeping watch above his own.

[wtmusic]

1. great post -- nominated

:thumbsup:

[lildreamer316]

2. Seconded.

[ocean girl]

3. As always H2O Man, thanks for the inspiration

I think the time to decide is NOW!

We need a Cindy to come to Florida - and to every state in the country - and give us all an opportunity to go there and let our voices be heard.

Thanks again.

[H2O Man]

5. Yes, I agree.

She possesses a great force right now. I think people in every state should be lobbying their elected officials, demanding that she be given an opportunity to address Congress. If Bush refuses to meet with her, we must insure that her message continues to be heard and felt in 50 states.

[ocean girl]

4. OOPS, forgot to nominate

OK, done.

[evolved Anarchopunk]

6. That's it, that just did it. I'm looking up rates to TX online.

Does anyone know the cheapest airline and destination? I know Dallas is only 2 hrs away, is that the best I can do ? :shrug:

Thank you H2O man. Truth be told however I need to stop looking at this through historical lenses, and realize this is my time, I am honored to live in the same time as Cindy Sheehan, plain and simple. You are beautiful, and DU is a saving grace. :hippie:

[H2O Man]

7. Right on!

"I need to .... realize this is my time." With those words, you have hit the nail on the head. This is your time, in the exact sense that it is mine and everyone's. "Be here, now," has been an important message throughout history.

This lady we know as Cindy Sheehan is communicating that same message: Be here, now. It is what King was saying. It is the same message that Tu Wei-ming, the wonderful historian and Confucian thinker gave to our friend Bill Moyers in the following exchange:

Tu: ...Viktor Frankl has remarked that in the concentration camp everything was dehumanized, but if one person could still exhibit human-heartedness or kindness, that was an exemplification of the human spirit.

Moyers: Frankl also said that he was not responsible for his circumstances, but he was responsible for how he responded to those circumstaces. He came to this insight in a concentration camp. Is that Confucian as well?

Tu: Totally Confucian. And I think it goes one step further. It is not just the response that counts, but also the willingness and determination to transform those circumstances. In other words, I'm determined to transform the conditioning forces originally constraining me to be a limited human being -- my ethnicity, my gender, my socialization, and so forth -- into a concrete manifestation of myself as the center of relationships. On the surface, that's a very simple notion, but it's really more profound. I cannot choose my parents, I cannot choose my nation, I cannot choose my time in the world. Therefore, I'm responsible for my ability to respond to these conditioning forces.

But a further step is, by responding creatively to these conditioning forces, I can transform them into instruments of self-realization. Precisely because of the limitations of my gender, my ethnicity, and so forth, I become a fully embodied human being in the sense of human flourishing. In other words, I try to take the limitations of who I am as nutrients, the nourishing forces, for me to become what I ought to become. The Confucians believe that this is a common human situation: I am not not I ought to be. And yet, what I ought to be is structured in the whole universe of what I am."
-- "A World of Ideas, Vol. 2"; Bill Moyers

We see that Cindy treads where George dares not to venture.

[evolved Anarchopunk]

8. yipeee

"I try to take the limitations of who I am as nutrients, the nourishing forces, for me to become what I ought to become."

my roots said thank you

[H2O Man]

9. Thank you.

I appreciate that you enjoyed that quote.

[roguevalley]

10. brilliant

[H2O Man]

11. Robert Kennedy

gave voice to the conscience of America. He was brutally attacked by others for challenging the president's war policy, and he was murdered when he actually ran for president.

One of Robert's favorite verses:

The lights begin to twinkle from the rocks;
the long day wanes; the slow moon climbs; the deep
moans round with many voices. Come, my friends.
'Tis not too late to seek a newer world. .....

Tho' much is taken, much abides; and tho'
We are now that strength which in old days
Moved earth and heaven; that which we are, we are;
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.

-- Alfred, Lord Tennyson

[H2O Man]

13. Robert Kennedy on Vietnam:

"To the Vietnamese, however, it must seem fulfillment of the prophecy of Saint John the Divine: 'and I looked, and beheld a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, with hunger, and with death.'

"Wise policy is a setting of priorities -- differentiating between that which is merely important and that which is truly essential. And it would be both callous and self-indulgent for those of us who sit comfortably at home to form policy without full knowledge and consciousness of the costs to others, young men and women and children, whose lives turn on the abstractions of our discussion."

It sounds as if RFK were describing President Bush, doesn't it?

[GreenPartyVoter]

12. thanks for that

[dweller]

14. ~~~

:kick:




dp

[coeur_de_lion]

15. Thought this speech by Robert Kennedy might be appropriate here:

Statement on the Assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr.
Senator Robert F. Kennedy
Indianapolis, Indiana
April 4, 1968
I have bad news for you, for all of our fellow citizens, and people who love peace all over the world, and that is that Martin Luther King was shot and killed tonight.

Martin Luther King dedicated his life to love and to justice for his fellow human beings, and he died because of that effort.

In this difficult day, in this difficult time for the United States, it is perhaps well to ask what kind of a nation we are and what direction we want to move in. For those of you who are black--considering the evidence there evidently is that there were white people who were responsible--you can be filled with bitterness, with hatred, and a desire for revenge. We can move in that direction as a country, in great polarization--black people amongst black, white people amongst white, filled with hatred toward one another.

Or we can make an effort, as Martin Luther King did, to understand and to comprehend, and to replace that violence, that stain of bloodshed that has spread across our land, with an effort to understand with compassion and love.

For those of you who are black and are tempted to be filled with hatred and distrust at the injustice of such an act, against all white people, I can only say that I feel in my own heart the same kind of feeling. I had a member of my family killed, but he was killed by a white man. But we have to make an effort in the United States, we have to make an effort to understand, to go beyond these rather difficult times.

My favorite poet was Aeschylus. He wrote: "In our sleep, pain which cannot forget falls drop by drop upon the heart until, in our own despair, against our will, comes wisdom through the awful grace of God."

What we need in the United States is not division; what we need in the United States is not hatred; what we need in the United States is not violence or lawlessness; but love and wisdom, and compassion toward one another, and a feeling of justice toward those who still suffer within our country, whether they be white or they be black.

So I shall ask you tonight to return home, to say a prayer for the family of Martin Luther King, that's true, but more importantly to say a prayer for our own country, which all of us love--a prayer for understanding and that compassion of which I spoke.

We can do well in this country. We will have difficult times; we've had difficult times in the past; we will have difficult times in the future. It is not the end of violence; it is not the end of lawlessness; it is not the end of disorder.

But the vast majority of white people and the vast majority of black people in this country want to live together, want to improve the quality of our life, and want justice for all human beings who abide in our land.

Let us dedicate ourselves to what the Greeks wrote so many years ago: to tame the savageness of man and make gentle the life of this world.

Let us dedicate ourselves to that, and say a prayer for our country and for our people.

[H2O Man]

17. Thank you for that!

Maxwell Taylor Kennedy put together a book called "Make Gentle the Life of This World: the vision of Robert F. Kennedy." Two quotes of interest (excuse me for one being a slightly extended version of the one you quote):

God, whose law it is that he who learns must suffer. And even in our sleep pain that cannot forget falls drop by drop upon the heart, and in our own despair, against our will, comes wisdom to us by the awful grace of God. -- Aeschylus

But sometimes in the middle of the night their wound would open afresh. And suddenly awakened, they would finger its painful edges, they would recover their suffering anew and with it the stricken face of their love. -- Albert Camus

[coeur_de_lion]

21. I never read the rest of the poem by Aeschylus. Thanks for that!

It is poignant. And appropriate for these awful days of the * administration, as well as for the daily struggle of life. Now that quote by Albert Camus -- is actually physically painful. Sounds a bit like the days leading up to my divorce. Ouch.

I hope *something* good comes of all this suffering * has wrought. If the only good thing is wisdom, I suppose we'll have to settle for that. But it seems like an awfully high price to pay for a little wisdom. All those families destroyed by war. In Iraq and here. I would be willing to pass on a little wisdom to save them some grief.

I keep thinking, when will it end? I've been patiently waiting for something to bring down these evil * people. I wonder when we'll be wise enough to stop suffering and be rid of these animals.

[H2O Man]

25. I will look

through some of my older books for a couple related verses that you may enjoy.

[coeur_de_lion]

27. fabulous!

You know me, I always enjoy good literature. Even the sad poems cheer me up somehow.

Words are the physicians of a mind diseased.
—Prometheus, 378

[H2O Man]

16. tyrants vs people

"A tyrant disturbs ancient laws, violates women, kills men without trial. But a people ruling -- first, the very name of it is so beautiful; and secondly, a people does none of these things."
-- Herodotus

[KharmaTrain]

18. Cindy Has Been Compared To Rosa Parks

Randi Rhodes said a black preacher whose been to visit Camp Casey called her that. Both ladies stood up, alone, and refused to be moved. Their soft spoken voices soar above the shrill rhetoric below.

The past couple weeks...since the DSM and Rove mess broke, have been some interesting and encouraging times. I'm seeing voices getting louder and stronger, and a spirit and resolve I haven't heard in decades. The true "silent majority" is starting to demand to be heard.

We now are seeing people like Cindy, Paul Hackett and others step forward...people who are speaking right from the heart and with a rare sense of clarity and rational thinking that energizes many of us and surprises our adversaries.

There's winds of change in the air...finally it's a warm one and at our back...here's all the hopes this change is quick and profound. May we look back as these days as the first light in the way back from the abyss.

Cheers...

[H2O Man]

19. I really like that comparison .....

I had responded on one thread yesterday that the Southern Poverty Law Center has a wonderful film on Rosa available. It is geared towards the classroom (teachers can get it free) and is a great teaching tool. But it is great for adults, too.

I show that film to my daughters, and now we watch news reports on Cindy. They are the types of role models that we should want for all of our children.

[KharmaTrain]

20. They Hate Us For Our Compassion...LOL

Cindy's become a family hero...I was also very proud of Doris Kesterton who slammed O'Reilly's piehole shut the other night. I'm hoping more families come forward now...join Cindy...join us...and really make this compassion felt among the entire nation. There are still many who want to reach out and are still fearful of doing so...the more we can stand firm with Cindy and these other families, the stronger we all are as people.

[H2O Man]

24. I read this morning

that Mrs. King and Rosa contacted Cindy. Beautiful. Just beautiful.

[KoKo]

22. Thanks for posting that....

you keep us on our toes with bits of history and it's much appreciated by those of us who aren't able to do what we used to.

:-)'s to you!

[H2O Man]

23. "bits of history"

It's a strange thing to get older .... beats the alternative, as they say. My normal brother compares this to taking a long journey, and finally knowing that the destination is up around one of the next bends. And part of it is a sense of wanting to say to the younger people, who are so full of energy and sincere concerns, "It's okay. We've been through that territory. It can be very dangerous, but you can do it."

And I think that some recent events have shown some of these young people that there is power in ideas, and that "truth crushed to earth does rise again." And that truth is rising again.

This is a strange, dangerous, and beautiful time to be alive.

[Swamp Rat]

26. Thanks for the inspirational poem.

:thumbsup: