Voices of Conscience

[H2O Man]

"We are one hundred eighty million different people, with very different ideas on what we should do, and how this country should be run, and where we should go, and what are our responsibilities and obligations. I think it is important that we recognize how often we worked together to accomplish great results." – President John F. Kennedy; "The Thousand Days"; 1964; page 26.


"There is nothing in all the world greater than freedom. It is worth paying for: it is worth losing a job; it is worth going to jail for. I would rather be a free pauper than a rich slave. I would rather die in abject poverty with my convictions than live in inordinate riches with the lack of self-respect." – Martin Luther King, Jr; Facing the Challenge of a New Age (from the First Annual Institute on Non-Violence and Social Change); December, 1956.


"Address myself to Vietnam for two minutes? It’s a shame – that’s one second. It is, it’s a shame. You put the government on the spot when you even mention Vietnam. They feel embarrassed – you notice that? They wish they would not even have to read the newspapers about South Vietnam, and you can’t blame them. It’s just a trap that they let themselves get into. It’s John Foster Dulles they’re trying to blame it on, because he’s dead.

"But they’re trapped, they can’t get out. … If they pour more men in, they’ll get in deeper. If they pull men out, it’s a defeat. And they should have known it in the first place. … But we’re not supposed to say that. If we say that, we’re anti-American, or we’re seditious, or we’re subversive, or we’re advocating something that’s not intelligent. So that’s two minutes, sir." -- Malcolm X; Militant Labor Forum; January 7, 1965


"Few men are willing to brave the disapproval of their fellows, the censure of their colleagues, the wrath of their society. Moral courage is a rarer commodity than bravery in battle or great intelligence. Yet it is the one essential, vital quality of those who seek to change a world which yields most painfully to change." – Robert F. Kennedy; Make Gentile the Life of this World; 1998; page 134


"We are both sensitive people and we were hurt a lot by it. I mean, we couldn’t understand it. … Anybody who claims to have some interest in me as an individual artist or even as part of the Beatles has absolutely misunderstood everything I ever said if they can’t see why I’m with Yoko." – John Lennon; Playboy interview; 1980


"Perhaps we cannot prevent this world from being a world in which children are tortured. But we can reduce the number of tortured children. And if you believers don’t help us, who else in the world can help us do this?" – Albert Camus


(Note: I would like to thank Cindy Sheehan, Code Pink, Ava, Yoko Ono, and all of the other Voices of Conscience in the United States.)

[porphyrian]

1. I'll second that. - n/t

[Patsy Stone]

2. Here's to the ladies!

Yoko, Cindy, Ava, and all of those women lending their names and voices to change the world for the better.

:toast:

[LSK]

3. K&R

[Me.]

4. So Much Embarrasses Us These Days

From those on our side. People of conscience are not necessarily perfect in terms of societal mores and appearances, but they are perfect where it truly matters and counts. How many of us could do what Cindy has done and keep picking ourselves up from the ditch, getting ourselves released from jail, wading through the disdain and ridicule and, keep on delivering the message. I bet she sleeps well at night.

"They feel embarrassed – you notice that? They wish they would not even have to read the newspapers about South Vietnam"

[Me.]

5. Come Now

:kick:

[rosesaylavee]

6. Kick.

I would add Joe Wilson, Keith Olbermann, Sy Hersch, John Kerry and Howard Dean to that list.

[rosesaylavee]

7. And Al Gore. n/t

[TahitiNut]

8. "I would rather die in abject poverty with my convictions ... "

"I would rather die in abject poverty with my convictions than live in inordinate riches with the lack of self-respect."

Amen!!

It's a bargain I made and accept - without complaint. There is absolutely NOTHING worth violating one's own conscience, imho. In this sense, I'm grateful for the experience of Viet Nam and the words of Martin Luther King, Jr., which both served to drive a deeper self-examination that has been the foundation of my life ever since. Viktor Frankl described it well in "Man's Search for Meaning" ... and it is inviolable.

[H2O Man]

10. Frankl ....

That is one of my favorite books.

[TahitiNut]

11. For a person capable of any contemplation and introspection, it's seminal, imho.

Too many seem to regard "abstractions" as other than "real world." I have personally found that there has been absolutely nothing more central to my very experience of life itself than such "abstractions" ... conscience, refusal to surrender one's own self-respect, integrity, and 'happiness,' ... the so-called "philosophical" subjects. I cannot conceive of a healthy mind without a healthy heart.

Once, when considering the maxim of "you can't take it with you" (the high school play in which I held the central role), it occurred to me that implicit in this paradigm was that "you" went with "you" if nothing else ... and I had better enjoy the company. The 'company' of one's self throughout eternity was a very sobering prospect, even for a high school student. The contemplation of that prospect not only informed my performance in our high school play, it has informed my performance of life itself.

These are matters for deep meditation, imho. I employed them in my meditative explorations and, in so doing, moved beyond the "night sweats" of my post-Vietnam adjustments to a head that rests comfortably on my pillow. Money cannot buy that peace of mind and heart.

[mmonk]

9. Great quotes.

K&R