Jim R Posted March 19, 2007 Share Posted March 19, 2007 Hello Everyone, I have been a bit remiss in my posting and I am sorry. Acting as a ”Veteran For Peace” I was the main organizer behind two peace events locally and that is what I have been doing with my time.(I went to the Paul Wellstone seminar for community Activists and put my learned skills to work) We showed the DVD, “The Ground Truth” and had discussion afterward. I am recruiting for the national organization “Veteran’s For Peace” and trying to establish a local chapter and trying to form an umbrella local Peace, Justice, and Environment group. The organizational effort was successful in that the local Peace Group was established and I got a few more recruits for “Vets For Peace”. I will soon have a chapter. I am in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula and distances between small towns and rural areas become huge logistical obstacles. Organizations like “Veterans for Peace” and “Iraq Veterans Against The War” are very powerful tools in the fight to end the war. We can’t be accused of being cowards or of not supporting the troops…often we are the troops. I am always amazed at the basic goodness of people. There is a “common good”. Most people at some level want “to love their brother as their self” and want to obey the golden rule. More and more people seem to be realizing that we are all connected at the hip even as world seems to be more divided than ever and the dark side of our nature wants to exclude, divide, and live by greed and greed alone. More than a couple of participants expressed how difficult it is not to “hate” and be negative. I spoke of my own struggle to recognize people like Bush and Cheney as children of God too, and to focus on Peace and wholeness, not just being “anti-war”. A Native American activist came to one of the meetings and spoke of a day of reckoning coming soon. The Mayans put it at 2012. I don’t usually feed into apocalyptic thinking but something is a happening. I call it ‘The Great Awakening”, a term used in “A Course in Miracles’. We have to awaken, and soon, and recognize our oneness and kinship of all of mankind, and the Earth, or the Mayans just might be right and 2012 is not that far away! (Is there something wrong with my computer or is no one posting anymore? Did I miss something? Is the site being boycotted for some reason? What is going on?) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flowperson Posted March 19, 2007 Share Posted March 19, 2007 Hi Jim: G-d bless you for your activism. I only wish that I were in a situation that allowed me to do more. No...no one has been posting and I check the boards everyday. Things here have gone downhill over the past year or so. I lamented the site's lack of dedicated posters on the way down, but no one seems to wish to pick up the threads again. I post a lot on two other sites since this one's dormancy. I don't know what the reason is either. I can only hope that it revives itself again somehow. Yep...something big is going down, I can sense it also as can others that I exchange posts with. Hang on...it's going to be quite a ride I believe. flow.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobve2 Posted March 21, 2007 Share Posted March 21, 2007 I must confess that I do not add very much to the threads here. The participants of this board have never been anything but very kind and understanding to me. Although I don't post to often I read every day(almost) and learn so much. Since I am a closet Progressive in a fundamental community I get a real feeling of family and community from this site. I feel that to some extent I get way too much benefit from this board compared to what I give back. Thanks to all the posters and I hope things pick up soon. I'll try to participate where I can. Bob ve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cynthia Posted March 21, 2007 Share Posted March 21, 2007 I miss the activity here as well. I'd love to know more about the happenings you and others are perceiving Jim and Flow. I'm still seeing way to many W stickers for my mental health. Perhaps that would be a good starting point for a discussion that would draw people back. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flowperson Posted March 21, 2007 Share Posted March 21, 2007 I miss the activity here as well. I'd love to know more about the happenings you and others are perceiving Jim and Flow. I'm still seeing way to many W stickers for my mental health. Perhaps that would be a good starting point for a discussion that would draw people back. Hi Bobve and Cynthia...so good to hear from you. Don't know what's driving it but there seems to be a self-organizing movement going on by people who are just fed-up with things as they are, but don't really know where to go with it all yet. It's a classical creation era arising if I'm not mistaken ( maybe comparable to the New Deal in the 30's, but bigger I believe ), but we've probably got to remake some of our institutions somewhat before the new can take root. Religious institutions are even deeply involved this time. I go through eight to ten news sites daily and weekly and there is genuine change in peoples' attitudes starting to happen. Just like the excellent summary of the religious changes going on in Austrailia posted by Mystictrek. Or the recent guerilla attacks on the Hillary and Barack campaigns on Youtube. Very subversive.. Also the proliferation of war protests again, after all this time. From what I've read some of the demonstrations on the recent Iraq war anniversary date approached the intensity of Vietnam era protests. Add all of that to what's yet likely to happen yet with Guantanamo and extreme rendition revelations. Pay attention so that you can pass all of this on to your children and their's. There's a new news sampling site that I read about today called Congoo that will categorize your interests based on your selections from a 450 plus category list. They speculate that self-organizing communities will spontaneously spring up after groups coalesce around issues once informed. I haven't checked it out yet but plan to soon. Good to be home again. flow.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim R Posted March 22, 2007 Author Share Posted March 22, 2007 Cynthia, the times they are a'changin. A few years ago speaking up against the War or Bush meant anger or possible threatened bodily harm. That isn't happening any more. There are still a few hard core types around .People that if if Bush beat a kid on the front lawn of the White House and said he had to do it for National Security, he would get "Amens" from the 28-33% that seem to consisitently support him. What I ponder, living it a basic meat and potatoes rural area, where they fly the flag and go to church on Sunday, is how to reach those "Christian " voters that consistently vote for right wing demagogues becasue they are "pro-life' or against gay marriage. As people like Gulliani,Romney, and McCain forsake previous political stands as they declare for the Presidency, some of the more intelligent members of the religious right have to start understanding that they are being "played" , they are the "marks" in a cruel con game, don't they? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mystictrek Posted March 23, 2007 Share Posted March 23, 2007 As people like Gulliani,Romney, and McCain forsake previous political stands as they declare for the Presidency, some of the more intelligent members of the religious right have to start understanding that they are being "played" , they are the "marks" in a cruel con game, don't they? My basic optimism about our political evolution is slowly returning. We have made a lot of progress in our spiritual and political evolution and I'm eager to see more. A lot of young people are abandoning the Christian Right. They can see the hypocrisy. Young people often can. I am hopeful. There is still a lot of danger as Bill Moyers and Joe Conason and Chris Hedges point out so clearly. But I see many reasons to be hopeful. I believe most Christians in the US are Progressive. It's our heritage. It's our true identity. We simply need to communicate our basic truths in a way which resonates. We are working on this and making progress. I feel it in my bones. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cynthia Posted March 25, 2007 Share Posted March 25, 2007 Thanks guys! I'd like to be optimistic... but I tend to see so many people who don't necessarily support Bush anymore... but they don't think there was any way to predict this or that it's been all that bad. Generally people who are willfully ignorant of anything that might make them uncomfortable or push them to action. The level of apathy is completely understandable from a learned helplessness model but still discouraging. As for the politicians changing their tunes as they declare I'm stuck with the ocam's razor approach (and perhaps a "bit" of cynacism ). It seems to me that Bush will push being unpopular so that his own party can run against him. I doubt any of their thinking has actually changed... it still boils down to doing whatever it takes to get (or get away with) whatever they want. Optimism appreciated. I'll try to let it rub off!!!!!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.