WANTED: VISIONARIES
by John Perella (my former high school history teacher
-- he gave us permission to use this on our page. We owe you
the world, J-Train!!)
"One must care about a world one will not see."
Bertrand Russell
What are we doing?
It is amazing to see the trouble people will go to walk around
and sidestep facing reality. Is it unconscious avoidance,
lack of understanding, or perhaps a darker, corporate reason?
It is time we wake up. The most serious issue facing humanity
is our failing stewardship of the Earth. What we are doing
to this planet will have serious implications in the near
future. This is the consensus of the vast majority of scientists
worldwide, not the ramblings of doomsday soothsayers. Many
people, including key members in President Bush's administration,
are not so sure, though. They have argued that the science
is shaky, unclear, and unsubstantiated. Maybe we should continue
with business as usual, deregulate some more and ease protections
and environmental restrictions. Better yet, let's increase
our reliance on fossil fuels. If we are lucky, we won't have
to worry about the consequences - at least that's how the
logic goes. When the Surgeon General of the United States
announced in 1959 that smoking caused cancer, the tobacco
industry marched out scientist after scientist to refute and
deflect this scientifically proven fact. During the 1960's,
70's and 80's, big tobacco influenced congressional members
enough to stymie any effort to deregulate and curtail the
growing smoking epidemic. The consequences of the government's
inability to act are staggering. The amount of money made
by the sale of tobacco is even more so. Tobacco proponents'
arguments would range from outright denial, to the claiming
that there was no correlation between cancer and smoking because
only a person's individual genetics could be responsible for
it and finally to: "Okay, it causes cancer, but this
is America and we have the right to kill people for profits."
Too often, money dictates policy in a capitalistic society.
Our system is poorly equipped to fix this problem.
The 2002 Federal budget for the United States government
has allocated 325 billion dollars to defending our nation.
Military spending is roughly eight times larger than the combined
money spend on researching clean, renewable energy resources,
cleaning of facilities contaminated by years of nuclear-related
activities, protecting the environment and developing space
technologies and explorations. The federal departments responsible
for these tasks (Energy, Environment and NASA) are continuously
being reduced in actual power as their real need increases.
This differential will enlarge under the current Administration's
future estimates. Protection from foreign adversaries is essential.
Enemies though are not confined to rogue nations.
Protection of our environment is not a liberal choice; it
is a self-preserving necessity. This goes far beyond recycling
plastic water bottles. Jobs, politics, three-car families,
professional sports, and television episodes about surviving
need to take a backseat. We should worry about surviving.
Technology has driven us to a crossroads. The race has officially
begun. Will we learn to defuse the bomb we are creating before
it goes off? The answer has yet to be determined.
Every great movement in this country has been initiated and
driven by its citizens. Our government has always been nudged
to action by the demands of its people. It reacts. The abolition
of enslaved African-Americans, native "Indian" reforms,
the Women's movement for equality, labor changes and Civil
Rights -- all have been launched by the American people --
not its representatives in government. "It is not the
function of our government to keep the citizen from falling
into error; it is the function of the citizens to keep the
government from falling into error," U.S. Supreme Court
Justice Robert H. Jackson reminded the country in 1950.
Today, an environmental movement is imperative. It will be
fought off bitterly by invested powers and indifferently by
general apathy and ignorance. This isn't a right wing - left
wing political question. It isn't even restricted to our unnatural
national boundaries. Until the human species realizes that
we are all literally on this boat together, the possibility
of capsizing will continue to increase. This nation prides
itself on being the world's only super power. If we are unable
to lead in this endeavor, then who will?
It is difficult to imagine what one person can do. Often
I watch as people empty the trash from their cars and toss
half-smoked cigarettes into the streets without a thought.
Littering has turned into a national pastime. It is an unfortunate
norm. We are poisoning our world, our bodies, and our futures
every day. What can be done? It can seem so overwhelming.
But I suppose that's how William Lloyd Garrison must have
felt in 1831 when he first published The Liberator
demanding the unconditional freedom of black men and women.
At the time, Garrison was seen as a fanatical zealot, as crazy
as he was unpopular.
What seems insurmountable is not unattainable. The only difference
is that this crusade has a time limit, and we are on the clock.
[The following essay is kind of a timely piece but a nonetheless
important one.]
Idealism by Julie
"Every dogma has its day but ideals are eternal."
-Israel Zangwill
As America draws nearer to another presidential
election, we must again search for the candidate best suited
to lead the nation through both its triumphs and turmoil.
Rather than being a campaign of cynicism and mistrust, of
double-talk and lies, scandals and selfishness, it is perhaps
more beneficial to turn to the idealism of the past. Though
the idealism that engulfed Robert F. Kennedy's presidential
campaign in 1968 may not be evidently visible through Al
Gore or George W. Bush, I would like to believe that just
as he inspires me today, Robert Kennedy’s youth and idealism
set an example that transcends the dogma of politics.
Some say that when Robert Kennedy campaigned
for the Presidency in 1968, he brought with him a sense
of new hope and idealism for a then struggling America.
But what is idealism? Is it just an empty word does it name
something that everyone carries with them deep inside?
The Oxford English Dictionary defines
idealism as, "any system of thought or philosophy in which
the object of external perception is held to consist, either
in itself, or as perceived, of ideas." Webster’s New World
Dictionary tells us that the word "idealism" is of Greek
origin. Turning to a thesaurus can be somewhat reassuring
if you really consider idealism to be the same thing as
optimism. The Scriptures refer to idealism in this sense:
"Your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see
visions. And where there is no vision life shall perish
from this earth" (Joel 2:28). This can be directly linked
to Kennedy’s significance in the 1968 campaign. Not only
was America faced with the turmoil of the Vietnam War, but
one of its heroes, Martin Luther King, had been assassinated
on April 4. America’s visions were darkening and the nation
needed someone to illuminate the air with new visions of
prosperity for tomorrow.
Robert Kennedy himself said, "Each time a
man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of
others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth
a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million
different centers of energy and daring, those ripples can
sweep down the mightiest walls of repression and resistance."
Kennedy hoped to explain to his country that in order for
America to change its destructive course, there must be
action through idealism. People must be willing to take
a stand to end the injustices of humanity. This call gave
Kennedy the popular grounds on which he stood. The public
for once admired that there was someone who brought optimism
and hope to a bleeding nation, robbed with bullets one too
many times. America needed faith in order to move on.
In his poem, "Excelsior," Henry Wadsworth
Longfellow writes of overcoming horrible consequences, and
keeping your hopes up to achieve greatness. Longfellow states:
"In happy homes he saw the light,
Of household fires gleam warm and bright;
Above, the spectral glaciers shone,
And from his lips escaped a groan,
Excelsior!"
Throughout history, people have turned to
the their own ideals and those of others to carry them past
the rough times and into new, hopeful times. Kennedy frequently
traveled to the poverty stricken parts of the nation and
asked why, in such an affluent country, people are forced
to live without homes. He wished to end not only the problems
America faced at home but also abroad in the Vietnam War,
which much of the nation opposed. The "ripple of hope" that
Kennedy left America in his brief campaign was replaced
with the dogmas of Richard Nixon. But, as Israel Zangwill
said, "Every dogma has its day." And it did when the lies
and scandals finally forced Nixon to resign from the Presidency.
The idealism of Robert Kennedy, however, can still be seen
in America. It lasts eternally every time someone takes
a stand against injustice.
