Just a Reminder

There are other people who believe that "the good is to be done because it is good"

Photo by Bonnie Kittle on Unsplash

The quote in the subtitle is from Daniel Berrigan. Daniel Berrigan, and his brother Phil, were active protestors for peace. They were not afraid to put their lives in danger; they were not afraid to serve prison sentences. Daniel preached that we do good for the sake of doing good, no matter whether or not we achieve our desired outcome.

Those readers who were alive during the Vietnam War may be familiar with some of the Berrigan’s efforts to bring about an end to that war:

On May 17, 1968, a month after the killing of Dr. King, Dan and Phil and seven others entered a draft board house in Catonsville, Maryland, took some 300 draft files out to the parking lot and, in front of the press, poured homemade napalm on the draft records and burned them. He then distributed one of the greatest statements in resistance literature: “Our apologies, good friends, for the fracture of good order, for the burning of paper instead of children, the angering of the orderlies in the front parlor of the charnel house. We could not, so help us God, do otherwise.” Their action attracted massive press coverage around the country, even the world, and eventually led to over 300 similar demonstrations that systematically ended the draft and hastened the end of the war. You will not read this anywhere, nor will you hear about this on Ken Burns’ PBS documentary on the Vietnam War. There is no mention of the Berrigans, though I tried my best to reach out to the prestigious filmmaker. The draft board raids were the key. In the days before computers, when type-written records were it, the destruction of paper records throughout the Northeast meant that thousands of young men could not be drafted to kill for the US! The days of the Vietnam War were numbered. (link)

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Sometimes I get so discouraged. It seems impossible to fight the propaganda machine. So many people that I love refuse to even face the probability that things are not going to go back to “normal” in the US. I don’t want to judge them; I don’t want to analyze them. They have made it clear that they don’t want to listen to my point of view, as it isn’t rosy, and they are after good vibes only.

In real life, it’s easy to feel very lonely. But, it’s not about me and how I feel. It’s about speaking out and trying to do good for the benefit of all of us. I can’t imagine not feeling that way.

It’s wonderful to read the words of other people who understand. From Eleanor Goldfield:

It may sound corny but…love each other, hold each other, because you will always ultimately be disappointed by the system, and it will always promise you more than it delivers.

I’m not trying to be a downer, just sharing the lived experience of someone who has learned that no amount of electoralism will change a system built on genocide and slavery, even if there are those who enter into it with beautiful intentions.

The empire will always protect itself in the end, always at the expense of life. This is why the goal must be to end empire, nothing less.

So yes, celebrate and enjoy the moment but do not lose the clarity of context. We children of empire will never find liberation through the ballot box.

So go on and underground - go dig to roots literally and figuratively. Go love with imperfect abandon and build with messy fuck ups, think and exist outside the confines of electoralism, because there is actually no space for life there - just variations on a theme of a system that is death-making.

Ahh, not so alone . . . Thanks for the reminder.