Dear RN,
Funny how today, when I finally got around to opening the message entitled
"Words to Live By" is precisely a day I need to read that!
Carolyn Ballard also sends us her latest column. I think it is a great
example of an article that will be able to "reach people where they are". I
bet we can all think of friends, acquaintances, who don't have much time for
long postings about how bad things are, but who would surely find Carolyn's
article meaningful and it might just spur them to become a bit more active.
all the best, Jan
**************************************************
From: "Carolyn Ballard" <•••@••.•••>
Subject: Fw: Words To Live By
Date: Sun, 27 Feb 2000 10:42:58 -0800
Folks-
It seems to be the fate of radicals/free thinkers to have to battle
that feeling of being overwhelmed, cynicism, hopelessness, etc, from time to
time. It comes with the territory. This fine old radical has been at it a
lot longer than any of us, and has provided some brief "words to live by"
that are positively inspiring. I wanted to share them with you in the hopes
that they will re-invigorate you as much as they did me.
- Carolyn -
----- Original Message -----
From: CyberBrook
To: Social Movements List
Sent: Sunday, February 27, 2000 9:28 PM
Subject: Words To Live By
Words To Live By
Dear AVA [Anderson Valley Advertiser],
>From time to time I see letters from people who wonder how we (radicals)
keep on keeping on.
I've been a radical for 60 years (as long as Howard Zinn) and have never
burned out. (I'm 82.) In fact, life has been a blast. Before I discovered
radicalism-during the Depression-life was a dead end.
A few suggestions:
1. Honesty. Be honest with yourself. It's OK to be selectively honest with
others.
2. Question authority. Question everybody, including yourself, not as an
inquisitor, but out of curiosity and truth-seeking.
3. Inner voice. It will tell you what you really believe and think. It is
the source of your creativity and individuality as well as your link with
all humanity.
4. Equality. You're not worse than Chomsky, Zinn, Pollitt, Julia, Anderson,
nor better than Reagan, Clinton, or Stalin.
5. Historical. For the first time ever we ordinary people can rule
ourselves. Even though our numbers are small now, we are the wave of history.
6. Winning and losing. All that really matters is being on the right path.
7. Appreciation. The world is full of murderousness, deceit, hypocrisy,
callousness. Find those people and events that make you feel good. See them
as the seeds of tomorrow's crop.
8. Feelings. Be honest with them, because you can't really regulate them,
only respect them, particularly negative ones. So find proper outlets for them.
Most importantly, lighten up. Life is too important to be taken seriously.
Enjoy yourself as much as you can. You'll return to activities refreshed.
I prefer the seekers to those who have all the answers. The above is the
best I have to offer at this time.
Fraternally,
Phil Schliemer
Capitola [California]
Anderson Valley Advertiser, 9 February 2000
*************************************************************
From: "Carolyn Ballard" <•••@••.•••>
To: "Jan Slakov" <•••@••.•••>
Subject: latest "@ Odds" column
Date: Sun, 20 Feb 2000 09:38:04 -0800
X-MSMail-Priority: Normal
X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V5.00.2314.1300
@ Odds
Here's a question that you won't hear Regis Philben asking the latest
millionaire aspirant: "What do Wal-Mart, holes in the ozone, the Gulf War
and the Middle East peace process all have in common?" Answer: the
globalization of corporate capitalism.
"Well okay," you might respond, "but why should this matter to me?" True,
knowing the correct answer won't win you a million dollars, but it might
very well change your life and that of future generations. In fact, it is
arguably the most crucial unasked question facing humanity today. We are at
a crossroads -- one of those critical transition periods of history -- and
the decisions we make will either bring about a Golden Era for humankind or
plunge us into one of the darkest periods of our history.
So, you might ask, why isn't it being discussed on all the TV talk shows and
the nightly news, written about in all the newspapers, or debated by
Congress and the presidential candidates? How did Oprah, Tom Brokaw, or
George W. Bush miss this one? The reasons are many but reduced to the
simplest common denominator, it's greed. Neither the politicians who depend
on the campaign contributions of Big Business for their jobs nor the media
who must answer to their corporate owners and advertisers are going to bite
the hand that feeds them by telling us the ugly truth: greed is what
globalization is all about.
It is greed that spawns such corporate behemoths as Wal-Mart and the few
hundred like it, who drive the small businesses of a community under and
turn downtowns into ghost towns. It's greed that prevents the automobile
giants from developing and promoting environmentally-friendly cars, and it's
greed that makes industry kingpins fight environmental regulations with the
millions they contribute to our politicians, thereby filling the atmosphere
with pollutants that destroy our protective ozone layer. It was greed that
caused the US to launch a war against Iraq to protect the interests of the
oil industry. And it is greed -- not goodwill towards men -- that impels US
leaders to persist in brokering a peace agreement between Israel and its
Arab neighbors, so as to make this vital area of the world safe for
capitalist investment.
Today, the globalization of corporate capitalism is a uniquely
American-driven process. It is our vision of a post-Cold War order that
we're seducing or compelling the rest of the world to accept. It is the
vision of a world where the market is the solution to all our problems,
where the rising tide of prosperity will purportedly lift all boats, where
government serves the interests of business rather than the people and where
the diversity of cultures is eliminated through the homogenization of
Americanization. This is not the blueprint for a Golden New Millennium; it
is the recipe for a New Fascist Tyranny.
(c) Carolyn Ballard (2000)
- Republication permission granted for
non-commercial and small-press use under "fair use"
