Two walks today. The first, for about forty five minutes in some of the hottest April weather ever here in the Napa Valley. The sun was so intense it was like being much too close to a campfire. I ducked into the shade every bit that I could find.
The second walk was in the cool of the evening after sitting on my butt for four hours watching Che parts one and two at the local theatre. Part one was about being part of an armed struggle that wins; part two is about being part of an armed struggle that gets vanquished. I felt that the second part was much more powerful. You really get to feel what it must have been like to be part of an armed struggle that doesn't receive the support of the local Peasant population.
So I walked after that movie thinking about my experiences in Latin America.
Especially about a Peasant, who told us that the purpose of our education was to make us "good Revolutionaries". I remember meeting a Guerrilla from El Salvador. I remember Revolutionary Nicaragua and the excitement that place had in 1983. Now some twenty six years later, am I such a person? And what is the merit in being such a person?
Times have changed. Obama seems to be thinking about making some changes with Cuba. The Guerrillas have won in El Salvador. Despite spending millions and creating a thug Army in the Contras--Daniel Ortega and the FSLN are in power in Nicaragua. The Red and Pink wave has (for the moment) won the day south of our borders. The list of countries with left leaning Governments grows: Brazil, Venezuela, Bolivia, El Salvador, Nicaragua. Mexico came within a whisker of joining the Red/Pink wave last year.
But am I a Revolutionary? Did I let that Peasant down? Does having a Sierra Club card and a couple of pieces published here and there that question the American Empire and Private Property count? Building a primitive green structure? Working with the poorest, most stigmatized and most oppressed population in the US for a vocation? Do those things count? And why do I do that?
Things to think about while walking.
2 comments:
Yes, Allan, what you do counts. You may not change the whole wide world, but you change the lives of folks you interact with. Including your own. A long-time peace activist, I'm usually broken hearted. But my hero Dan Berrigan told me: We're not responsible for the outcome. We're only responsible for doing what we know is right. And again, in my Hospice work I would sometimes anguish when I couldn't help my patients' suffering. But another priest-friend told me, Jackie you don't have to fix it. All you have to do is be there. The healing work of the world is done by folks who just show up. And don't look away.
well said!
Post a Comment