STANDING UP

"...But despite the general unpleasantness of street protests, one thing is certain about them that is certainly not the case for books, films, and multimedia presentations: they cannot be easily ignored. For at least a few seconds between traffic lights, hundreds of drivers are jolted out of their normal routine and forced to reconnect with something their tax dollars are paying for. The image of a man in an orange jumpsuit laying on a cross is a visual reminder that Christ was tortured by the "just doing my job" soldiers under the empire of his time much like many of those held in American detention centers today. For a few hours each week, the sight of a hooded detainee is pulled from the shadows where victims have been deliberately hidden and thrust into the light of everyday life. It is, in short, working to remember those whom the government works so hard to make us forget..."

When Manners Get You Nowhere:

30 Weeks of Protesting Torture in 2010

by Justin Norman

Published on Saturday, January 8, 2011

by CommonDreams.org

It's a hard thing for people to acknowledge these wrongs done by their government.

To acknowledge them is to accept the responsibility to remedy them, as a moral imperative, if you're a free man or a free woman living in a free country, as you tell yourself you are.

That, in turn, leads to acknowledging your utter powerlessness to rein in the government that claims to serve you.

And that, in turn, leads you to confront the ugly truth that you are not free.

Not free at all.

Your freedom is just a bumper sticker.

It takes tremendous courage to face that kind of excruciating truth, and not everyone has it.

This is not to pardon those who are such craven cowards, but only to understand why they act as they do.

There's an old saying: Those who can, MUST -- because those who can't, CAN'T.

So it falls to a few who have somehow found their courage, to do as Mr. Norman does.

"Marketing" folks will tell you that a person has to receive a message numerous times before they will act on it. And the Justin Normans among us will have to relentlessly pound away at the others' psychological defenses with the truth until the lies crumble, the way ocean waves eventually wear away the rocks.

More, every act of rebellion empowers others to rebel, too.

So no act of integrity or courage is ever wasted.

Liberty & Justice,

sj