Being A Demonstration Of Peace

My first exposure to the darkness in the world came when I was a very small child.
I would stand in the snow in Upstate New York at "ban the bomb" demonstrations.

I participated in many large protests in Washington, DC and even organized some myself.

I worked full time for George McGovern in 1972.

Our efforts were sincere, we cared a lot, we saw the shadow in this country very vividly. We knew the toilet well, we studied it contents, we took this "first step" as you, Tom, mention.

What concerns me about what you post is that it is so similar to things I would read way back then. 35 years later, still staring into the the toilet. None of it feels new to me, or revelatory.

In fact, for me personally, putting my focus there, it is a distraction to our taking further steps, building power for making lasting changes, and being the change we wish to see.

There is a big difference between demonstrating against war, ie: making war with war, and Being A Demonstration Of Peace.

Tonight I found myself watching a very, very dark movie from Netflix. Finally I was able to tear myself away, but that took real effort.

I saw how seductive trudging through the sewers can be. To what avail?

Did it elevate my spirit, no. Did it inspire me, no.

The Buddha had this to say: When one is walking through the woods and finds that he has been shot with an arrow, the important thing is getting that arrow out, where it came from does not really matter.

Where would the civil rights movement be today, if Martin Luther King had only stayed with "the first step" in that speech?