Directly Effectual
I’m a protester of many things, but I’ve never been a fan of the act of protesting.
There are many causes that I feel strongly about, so strongly in fact that I am compelled to do something to help the cause. But I feel that so many protests hurt the goal that protesters are trying to achieve. I believe it is just as important to have integrity in the ways and means you accomplish things, than just attaining it in itself. This goes for all aspects of life—from work to love, political to personal.
In this past Tuesday’s New York Times "Metro" section, there was a pull quote from an article by Clyde Habeman’s piece “Their Rights, Exercised Civilly” that was utterly perfect and accurately sums up my feelings. “It is still possible to disagree without being disagreeable,” he wrote.
Habeman was talking about the anti-war protest in NYC last Saturday where 70-year-old Roslyn Fassett from Warwick, New York, dressed, with her friends, like trees. Her street theater group, Drama Dragons, is devoted to depictions of political satire and believed that wearing trees as costumes was a good way to encourage something new, some change. She said that not everything is about immediate results.
I agree. Especially with war.
If only the youth of today would realize this. In these times of instant gratification, it is understandable how Fassett’s words of wisdom are unfathomable to some.
I didn’t see a photo of Fassett or of the Drama Dragons, but I saw them in my mind, and in her words, I sensed her spirit. Habeman noted that the protest signs he read were of grievances not vulgarisms. A placard held by churchgoer Rita Pearl read, “The meek are ready”.
Is Pearl saying that she is armed with a loving hand?
I would venture to say yes. The economy is bad, jobs are disappearing, and even though we, as a society “eat the meek” maybe we should “savor the taste” and learn something.
NOFX also says in song:
“It's a scheme, a dream, a bartering, we want everyone to think the same. Because you know what you know is right and you feel what you can't ignore. And you try so hard to point the blame. A shame — what are we doing this for? The cause — we're just doing it for the cause.”
It is sad that “the cause” is often lost. Ask some protesters at out of control protests what the reason they are revolting is and they will say “the cause” without know what it’s really all about. We cannot all think the same. It is possible to disagree without being disagreeable. And vulgarisms will only place more distance between the opposing sides instead of fostering compromise and understanding.
That’s integral.
That’s integrity.
There are many causes that I feel strongly about, so strongly in fact that I am compelled to do something to help the cause. But I feel that so many protests hurt the goal that protesters are trying to achieve. I believe it is just as important to have integrity in the ways and means you accomplish things, than just attaining it in itself. This goes for all aspects of life—from work to love, political to personal.
In this past Tuesday’s New York Times "Metro" section, there was a pull quote from an article by Clyde Habeman’s piece “Their Rights, Exercised Civilly” that was utterly perfect and accurately sums up my feelings. “It is still possible to disagree without being disagreeable,” he wrote.
Habeman was talking about the anti-war protest in NYC last Saturday where 70-year-old Roslyn Fassett from Warwick, New York, dressed, with her friends, like trees. Her street theater group, Drama Dragons, is devoted to depictions of political satire and believed that wearing trees as costumes was a good way to encourage something new, some change. She said that not everything is about immediate results.
I agree. Especially with war.
If only the youth of today would realize this. In these times of instant gratification, it is understandable how Fassett’s words of wisdom are unfathomable to some.
I didn’t see a photo of Fassett or of the Drama Dragons, but I saw them in my mind, and in her words, I sensed her spirit. Habeman noted that the protest signs he read were of grievances not vulgarisms. A placard held by churchgoer Rita Pearl read, “The meek are ready”.
Is Pearl saying that she is armed with a loving hand?
I would venture to say yes. The economy is bad, jobs are disappearing, and even though we, as a society “eat the meek” maybe we should “savor the taste” and learn something.
NOFX also says in song:
“It's a scheme, a dream, a bartering, we want everyone to think the same. Because you know what you know is right and you feel what you can't ignore. And you try so hard to point the blame. A shame — what are we doing this for? The cause — we're just doing it for the cause.”
It is sad that “the cause” is often lost. Ask some protesters at out of control protests what the reason they are revolting is and they will say “the cause” without know what it’s really all about. We cannot all think the same. It is possible to disagree without being disagreeable. And vulgarisms will only place more distance between the opposing sides instead of fostering compromise and understanding.
That’s integral.
That’s integrity.
posted by Michele at 10:04 AM
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