All:
<\/p>
In the last 40 years there have been more than a few events that
have caused America and Americans to view their futures and lives
as having been profoundly changed.
<\/p>
The assassination of John Fitzgerald Kennedy.
Walking on the moon.
The resignation of Richard Nixon.
The Vietnam war.
The Kansas City [sic] bombing.
<\/p>
Each of these events has caused significant damage to the
American view of life as it is lived in America. Through these events
we have shined, struggled, stumbled and failed. Lessons have been
learned, then discarded for the next wave of gimme, gimme, self-
serving, me-first, each wave stronger than the last.
<\/p>
As a society, we hold no one accountable for the despicable acts
that we, through our government and corporations and individuals,
perpetuate on others and on ourselves.
<\/p>
We do great things. We live in the greatest country in the world.
We live in the most fabulous time in history. And we continually
undermine all of this by allowing our basest desires and natures
free rein to commit acts of the blackest kind. We turn our heads
from each view that causes us the least bit of discomfort. Marcos,
Hussein, Pol Pot and a horde of other megalomaniacal sociopaths
have been supported by us. US. Millions have died. Innocents.
Victims. We allowed them to suffer and be killed. We helped kill
them. We gave their killers money, guns and our blessings. We
did, we do.
<\/p>
Too many of our corporations are allowed to commit acts that
damage each of us every day. Too many of our politicians assent
to the lust for profit without the restraint of ethics or accountability.
Too many of us close our eyes, take the money and drown our
better selves in the easy, shallow gratifications offered by those
same corporations.
<\/p>
I spent the day crying. I read the first e-mail to this list, turned on
the television and wept like a child watching the death of a loved
one. I wept for the loss of life. The loss of our illusions of security.
The losses yet to come. The pain that America will now suffer. The
wounds to our body and our mind.
<\/p>
The salve we will apply for immediate relief from our pains will be
vengeance. We may call it \"justice\" to justify ourselves; and
perhaps it will have some sense of justice, but we will still be
damaged far beyond the ability of retribution's ability to repair us.
<\/p>
The images of September 11, 2001 will stay burned in our minds
for years, replayed as endlessly horrible video loops. Images of
events that have brought us, our nation, to a new point of choosing.
A point of profound change.
<\/p>
Can we, as individuals, as a nation, create changes that hold
accountability up as a new benchmark for our actions? Will we
move our great nation to a new level of ethical behavior? Will we
become the people that we wish we were?
<\/p>
Each day we are offered choices, perhaps we will make the
choices that will lead us to a place where we can live once again
without fear. We are able. Perhaps this time we will find the will.
<\/p>
Jay Cousins<\/p>\n","contact":"","link":"","address":"","phone":"","parent_id":0,"mime_type":"text\/html","summary":"A post to an LA mailing list.","numcomment":0,"fileurl":"\/uploads\/","filesize":null,"article_url":"\/news\/2001\/09\/10045.php"},"attachments":[],"comments":[]}