So I was thinking: "why don't you quit the vigil?" It was one of
those blistery mornings where I was feeling grumpy and angry since we started
bombing Iraq again. I could quit right now; I have a savings account; I have a job,
outside of the demands of Human Rights
& anti-Imperialism organizing; I have a studio; I have, I have
something unusual -- the ability to not quit. Burnout burns away the ability to
quit because the issues are so important. It's not the people, or the signs or
the status or rebellion, which keeps me coming back each night for my shift at
the vigil, it is the issues. When we realize today over 200 children in Iraq
will die from sanctions; in Russia several more Chernobyl victims will die due
to the cancer; in the United States (due to Nuclear Arms manufacturing and
"Strategic Deterrence"), citizens will be poisoned by
nuclear / chemical / biological waste from our weapons of mass destruction
capability, a capability arguably maintained to maintain the corporate boards
which govern the corporations which produce these agents....
Why would a catholic child who became a Shi'a Muslim adult be hanging out
with these "hippies" anyway (in a positive way). Some people sort of
smirk when they hear 'Proposition One Committee' - "these are those
'activists' who 'rebel' against the 'machine' - for
their own egos?" I wonder if people know what Proposition One has
achieved: maintaining freedom of speech in Lafayette Park, taking care of
homeless persons, agitating governors who think they are above being agitated,
sponsoring citizens initiatives which always are passed by the people of the
District of Columbia. So why hang out with these hippies. Because the Lord
(i.e. Yahweh, Brahman, Allah, God, or Jesus Christ depending on the names you
use in your theology) works in mysterious ways through some truly mysterious or
"strange" people. So welcome to Proposition One.
Who I am: I am a Michael. U.S. Navy Submarine Service Veteran, Conscientious
Objector, Human Rights, anti-Imperialist, and anti-Weapons-of-Mass-Destruction
activist. A philosopher-artist by education (see Majlis-i Mushahadin. I
am also by my Sufi Pirs decision a Salim, one of peace. I am constantly
debating when self-defense means punching back. I am single, regrettably.