Michael's Internal Dialogue

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.