A Bit Of Advice...

A friend of mine sent this to me today. A letter by Dean Bakopoulos:

Dear Friends,

I am writing this morning with a lead weight in my chest, and I imagine most of you are feeling as down and defeated and depressed as I am. When I feel this way, I tend to start typing, and I thought I’d share these thoughts with all of you, in case you need a shred of optimism to emerge from the bright glare of what looks to be a defeat . Maybe some of you have the map of Canada on your kitchen table and are thinking long thoughts about Halifax and Moosejaw. Some of you probably stood around with your family and neighbors this morning like I did, trying to pretend that you were not crying over an election.

What happened yesterday was this: The Republicans finally achieved their long-held goal to use fear (of Muslims, of homosexuals, of minorities, of terrorism) and fundamentalism to get poor people to vote for the causes of the wealthy. It worked. Mission accomplished. The arrogant invented a crisis and the ignorant rallied to be saved from it; it’s the oldest form of power play in the world. I could talk about the sadness and folly of this vote all day and all night, but you already likely feel the same way.

So, what next? It’s clear that we were not able to change enough people’s minds on issues like war and health care and civil rights; so now we have to turn to their hearts. This will be a long struggle and we may not see the results in our generation. This will not be as easy as getting out the vote and raising money on web sites and reading blogs and forwarding e-mails; this will be an effort of major proportions­we need to defeat the forces of fear and fundamentalism, and we must do so with intelligence, creativity, and compassion.

Obviously, there are no easy steps to take or tangible numbers to crunch. But I am writing to urge you this morning to keep doing what you do: write better stories, make art, play music, read and publish great books, preach sermons about peace and justice, raise your children and grandchildren to be tolerant and to think freely, work for better schools, save lakes and rivers, protect the oppressed, give to the poor,spread the wealth, worship gods of love and compassion, turn the other cheek and love thy neighbor. Challenge injustice. Challenge authority. Challenge yourself.

As a wise writing teacher once said to me: “You do what you can.” Why am I writing you this feel good hooey on such a sad day for any peace-loving, freedom-loving American? Do I really think it’s that simple? No, of course not: but we have to start now, today, to defeat fundamentalism and the politics of fear. And I don’t think the way to do it is for Democrats to stand up and say things like “I’m against gay marriage too” or “I will destroy these terrorists too”. Because I think we need to reach out, to put our words and our paintings and our music out there, our values and our beliefs, and keep spreading them, person by person, until wechange the hearts of the nation­away from the greed and fear that now controls everything, and towards a new enlightenment. We’ve had enlightenments in the past in this nation, but they take years to build, and have no maps or well-defined paths.

But retreating now is impossible. It’s our country too.
If you believe in God, it’s your God too.

Do what you can. And then do a little more.

In peace and solidarity,
DB