Posted by John Gray Wallace on 12/29/2007, 8:25 am, in reply to "Re: Benazir Bhutto...Death wish or Murder?"
68.0.170.234
I, too, would like to see the tragic murder of Benazir Bhutto serve as a catalyst for real, positive change in the Middle East, Dave. Do ANY of our leaders, from President Bush to Nancy Polosi have ANY clue how to proceed in the wake of the latest tragedy there? It seems not. Let us hope---and pray, that things are not what they seem...and, we CAN write and call our leaders, we can flood their web sites with our own thoughts and suggestions...we need not just stand by and be idle, we need not remain, as Longfellow once wrote, "...dumb, driven cattle...", each of us can become, instead, what Longfellow described as "...a hero in the strife..." (From "A Psalm of Life"). And why not?
Just before finally deciding to enter the 1968 Presidential Campaign as a Peace Candidate, Bobby Kennedy agonized over the additional risk of assassination he would incur in so doing. He expressed these fears he had to the then-famous Greek actress Melina Mercouri, a close family friend to the Kennedys. She patiently listened to all of his concerns, then asked him this one question; "So, many years down the road, do you want to be remembered as the man who waited for a safer day?" Almost instantly, that made everything come clear to him, and he decided then and there to enter the Presidential Race.
Benazir Bhutto chose to act, despite the risks---of which she was acutely aware.
Again, Longfellow, from the same poem, above; "...Act! Act, in the living present, heart within and God o'erhead!"
We, too, can act...can have a voice; all we need do to begin is stand up and speak out.
Refined speech and poetic references sometimes fail to adequately communicate the depth of hurt and frustration an individual, or a whole people, are experiencing. Sometimes a, uh, more blunt and direct manner of expression is more effective in this regard. One way is not better than another. There is room for all.
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