laetus in praesens
animus quod ultra est / oderit curare
"The mind
which rejoices in what is present, will be unwilling to worry about what is to
come"
Horace, Odes 2.16.25-26
Being There
by Anthony Judge
March 3, 2003
|
I was there...
• When leaders
of democracy and freedom were extremely economical with the truth
• When devout Christians sought God's aid to slaughter Muslims they had never met
• When special military forces of the North engaged opponents with overwhelming force
• When Air Force pilots dropped WMD and were rewarded with a medal of honour
• When claims for evidence were made in defiance of centuries of scientific and legal procedure
• When thousands were made homeless because the price was worth paying
• When bomblets were dropped disguised as emergency rations
• When respectable colleagues in every discipline refrained from public comment
• When trained interrogators of democracies engaged in unchecked torture
• When the United Nations was cynically perverted and corrupted to dubious ends
• When government policy became too important for public consultation
• When associations supporting guns-for-citizens had the president's ear
• When other countries were encouraged to disarm by every means
• When official institutions became inherently untrustworthy
• When governments promoted panic in order to ensure support
• When democratic governments formally dispatched death squads to other countries
• When blatant government greed for oil was cynically cloaked in the highest values
• When hard work of decades on many fronts was shredded without challenge
• When dissent from government policies was sanctioned as treason
• When heroes were those who beat up any they chose to suspect
• When all chose to forget dangerous historical parallels
• When project funding suddenly became subject to political allegiance
• When hit squads were dispatched to eliminate any form of opposition
• When God's name was invoked as justification for every form of abuse
• When considered intelligence service opinions were replaced by wishful thinking
• When planting and fabricating evidence was ignored as a possibility
• When allies formerly supplied with weaponry were transformed into enemies
• When abuses of long-standing allies were systematically tolerated and compensated
• When the trappings of democracy became a fraud for all to see
• When corporations claming respectability were revealed as dangerously flawed
• When only those with little to lose were willing to speak for those about to die
• When religions failed to protest against acting violently in their name
• When unimaginative good guys fed on movies were trapped in bad scenarios explored therein
• When dialogue with opponents was excluded in favour of slaughter
• When once again arms traders claimed innocence in supplying both sides
• When nations were stampeded into war to guarantee re-elections and campaign debts
• When those most complicit in perversity acclaimed the possibility of business as usual
• When leading insiders once again ensured their financial advantage from war
• When cynicism prevailed concerning humanitarian response to the aftermath
• When perversion of good people and principles became the normal response to the unsavoury
• When the wise in transcending polarization sought refugee in irresponsible silence
• When dutiful soldiers were brainwashed into dishonourable combat
• When media reports on every side became high exercises in spin
• When the twisted initiatives of the "good" guys became more venal than those of the
"bad"
• When provoking undiscerning panic over terror became a weapon of mass distraction
• When concerns of the world's peoples were set aside by flailing governments
• When institutional leaders chose to live their lives in fear
...but I cannot remember what I did!
· · · · · ·
|
If I am not for myself, who will be for
me?
If I am not for
others, what am I?
And if not now,
when?
-Rabbi Hillel
