Tomorrow I will go into the public space of my East Coast hometown and read the names of the 3500+ Americans who have made the ultimate sacrifice for our country in Iraq. All props go to Meteor Blades for his inspiring example, and diary entry from 6/4/07. My action will be a bit different--it is NOT POLITICAL PROTEST. I will bring no bullhorn, shout no slogan, try to change no opinion. IT IS A GRIEF RITUAL--meaning: like a proper Memorial Day event, it is not about the politics of the war; it is solely about remembering, honoring and grieving those we have lost.
The big idea is that the reason we are so stuck as a culture--stuck with a horrible kakistocracy (rule by the inept), stuck in another war of empire, stuck with the worst health care system in the industrialized world, is that we don't know how to grieve as a culture. We still haven't gotten over Vietnam (witness the POW/MIA flags that still abound). Until we learn how to grieve as a culture; to acknowledge mistakes, to properly honor those who have sacrificed for us; we are condemned, like Sisyphus, to keep repeating the same mistakes over and over and over again.
So my action is conceived as one person's (one father's) attempt to help make it OK to grieve--regardless of political affiliation--our losses, that we might begin to heal the deep chasm in our national psyche. How could an Edwards or an Obama come in and heal a nation whose ground is so scorched? We must prepare ourselves for renewal; we must prepare for the necessary change by first completely owning up to the morass we are in; we must feel the heaviness of our predicament. A lot of tears will be needed to make the ground fertile for democracy again.
(Please forgive the short diary and a neo-Luddite's incapacity to make even a simple link!)