Make Cookies not War
Waiting for the World to Change
protest apathy
In the past two days I've seen two kids walking to school wearing "Make cupcakes not war" and "make cookies not war" t-shirts. They can't have been much over 10 if at all. There whole lives we've been in this war, this war that seems to fade too often from consciousness, including my own. We wait, we poke fun, we look away...I look away. When is it we act? And what is it we do? I don't feel an energy rising as I imagine there was in the 60's. I hear about '68 and cannot imagine, I cannot imagine. But maybe my imagining is all it is, maybe there wasn't a swell of energy, and maybe there is right now and I'm just missing it. Oh cookie monster, oh Sesame Street, don't fail me now.
1 comment:
There was indeed a nationwide swell of energy in 68. We were taxed. We were drafted. We protested. The violence of war was seen for the first time as it happened on television and we were shocked. Today's wars are more hidden. Video violence is everywhere and we are numb to it. I think it would have been very different if the sons and daughters of the middle and upper classes had been drafted for these wars. Taxing people rather than just adding to the national debt might have made a difference too. We are taking advantage of a group of people who cannot find jobs and who cannot afford higher education and who see military service as a way to make it in the world. The rest of us can go about our business as though we are not involved. We feel powerless. We are numb. We cannot stand what we would see and so we look away.
Post a Comment