Tuesday, August 27, 2002

Do We Have Time for This?? Do We Have Time for This?? There is a lot more to political life than writing.  There is also a need to act.  Last night, we had the first meeting of our Lexington Justice and Peace Committee steering committee since June, and we spent most of the evening discussing the calendar.  We set an ambitious schedule for ourselves, with two Sept. 11th rememberance events, weekly vigils beginning later in September,  public meetings in October and November, a forum on Iraq in December, and plans for a speaker in Lexington, plus cooperating with other local Justice and Peace groups on speakers in neighboring towns.  But for the six people in the room and the two who could not come, it was almost impossible to find a singe date where everyone would be available. How do you make time for politics, when the rest of your life goes on with working late, taking classes, travelling, kid's birthdays, conferences, other committments-- all seeming to leave no time for political actions.  I wish I had a good answer.  The only thing I can think of is that political action has to be integrated into daily life instead of conflicting with it.  For example, this group in Lexington is also a social group--so some of the time I want to spend hanging out with friends, I spend in our meetings, dinners or actions. So politics must include friendship in my view. Secondly, politics can be integrated into other community activities.  Although I am a jew, I have a mixed marriage, and my wife and I have brought up our kids as jewish at home, and in the local Unitarian church in our community.  I like our neighborhood church very much, because within the 200 to 300 families who are part of that community, there is solid support for activism.  For example, one of the main focus areas of the national UU church this year is defending civil liberties. This means that my participation in the church is supportive, not outside of, political activism. I see the role of the activist as being visible in communities and work places whenever possible.  I write this blog, maintain our local organization web site, and write opinion pieces and letters for the local town paper all because I think that visibility is critical.  Unless there is visible local opposition to things like Ashcroft's Kafkaesque policies (don't miss James Bamford's wonderful op-ed in todays Times), or Bush's warmongering, people keep their own doubts secret, and swallow their concerns.  So, I hope more of us can make time for politics, because it should not be separate from our regular lives.  Empowered people feel free to act.  We all must become more empowered to preserve ourselves. 11:12:43 PM   comment []

© Copyright 2002 Toby Sackton. Last update: 12/26/2002; 9:29:45 PM.