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What Can You Do? Save Just One
As we get closer to what looks like the certain bombing of Iran, I'm getting more letters asking if there is any way we can stop Bush's second mad military adventure.
My answer is: No. Bush and his cronies crave a giant "legacy." They have waited a long time to reconfigure the Middle East. Time is slipping away. They have 1,000 days left. Invade they must.
Would it help if we took to the streets? Walked out of schools? You never know. But my brother and my niece were at Stanford last week when protestors awaited the Bush motorcade. It changed its route so the President wouldn't even have to see people who opposed his policies. And the vans and SUVs at the rear of the motorcade were bristling with guns. In case of what? A shouted slogan? A sign. Only El Presidente of a banana republic needs this kind of security. Or an Eastern European dictator.
So what can you do? As I was musing, I read two dispatches.
One was from Brussels, where 80,000 people marched to honor a 17-year-old kid who was killed for his MP3 player. This was what caught my attention:
They didn't carry banners or any sign of political affiliation, at the request of the family of the victim, whose murder has deeply shocked Belgium.
The silence was broken only by the murmur of the crowd and applause that broke out when the victim's family was spotted at the heart of the procession.
And I thought: One life still matters in Belgium.
Then I went on to the sports section of The New York Times and read about Rob Thomas, a black basketball star who was sent to a Connecticut prep school for seasoning. In his first week, he wrote "in looping printed letters, which looked like the handwriting of a young girl, a one-page cry for help: "I cannot read or write. I need all you people's help. Please do not turn your back on me."
I urge you to click and read every word. You'll get a good cry out of it, which is a fine thing in and of itself. But maybe you'll also get an idea: SAVE ONE PERSON.
That's right. You may not be able to save millions of Iranians. You may not be able to stop the next terrorist attack. But you can support a foreign kid who lacks everything. You can "adopt" an American kid who, like Rob Thomas, was mostly living in subways. You can change one life for the better.
On commercial planes, when they do the safety drill, they do a little speech about the oxygen masks. First, they say, put on your own. Then help your kid. That feels counter-intuitive. But it's common sense. First, save yourself. Then, one other. And maybe--just maybe--these acts of kindness will balance out the horror that our government does in our name.
My answer is: No. Bush and his cronies crave a giant "legacy." They have waited a long time to reconfigure the Middle East. Time is slipping away. They have 1,000 days left. Invade they must.
Would it help if we took to the streets? Walked out of schools? You never know. But my brother and my niece were at Stanford last week when protestors awaited the Bush motorcade. It changed its route so the President wouldn't even have to see people who opposed his policies. And the vans and SUVs at the rear of the motorcade were bristling with guns. In case of what? A shouted slogan? A sign. Only El Presidente of a banana republic needs this kind of security. Or an Eastern European dictator.
So what can you do? As I was musing, I read two dispatches.
One was from Brussels, where 80,000 people marched to honor a 17-year-old kid who was killed for his MP3 player. This was what caught my attention:
They didn't carry banners or any sign of political affiliation, at the request of the family of the victim, whose murder has deeply shocked Belgium.
The silence was broken only by the murmur of the crowd and applause that broke out when the victim's family was spotted at the heart of the procession.
And I thought: One life still matters in Belgium.
Then I went on to the sports section of The New York Times and read about Rob Thomas, a black basketball star who was sent to a Connecticut prep school for seasoning. In his first week, he wrote "in looping printed letters, which looked like the handwriting of a young girl, a one-page cry for help: "I cannot read or write. I need all you people's help. Please do not turn your back on me."
I urge you to click and read every word. You'll get a good cry out of it, which is a fine thing in and of itself. But maybe you'll also get an idea: SAVE ONE PERSON.
That's right. You may not be able to save millions of Iranians. You may not be able to stop the next terrorist attack. But you can support a foreign kid who lacks everything. You can "adopt" an American kid who, like Rob Thomas, was mostly living in subways. You can change one life for the better.
On commercial planes, when they do the safety drill, they do a little speech about the oxygen masks. First, they say, put on your own. Then help your kid. That feels counter-intuitive. But it's common sense. First, save yourself. Then, one other. And maybe--just maybe--these acts of kindness will balance out the horror that our government does in our name.
