Amends

[tornandfrayed]

Dear Friends,
I got this letter today from a friend, who received it from a friend
of his, writer, Dean Bakopoulos. (His new book, "Please Don't Come
Back from the Moon," will be out in January, from Harcourt). I want
to share his thoughts with you because I believe we are sharing
similar feelings today--a day that another friend suggested should be
"a national day of mourning." I hope it will help.
Bob L.

Dear Friends,
I am writing this morning with a lead weight in my chest, and I
imagine most of you are feeling as down and defeated and depressed as
I am. When I feel this way, I tend to start typing, and I thought I'd
share these thoughts with all of you, in case you need a shred of
optimism to emerge from the bright glare of what looks to be a defeat
.. Maybe some of you have the map of Canada on your kitchen table and
are thinking long thoughts about Halifax and Moosejaw. Some of you
probably stood around with your family and neighbors this morning
like I did, trying to pretend that you were not crying over an
election.

What happened yesterday was this: The Republicans finally achieved
their long-held goal to use fear (of Muslims, of homosexuals, of
minorities, of terrorism) and fundamentalism to get poor people to
vote for the causes of the wealthy. It worked. Mission accomplished.
The arrogant invented a crisis and the ignorant rallied to be saved
from it; it's the oldest form of power play in the world. I could
talk about the sadness and folly of this vote all day and all night,
but you already likely feel the same way.

So, what next? It's clear that we were not able to change enough
people's minds on issues like war and health care and civil rights;
so now we have to turn to their hearts.

This will be a long struggle and we may not see the results in our
generation. This will not be as easy as getting out the vote and
raising money on web sites and reading blogs and forwarding e-mails;
this will be an effort of major proportions-we need to defeat the
forces of fear and fundamentalism, and we must do so with
intelligence, creativity, and
compassion.

Obviously, there are no easy steps to take or tangible numbers to
crunch. But I am writing to urge you this morning to keep doing what
you do: write better stories, make art, play music, read and publish
great books, preach sermons about peace and justice, raise your
children and grandchildren to be tolerant and to think freely, work
for better schools,
save lakes and rivers, protect the oppressed, give to the poor,
spread the wealth, worship gods of love and compassion, turn the
other cheek and love thy neighbor. Challenge injustice. Challenge
authority. Challenge yourself. As a wise writing teacher once said
to me: "You do what you can."

Why am I writing you this feel-good hooey on such a sad day for any
peace-loving, freedom-loving American? Do I really think it's that
simple? No, of course not: but we have to start now, today, to defeat
fundamentalism and the politics of fear. And I don't think the way to
do it is for Democrats to stand up and say things like "I'm against
gay marriage too" or "I will destroy these terrorists too". Because I
think we need to reach
out, to put our words and our paintings and our music out there, our
values and our beliefs, and keep spreading them, person by person,
until we change the hearts of the nation-away from the greed and fear
that now controls everything, and towards a new enlightenment. We've
had enlightenments in the past in this nation, but they take years to
build, and have no maps or well-defined paths.

But retreating now is impossible. It's our country too. If you
believe in God, it's your God too.

Do what you can. And then do a little more.

In peace and solidarity,
Peace and Hope:

[lonewolf]

I am sharing no such feelings. I wasn't sharing any such feelings after any election, whether it was Carter, Reagan, Bush I, Clinton or Bush II.

It doesn't matter to me who's in the oval office, because life goes on and politicians won't stop me from pursuing any goal that I choose. Except for the occasional ruling by an activist judge, the constitution is still there and is still in force. No political party can destroy it, only the people can allow that to happen. In an election where 130,000 votes made the electorial difference and the popular vote was 51% to 48%, we the people are nowhere near allowing that to happen.

I have no national political agenda. I just want the government out of my way so that I can be as productive to society as I possibly can. Since I believe in self-sufficiency, my long-term financial planning no longer includes social security. I simply do not like the idea of being dependent on anyone, especially the government. For the sake of others, I hope its still there when I come of age, but I will consider it a bonus.

There are many who may take this election as a personal defeat and that somehow they are cast into a cloud of darkness. They should just stop, take a deep breath, look around and ask themselves: Is your life any different than it was last week, really? 99.8% of people can truthfully answer "no" to that question. Upon realizing this, they must then remember all the hopes, goals and dreams they had before the election and go after them twice as hard. If at this point, the cloud still exists, its time for them to run for office.

[tornandfrayed]

Well Said and I agree with almost everyhting you stated!

Good reply!

As the original post reads, Keep doing what you do!

No one is defeated, America is strong! We the people shall remain!

[bfoust]

I thought the election was decided Nov 3rd

[tornandfrayed]

The election was decide November 3rd!

People will still have thoughts and opinions though. All year long and maybe even next year!

I speak for myself only here but I will continue to think and have opinions as long as I am alive. I will not be told what to think and when to stop having thoughts. I aplogize if this offends anyone.

[Dave]

The election was decide November 3rd!

People will still have thoughts and opinions though. All year long and maybe even next year!

I speak for myself only here but I will continue to think and have opinions as long as I am alive. I will not be told what to think and when to stop having thoughts. I aplogize if this offends anyone.

I think bfoust gets a "get out of being flamed free card" for his comment. He does have a on his post. (I think he was kidding).

Cheers!

[tornandfrayed]

Sorry Bfoust I didn't mean to react so harshly.

The whole thing (election) just has me feeling very uneasy...

[bfoust]

It's ok, I wasn't trying to start a war, I was just commenting on the "after shock" from the democratic party..