Imagine this coming Tuesday, when we all go out to the polls for the off year election. Picture yourself going in, casting your votes, and coming out and seeing some guy from who-knows-where, going in behind you. You might think it's nothing at first-Americans are from all over, right?
Then it turns out this guy isn't a citizen after all, and his one vote turned the tables on the election results in your entire area.
You'd be pretty miffed, right? I mean, it's a citizen's right to vote. But this scenario may not be as far away from reality as we think:
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/10/24/states-weigh-letting-noncitizens-vote/
As the daughter of a naturalized citizen, I consider this a slap in her face, as well as mine. The thought that all the effort my mother put into gaining her rights to vote was for nothing? It's sickening.
I understand people want to have a say in what's going on, and I am glad they want to get involved. But if we just let anyone vote, the next thing you know, people with interests invested in OTHER countries will be coming in and voting America into its own oblivion. If just anyone could vote there would be absolute anarchy. I for one do not intend to let my rights be taken away from me like that. I don't go to France or Japan and screw around with their affairs, why would I let someone from Italy or Pakistan screw around in mine?
My mum went through the citizenship program to gain her right to vote. Citizenship programs welcome immigrants into the American family and also give you a knowledge of and pride for your country, so you can make better decisions at the polls, no matter your political party. In fact, most people I know who are naturalized citizens value their citizenship and rights more than natural born citizens do!
To say my mum and the millions of others who earned their citizenship did it for nothing is an utter insult. And to let than insult slide, to let just anyone vote, would be nothing short of disastrous.
You might as well elect bin Laden for Congress.
Monday, October 25, 2010
Thursday, May 20, 2010
American Exceptionalism
As many of you know, Texas has been fighting on the battleground of schoolbooks recently. What will children across the country learn, because, as many of us realize, Texas schoolbooks lead the nation. One thing that has made it into the text books is the belief in American Exceptionalism. In a clip on Fox News today, James Rosen (one of their anchors) noted that one of the proponents against American Exceptionalism has been our 44th president. In April, while in France, Obama was asked “if he subscribes to the belief that America is uniquely qualified by its origins and history to lead the world” by a reporter there. In other words, the president was asked if he believed in American Exceptionalism. His response is alarming, albeit not unexpected. He replied, “I believe in American Exceptionalism, just as I suspect the Brits believe in British Exceptionalism and the Greeks believe in Greek Exceptionalism….” He continued to say that the US would “not always be right” and that he sees no conflict between regarding America as exceptional and valuing other countries’ contribution to the world. (story anchored by James Rosen at Fox News)
There are several gaping flaws in this. Firstly, Greece was a poor choice in that, as they the people have been rioting and the country is on the verge of being bankrupt (with Germany and America bailing them out). England, while in a better situation than Greece at the moment, is struggling against the socialist system that they’ve put into place as much as most of Europe is now. While these two countries ruled a good portion of the world at one time, they have since declined (and quite a bit of it through socialism). Second, someone truly needs to get this man a dictionary, because he obviously doesn’t understand what the word “exceptional” means. According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, exceptionalism is “the condition of being different from the norm.” So that begs the question of how can everyone be exceptional? I am a big fan of individualism, but there is a difference here that cannot be ignored. To have exceptionalism, there must be a normality that it is judged by. There will always be those that are better and worse at certain things, and that includes countries. Not everyone can be leaders. And lastly, to the point of this gaping flaws in his argument, it’s come to the point where I, personally, simply do not believe most of what comes from his mouth. When promises simply become ‘campaign promises’ that we aren’t supposed to believe, one must wonder when we can believe anything. He certainly hasn’t stood by anything except his distribution of the wealth and his health care. He’s standing by those two things in which the American people do not want very nicely. He also has a habit of going on apology tour for this country, showing that he leans more to the side of his blief that we're "not always...right" than in American Exceptionalism.
We are an exceptional country. We fought the only true revolution, where we did not replace tyrants with tyrants (according to Ronald Reagan) and, as a colony, won against an empire and against all odds. We continued, and fought to keep ourselves together and to free all men, no matter their color, in the Civil War. We fought to free the world in two world wars and have been struggling against communism and terrorism since. We are exceptional. To be told anything less is degrading and a lie. The world knows this, even if they won’t admit it, because they flock here from all countries. They flee overbearing governments and poor economies just so they can come to the Land of the Free. We have set a precedent for the world to follow though few truly can.
There are several gaping flaws in this. Firstly, Greece was a poor choice in that, as they the people have been rioting and the country is on the verge of being bankrupt (with Germany and America bailing them out). England, while in a better situation than Greece at the moment, is struggling against the socialist system that they’ve put into place as much as most of Europe is now. While these two countries ruled a good portion of the world at one time, they have since declined (and quite a bit of it through socialism). Second, someone truly needs to get this man a dictionary, because he obviously doesn’t understand what the word “exceptional” means. According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, exceptionalism is “the condition of being different from the norm.” So that begs the question of how can everyone be exceptional? I am a big fan of individualism, but there is a difference here that cannot be ignored. To have exceptionalism, there must be a normality that it is judged by. There will always be those that are better and worse at certain things, and that includes countries. Not everyone can be leaders. And lastly, to the point of this gaping flaws in his argument, it’s come to the point where I, personally, simply do not believe most of what comes from his mouth. When promises simply become ‘campaign promises’ that we aren’t supposed to believe, one must wonder when we can believe anything. He certainly hasn’t stood by anything except his distribution of the wealth and his health care. He’s standing by those two things in which the American people do not want very nicely. He also has a habit of going on apology tour for this country, showing that he leans more to the side of his blief that we're "not always...right" than in American Exceptionalism.
We are an exceptional country. We fought the only true revolution, where we did not replace tyrants with tyrants (according to Ronald Reagan) and, as a colony, won against an empire and against all odds. We continued, and fought to keep ourselves together and to free all men, no matter their color, in the Civil War. We fought to free the world in two world wars and have been struggling against communism and terrorism since. We are exceptional. To be told anything less is degrading and a lie. The world knows this, even if they won’t admit it, because they flock here from all countries. They flee overbearing governments and poor economies just so they can come to the Land of the Free. We have set a precedent for the world to follow though few truly can.
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
Monday, March 22, 2010
Tyranny, Like Hell, is not Easily Conquered
I’ve been involved with the Tea Party movement since July of 2009. Ironically enough, July 4, 2009. Last night I found myself in a bar and grill with a bunch of my friends that I’ve formed a bond with from my local tea and others. We have been battling this take-over of the health care system and government control for nearly a year now, and last night they broke through with enough votes to pass the monstrosity. A friend of mine, who left Russia when she was five, was nearly in tears with the understanding that we may well be on the way towards what she ran from.
Over the last months I have done a lot of thinking. I have pulled together with people from all over, discussed things with those with opposing views, and really thought hard and searched for answers from all places. I have dove into our founding documents and other historical texts along with political commentary from today and the last century. I have prayed more for the state of my country in the last months than I ever felt necessary in my formerly mundane life.
In my search, I seem to have found more questions than answers after last night. I’ve always been an idealist, and it’s only been since I’ve hit a sort of maturity after a couple of very hard, very stupid years of my life, and I’m happy to say I’ve come out a better person because of it. A stronger, more devoted person, but my ideals often make any sort of defeat feel larger and more overbearing than it might truly be. This country… I have so much respect for it. We have fought oppression and slavery at every turn since our foundation. We waged war against England, our protector and mother country, to gain independence beginning in 1775 (actually declared in ’76). Brother fought brother in the Civil War to free every man in the country, and women’s rights followed. We fought two World Wars to keep Germany and their allies at bay from quite literally taking over the world and putting it behind the bars of a dictatorship. Then, we spent what seemed like an eternity, and the better part of half a century involved in a cold war against Communism. We now fight a war on terror, but our so-called ‘Commander in Chief’ (wish he’d act like it) refuses to go in to win. Regardless, we, as Americans, have always fought to spread freedom across the world. It is who we are. So I find myself asking ‘why?’ with a gut-wrenching feeling pulling at my heart. Why, when we’ve fought so hard and so long against tyranny, when our nation was formed in a way that should have set up blocks against it, have we fallen into the complicity of government control?
Versions of that question have been ripping and tearing at my mind and soul for a while now. I would venture to say that we lost our Republic last night. When the people so boldly speak out and say ‘We can’t stand for this!’ in a Republic, the government is required to listen. When they ignore, forcing it through by arm-twisting (among other things, I’d say) then how can we reason anything other than the loss of our beloved Republic that we have fought so hard to keep? (That is not to say that it cannot be regained through hard work on her citizens' part.) The questions then must be asked: how much else, between March and November, can they push through, and what other tactics will they take in order to insure their own survival? The government, those that we have elected into office, have chosen, by a majority, to ignore the American people. They have forsaken the oaths that they have taken to uphold the Constitution and will use as many underhanded tricks as they can muster to keep their jobs. I do wonder where it all stops? Does it become too much now, when we teeter on the edge (if not over the edge) of a horrible change from our founding? Or will it be too much when a soft tyranny turns to hard? When we really do become like Soviet Russia? Our Republic was shot down last night. Our way of life was smeared. We The People of the United States were ignored and told we were too stupid to realize what is really good for us.
Thomas Paine said, “Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered.” He did not say that it is impossible, but it is not easy. Tyranny threatens us now, and has been threatening for some time. While it threatens, we still have ways to fight it. The primaries have passed, and we have candidates poised (in most areas) for the November elections. Help them. Pray for them. Campaign for them and do whatever you can to put true CONSERVATIVE men and women up in DC. At the very least we can stall Obama on his attempts to bring this country down until we can vote him out in 2012. While they ignored our laws last night, we still have them and the idealist in me cannot let me believe that there is not a way out of this. I refuse to roll over and give up to these people. That is what they want, and I refuse to give in. Last I heard, twelve states are ready to sue over this bill. I’m proud to say Texas is one.
I urge you to look to our founders and their words on how they meant to set this country up. Thomas Jefferson said, “Congress has not unlimited powers to provide for the general welfare but only those specifically enumerated.” Patrick Henry said, “Guard with jealous attention the public liberty. Suspect everyone who approaches that jewel.” John Adams, in much the same light, said, “Liberty must at all hazards be supported.” And finally, Thomas Paine urged, “What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives every thing its value.” We must be stead in our fight for our Republic. It has not moved away from us for good, at this point, but their certainly trying up in DC right now. Remember how our forefathers valued our Freedoms. Remember that Liberty is dear to us, as it is to human kind. While mankind has always had a habit, in small groups, of trying to subdue their fellow man, those that are meant to be subdued will rarely stand for it. It is in human nature to be free, and I can believe nothing less.
Over the last months I have done a lot of thinking. I have pulled together with people from all over, discussed things with those with opposing views, and really thought hard and searched for answers from all places. I have dove into our founding documents and other historical texts along with political commentary from today and the last century. I have prayed more for the state of my country in the last months than I ever felt necessary in my formerly mundane life.
In my search, I seem to have found more questions than answers after last night. I’ve always been an idealist, and it’s only been since I’ve hit a sort of maturity after a couple of very hard, very stupid years of my life, and I’m happy to say I’ve come out a better person because of it. A stronger, more devoted person, but my ideals often make any sort of defeat feel larger and more overbearing than it might truly be. This country… I have so much respect for it. We have fought oppression and slavery at every turn since our foundation. We waged war against England, our protector and mother country, to gain independence beginning in 1775 (actually declared in ’76). Brother fought brother in the Civil War to free every man in the country, and women’s rights followed. We fought two World Wars to keep Germany and their allies at bay from quite literally taking over the world and putting it behind the bars of a dictatorship. Then, we spent what seemed like an eternity, and the better part of half a century involved in a cold war against Communism. We now fight a war on terror, but our so-called ‘Commander in Chief’ (wish he’d act like it) refuses to go in to win. Regardless, we, as Americans, have always fought to spread freedom across the world. It is who we are. So I find myself asking ‘why?’ with a gut-wrenching feeling pulling at my heart. Why, when we’ve fought so hard and so long against tyranny, when our nation was formed in a way that should have set up blocks against it, have we fallen into the complicity of government control?
Versions of that question have been ripping and tearing at my mind and soul for a while now. I would venture to say that we lost our Republic last night. When the people so boldly speak out and say ‘We can’t stand for this!’ in a Republic, the government is required to listen. When they ignore, forcing it through by arm-twisting (among other things, I’d say) then how can we reason anything other than the loss of our beloved Republic that we have fought so hard to keep? (That is not to say that it cannot be regained through hard work on her citizens' part.) The questions then must be asked: how much else, between March and November, can they push through, and what other tactics will they take in order to insure their own survival? The government, those that we have elected into office, have chosen, by a majority, to ignore the American people. They have forsaken the oaths that they have taken to uphold the Constitution and will use as many underhanded tricks as they can muster to keep their jobs. I do wonder where it all stops? Does it become too much now, when we teeter on the edge (if not over the edge) of a horrible change from our founding? Or will it be too much when a soft tyranny turns to hard? When we really do become like Soviet Russia? Our Republic was shot down last night. Our way of life was smeared. We The People of the United States were ignored and told we were too stupid to realize what is really good for us.
Thomas Paine said, “Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered.” He did not say that it is impossible, but it is not easy. Tyranny threatens us now, and has been threatening for some time. While it threatens, we still have ways to fight it. The primaries have passed, and we have candidates poised (in most areas) for the November elections. Help them. Pray for them. Campaign for them and do whatever you can to put true CONSERVATIVE men and women up in DC. At the very least we can stall Obama on his attempts to bring this country down until we can vote him out in 2012. While they ignored our laws last night, we still have them and the idealist in me cannot let me believe that there is not a way out of this. I refuse to roll over and give up to these people. That is what they want, and I refuse to give in. Last I heard, twelve states are ready to sue over this bill. I’m proud to say Texas is one.
I urge you to look to our founders and their words on how they meant to set this country up. Thomas Jefferson said, “Congress has not unlimited powers to provide for the general welfare but only those specifically enumerated.” Patrick Henry said, “Guard with jealous attention the public liberty. Suspect everyone who approaches that jewel.” John Adams, in much the same light, said, “Liberty must at all hazards be supported.” And finally, Thomas Paine urged, “What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives every thing its value.” We must be stead in our fight for our Republic. It has not moved away from us for good, at this point, but their certainly trying up in DC right now. Remember how our forefathers valued our Freedoms. Remember that Liberty is dear to us, as it is to human kind. While mankind has always had a habit, in small groups, of trying to subdue their fellow man, those that are meant to be subdued will rarely stand for it. It is in human nature to be free, and I can believe nothing less.
Saturday, February 20, 2010
Waco Tea Party
Waco, Texas, is not very big in the grand scheme of things. It's the stopover from Austin to Dallas, and it was well known in the 50's for the massive tornado that rocked the Alico building, and in the 90's for David Koresh. Some may think of the Dr. Pepper museum, and others of President George W. Bush that has a ranch just outside of Waco in Crawford. What people should think of when they think of Waco, Texas and the small communities around are the passionate people that make up the Waco Tea Party. Lead by the enthusiastic Toby Marie Walker, this community has been on fire for the rights of all Americans since April of 2009 and will go strong as long as we are needed.
Today, 20 February 2010, the citizens of Waco and the cities surrounding met in the Palladium in downtown Waco along with many officials running for different offices. There's no question in the Tea Party's mind that Chet Edwards, democrat congressman for District 17, must go in the November elections, but our fine hosts treated us to a panel today consisting of Dave McIntyre, Chuck Wilson, Timothy Delasandro, and Bill Flores. Rob Curnock, Edward's opponent in the last election, decided to skip out early in hopes that he could appoint one the men at his table to answer the questions for him. Neither Curnock or his stand-in were on stage today.
Brilliant speakers like Michael Sullivan, Michael Simon (Waco Tea Party's own webmaster and co-founder), Deborah Johns (who went head against Cindy Shehan in Crawford and has been touring with the Tea Party Express), and Ann Mazone were there today. I was very honored to be asked to give a short testimonial speech as well along with several others. Joe the Plumber also made a guest appearance and speech.
Now, some of the media has been trying to link this mad man in Austin, Texas to the Tea Parties. I have been to Waco Tea Parties before and work as closely as time permits with them, and I can say from personal experience that this is absurd. The people that were in that building today care deeply for their country, and we hope to pull it out of the hole that Obama has launched us into. This country is ours to keep, and We The People have a right and a duty to keep her and to even restore her if necessary. I grew up in a family that loved to discuss politics, but rarely have we been as active as we have been within the last year. America is waking up, echoing Toby's favorite shout of "Wake up Waco!" and we're frustrated, we're angry, and we're struggling to gain control of a country spiraling dangerously out of control. We are anything but this deranged man that flew a plane into an IRS building.
Thomas Jefferson wrote in our Declaration, "… that to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed; that whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it, and to institute a new government." I think it's high time that we start altering this government with our votes. Pelosi's lapdogs like Chet Edwards will be voted out in November, and we will replace him with a man willing to do his job. We expect our congressmen to vote with the Constitution, and never against it.
People like this Joe Stack in Austin don't understand what it is to act as an American should act. Violence should always be the last resort, and to drive a plane into a building full of innocent people is lunacy. I question if that makes him any different than the terrorists of 9/11. One lone nut job versus a terrorist organization, and with different motivations, but they both expected to use terror to achieve their goals. This is not the way a Republic works. We will meet our opponents at the voting booths.
And we will meet you there, congressmen and senators. We will end your career if that is what you deserve. No one is immune to the people's will, and we will keep our Republic safe from the irresponsible spending and uncaring attitude that has been spreading through Washington DC for far too long. We will vote you out if you have not been faithful. You will return home, you Harry Reids and Chet Edwards, knowing that you have been denied your power by those who truly hold power in this country: the American people.
Today, 20 February 2010, the citizens of Waco and the cities surrounding met in the Palladium in downtown Waco along with many officials running for different offices. There's no question in the Tea Party's mind that Chet Edwards, democrat congressman for District 17, must go in the November elections, but our fine hosts treated us to a panel today consisting of Dave McIntyre, Chuck Wilson, Timothy Delasandro, and Bill Flores. Rob Curnock, Edward's opponent in the last election, decided to skip out early in hopes that he could appoint one the men at his table to answer the questions for him. Neither Curnock or his stand-in were on stage today.
Brilliant speakers like Michael Sullivan, Michael Simon (Waco Tea Party's own webmaster and co-founder), Deborah Johns (who went head against Cindy Shehan in Crawford and has been touring with the Tea Party Express), and Ann Mazone were there today. I was very honored to be asked to give a short testimonial speech as well along with several others. Joe the Plumber also made a guest appearance and speech.
Now, some of the media has been trying to link this mad man in Austin, Texas to the Tea Parties. I have been to Waco Tea Parties before and work as closely as time permits with them, and I can say from personal experience that this is absurd. The people that were in that building today care deeply for their country, and we hope to pull it out of the hole that Obama has launched us into. This country is ours to keep, and We The People have a right and a duty to keep her and to even restore her if necessary. I grew up in a family that loved to discuss politics, but rarely have we been as active as we have been within the last year. America is waking up, echoing Toby's favorite shout of "Wake up Waco!" and we're frustrated, we're angry, and we're struggling to gain control of a country spiraling dangerously out of control. We are anything but this deranged man that flew a plane into an IRS building.
Thomas Jefferson wrote in our Declaration, "… that to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed; that whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it, and to institute a new government." I think it's high time that we start altering this government with our votes. Pelosi's lapdogs like Chet Edwards will be voted out in November, and we will replace him with a man willing to do his job. We expect our congressmen to vote with the Constitution, and never against it.
People like this Joe Stack in Austin don't understand what it is to act as an American should act. Violence should always be the last resort, and to drive a plane into a building full of innocent people is lunacy. I question if that makes him any different than the terrorists of 9/11. One lone nut job versus a terrorist organization, and with different motivations, but they both expected to use terror to achieve their goals. This is not the way a Republic works. We will meet our opponents at the voting booths.
And we will meet you there, congressmen and senators. We will end your career if that is what you deserve. No one is immune to the people's will, and we will keep our Republic safe from the irresponsible spending and uncaring attitude that has been spreading through Washington DC for far too long. We will vote you out if you have not been faithful. You will return home, you Harry Reids and Chet Edwards, knowing that you have been denied your power by those who truly hold power in this country: the American people.
Saturday, January 23, 2010
In Memory of Danny Pearl
Several years ago, back in high school, I was a student in an independent studies class, where we picked our own topic to study, were mentored by someone in that field, and produced a Portfolio in the first semester, and then a Product the second semester (i.e. as a writing student I wrote a book, one kid composed a small symphony, etc.).
Part of the ISM program was toastmasters, and one of the speeches we had to give was a "Make Me Care" speech, where we had to, like the name suggests, make our audience care about whatever we were talking about.
I have to admit those were some very powerful speeches my classmates gave. We had a rule, what happens in ISM stays in ISM, so we never talk about all those things to anyone else. But this posting is my own speech, and it's about a topic I share with everyone I meet, not just the ISMites, so I thought I would share it with you today.
I first gave this speech in December, 2006. Why am I only posting this now, more than 3 years after I gave the speech?
I guess it's because the time is right. Because it was on this day 8 years ago, that Danny Pearl, the man I talk about in the speech, was kidnapped, and because his killer, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, who was also involved in the 9/11 attacks, is being tried in CIVILIAN COURT. Not tried as the War Criminal, that he is.
Why is that? Well, because apparently some idiots decided waterboarding was a good way to get answers, and now KSM's confessions are supposedly not good enough (considering how proud he sounded of confessing Danny's murder I'd say it was every bit legitimate, though I do not condone the use of torture).
And now, because the American people are so clueless and divided, justice could be hindered by technicalities. It breaks my heart to see how short the memory of the American people is.
So I post this as a reminder. In memory of Danny Pearl, and of those lost on 9/11.
Let us not hate those guilty of their murders, but let us at least serve justice to their memories, or we risk letting history repeat itself.
Here is the speech:
We're all humans here. And humans have emotions, right? Right.
Let's focus on one in particular for a second. How many of you have something or have had something-or someone even-that you absolutely hated? You just couldn't STAND this person or thing or school assignment, whatever. Even now you feel sick thinking about it, right?
Now we've established that…I want to tell you a story.
This story is about a man named Daniel Pearl. You may remember him, you may not. It has been nearly four (now 8) years since he turned my world upside down.
Danny was a journalist, a musician, a comedian, and a family man. To know Danny was to know joy, because while yes, he did have his moments like everyone does, he was almost always ready to make you smile. His view of life was so different from the average man. He loved life and embraced it. He was passionate and alive, caring for everything and everyone, and always ready to help.
Danny was, in early 2002, kidnapped in Karachi, Pakistan. I will never forget those following weeks, or the day I walked into my homeroom, in seventh grade, and saw him on the cover our little news magazine.
The picture even now wrenches me. Danny was crouched down against a wall, head bowed, his hands chained in front of him, under a headline that said "Kidnapped: Journalists Under Attack."
My childhood, my innocence, that had somehow staggered past the horrors of 9/11, finally died then and there. I had never seen a picture like that before and understood it was REAL. I finally realized this was REALLY happening. And for the first time in my life, I was afraid, terrified. I don't like admitting that the terrorists were able to scare me, but I was.
I learned that Danny had been slaughtered mercilessly some days later while I watched the winter Olympics. I wanted to know why he was killed, how the man we all adored so could be allowed to suffer so horribly and die alone.
I know why now though.
HATE.
Danny's killers were Jihadi terrorists. They killed Danny because they hated him-not for who he was, but what he was. Danny was American. He was Jewish, and he probably in all likelihood-being a journalist-knew more about them than they liked to admit.
After they killed him they took out their hate even more. When his body was finally found four months later it was cut into ten pieces, stuffed into plastic bags, and left under mere inches of soil to rot.They thought they were making an example of Danny. They wanted to make us afraid. They thought nothing of his wife, the son he never got to meet, his parents, his friends, even strangers whom he touched.
I was thirteen years old and though I hid it well I look back and see that I was probably quite insane for a long time. The day I finally understood Danny was gone, I felt this ripping, screaming, bleeding hole in my very soul. I lost a lot of who I was that day, and never got it back. This book (At Home in the World) I have with me today was what I used to calm myself, pressing it against the pain, reading it over and over again just to know that the world hadn't entirely lost such a great being.
But I'd begin to see something else coming out of the hate crime that nearly destroyed me and so many others. Something else that would, in all irony, save us, and bring us out of the darkness anew.
The LOVE.
What they didn't tell us on the news I found for myself over the next several years. To make sense of what had happened to them Danny's parents and friends began working overtime to prevent the hate from spreading. That's what the terrorists want, they said. They want us to hate and fear-which is what they do. But we won't.
The same year, on what would have been Danny's 39th birthday the first Daniel Pearl Music Day was held, and has been every year since. The music days celebrate Danny's love of music as well as his caring for all people. Musicians from all walks of life all around the world perform on the same nights, connecting to each other in their music, and in their desire to understand each other instead of hating. I wrote a song myself and played it to his mum over the phone this past October.
Danny's father Judea began dialogues with a Muslim named Akbar Ahmed, and the two of them put all the issues in the world into a simple and neat solution that would be so absurdly simple to reach if only we'd all stop hating each other.
But that's the key.The hating.I don't know what you guys hate. I don't know where your wrath and annoyance is directed to, but I know this: Hate kills. It kills the people haters victimize just as it kills the haters themselves.I doubt any of you would even think of taking a knife to your ex's throat or chopping your ISM portfolios to pieces-ok scratch the last-but I do want you to make an effort to stop hating needlessly, for your sake as well as others.
Look at Danny's face, now, and remember it. This picture was taken on Danny's wedding day. A day when love and joy was etched into every line, every curve of his face. When you feel that painful boiling in your chest, look for that smile he has in your heart, and LOVE.
http://www.danielpearl.org/
Danny:
Part of the ISM program was toastmasters, and one of the speeches we had to give was a "Make Me Care" speech, where we had to, like the name suggests, make our audience care about whatever we were talking about.
I have to admit those were some very powerful speeches my classmates gave. We had a rule, what happens in ISM stays in ISM, so we never talk about all those things to anyone else. But this posting is my own speech, and it's about a topic I share with everyone I meet, not just the ISMites, so I thought I would share it with you today.
I first gave this speech in December, 2006. Why am I only posting this now, more than 3 years after I gave the speech?
I guess it's because the time is right. Because it was on this day 8 years ago, that Danny Pearl, the man I talk about in the speech, was kidnapped, and because his killer, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, who was also involved in the 9/11 attacks, is being tried in CIVILIAN COURT. Not tried as the War Criminal, that he is.
Why is that? Well, because apparently some idiots decided waterboarding was a good way to get answers, and now KSM's confessions are supposedly not good enough (considering how proud he sounded of confessing Danny's murder I'd say it was every bit legitimate, though I do not condone the use of torture).
And now, because the American people are so clueless and divided, justice could be hindered by technicalities. It breaks my heart to see how short the memory of the American people is.
So I post this as a reminder. In memory of Danny Pearl, and of those lost on 9/11.
Let us not hate those guilty of their murders, but let us at least serve justice to their memories, or we risk letting history repeat itself.
Here is the speech:
We're all humans here. And humans have emotions, right? Right.
Let's focus on one in particular for a second. How many of you have something or have had something-or someone even-that you absolutely hated? You just couldn't STAND this person or thing or school assignment, whatever. Even now you feel sick thinking about it, right?
Now we've established that…I want to tell you a story.
This story is about a man named Daniel Pearl. You may remember him, you may not. It has been nearly four (now 8) years since he turned my world upside down.
Danny was a journalist, a musician, a comedian, and a family man. To know Danny was to know joy, because while yes, he did have his moments like everyone does, he was almost always ready to make you smile. His view of life was so different from the average man. He loved life and embraced it. He was passionate and alive, caring for everything and everyone, and always ready to help.
Danny was, in early 2002, kidnapped in Karachi, Pakistan. I will never forget those following weeks, or the day I walked into my homeroom, in seventh grade, and saw him on the cover our little news magazine.
The picture even now wrenches me. Danny was crouched down against a wall, head bowed, his hands chained in front of him, under a headline that said "Kidnapped: Journalists Under Attack."
My childhood, my innocence, that had somehow staggered past the horrors of 9/11, finally died then and there. I had never seen a picture like that before and understood it was REAL. I finally realized this was REALLY happening. And for the first time in my life, I was afraid, terrified. I don't like admitting that the terrorists were able to scare me, but I was.
I learned that Danny had been slaughtered mercilessly some days later while I watched the winter Olympics. I wanted to know why he was killed, how the man we all adored so could be allowed to suffer so horribly and die alone.
I know why now though.
HATE.
Danny's killers were Jihadi terrorists. They killed Danny because they hated him-not for who he was, but what he was. Danny was American. He was Jewish, and he probably in all likelihood-being a journalist-knew more about them than they liked to admit.
After they killed him they took out their hate even more. When his body was finally found four months later it was cut into ten pieces, stuffed into plastic bags, and left under mere inches of soil to rot.They thought they were making an example of Danny. They wanted to make us afraid. They thought nothing of his wife, the son he never got to meet, his parents, his friends, even strangers whom he touched.
I was thirteen years old and though I hid it well I look back and see that I was probably quite insane for a long time. The day I finally understood Danny was gone, I felt this ripping, screaming, bleeding hole in my very soul. I lost a lot of who I was that day, and never got it back. This book (At Home in the World) I have with me today was what I used to calm myself, pressing it against the pain, reading it over and over again just to know that the world hadn't entirely lost such a great being.
But I'd begin to see something else coming out of the hate crime that nearly destroyed me and so many others. Something else that would, in all irony, save us, and bring us out of the darkness anew.
The LOVE.
What they didn't tell us on the news I found for myself over the next several years. To make sense of what had happened to them Danny's parents and friends began working overtime to prevent the hate from spreading. That's what the terrorists want, they said. They want us to hate and fear-which is what they do. But we won't.
The same year, on what would have been Danny's 39th birthday the first Daniel Pearl Music Day was held, and has been every year since. The music days celebrate Danny's love of music as well as his caring for all people. Musicians from all walks of life all around the world perform on the same nights, connecting to each other in their music, and in their desire to understand each other instead of hating. I wrote a song myself and played it to his mum over the phone this past October.
Danny's father Judea began dialogues with a Muslim named Akbar Ahmed, and the two of them put all the issues in the world into a simple and neat solution that would be so absurdly simple to reach if only we'd all stop hating each other.
But that's the key.The hating.I don't know what you guys hate. I don't know where your wrath and annoyance is directed to, but I know this: Hate kills. It kills the people haters victimize just as it kills the haters themselves.I doubt any of you would even think of taking a knife to your ex's throat or chopping your ISM portfolios to pieces-ok scratch the last-but I do want you to make an effort to stop hating needlessly, for your sake as well as others.
Look at Danny's face, now, and remember it. This picture was taken on Danny's wedding day. A day when love and joy was etched into every line, every curve of his face. When you feel that painful boiling in your chest, look for that smile he has in your heart, and LOVE.
http://www.danielpearl.org/
Danny:
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
Yes, WE are the patriotic Americans.
Is it bad form to call conservatives the patriotic Americans? Sarah Palin was mauled in the media and blogosphere for this insinuation during the general election:
"We believe that the best of America is in these small towns that we get to visit, and in these wonderful little pockets of what I call the real America, being here with all of you hard working very patriotic, pro-America areas of this great nation. This is where we find the kindness and the goodness and the courage of everyday Americans. Those who are running our factories and teaching our kids and growing our food and are fighting our wars for us. Those who are protecting us in uniform. Those who are protecting the virtues of freedom."
Politically, this was probably not the best choice of words; candidates running for office during a general election need to make the broadest appeal manageable for support.
Taken outside of that context, however, the change in rhetoric among conservatives is probably warranted, and a long time in coming. The left have generally given themselves all license to redefine terms and shift the language of a debate when facts alone couldn't produce a decisive political victory. Granted, it's not a practice that's unique to the left; nor is it unique to our time: "Anti-federalist" was coined by Alexander Hamilton and James Madison in their effort to discredit opponents of constitutional federalism.
But much of what passes for "acceptably-neutral" language in the press and professional culture has decidedly been shaped more by left wing politics than any genuine concern for maintaining ideological neutrality. Why, for example, are pro-life activists consistently named "anti-abortion rights" protesters in the Associated Press? Perhaps it's done for the same reason why editors of Time magazine dubbed California's Proposition 8 supporters "anti-equal rights" activists (Proposition 8, as you may know, was California's ballot initiative which preserved the state's definition of marriage as a union between one man and one woman).
A much-older, but ongoing example of the left's hijacking of language is the use of "progressive" to describe their political philosophy; implying, of course, that all contrary viewpoints must be ipso facto "regressive," or at least a stagnant hindrance in their crusade against inequality in all its forms. Does anyone honestly believe this effect was accidental?
Given the way the "progressive" label continues to exclude conservative views, and the brazen language shifts that have occurred over the years, no conservative should ever feel embarrassed to claim ownership of an adjective the Left have refused to wear proudly when their country needed it most: that of a proud, and Patriotic American.
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