terrypurple73 | (no subject)

I know there are a lot of thoughts swarming around in my head about all the poverty discussions that have been abounding on LJ. But like I told Shannon, it's hard to get myself energized right now to get everything out coherently. So for now, I'm going to bring out the Catholic roots in me, and quote Daniel Berrigan's the trial of the catonsville nine, one of the best books that I'm in the middle of these days.
Fr. Berrigan says:

We have already made it clear our dissent runs counter
to more than the way, which is but one instance
of American power in the world
Latin America is another instance, so is the Near East
This trial is another
From those in power we have met
little understanding, much silence
much scorn and punishment
We have been accused of arrogance
But what of the fantastic arrogance of our leaders
What of the crimes against the people, the poor and powerless
Still no court will try them, no jail will receive them
They live in righteousness. They will die in honor.
For them we have one message, for those
in whose manicured hands the power of the land lies
We say to them
Lead us. Lead us in justice
and there will be no need to break the law
Let the President do what his predecessors failed to do
Let him obey the rich less and the people more
Let him think less of the privileged
and more of the poor
Less of America and more of the world
Let lawmakers, judges, and lawyers
think less of the law, more of justice
less of legal ritual, more of human rights
To our bishops and superiors we say
Learn something about the gospel
and something about illegitimate power
When you do, you will liquidate your investments
take a house in the slums, or even
join us in jail....

We talk a lot at my house about a concept we call the Emotions On/Off Switch. I was just mentioning it to Vince earlier today. It usually refers to our emotions regarding love lives, but it seems to be coming up on this whole topic of feeling passionately about issues in our lives. There's not agreed-upon idea of whether you should be able to do Emotions On/Off easily, just a lot of acknowledgment that it's tough, and people have different kinds of switches, and when someone's operates differently than yours does, well, that's hard.
I can't write any more right now. Like I said, there's a lot swimming in my head and gut about all this. I want to write about Oscar Romero's vision of the Kingdom, and about client right to self-determination, and about rights of all people, and about honesty, and about the why I think it's okay to use anecdotes to portray positive things, and about the passion I feel for the things I care about. What makes your heart tick? For me, it's the relationships.
"From those in power we have met
little understanding, much silence
much scorn and punishment
We have been accused of arrogance"