Reply #28: Hey, disgruntella! Do NOT feel bad. [View All]

[calimary]

"Looking back, knowing that my "gut feelings" of opposition were justified by the facts, I wish I would have done more."

Dahlink, you DID. You started to read. You started to research and seek out other views than just the mainstream, biased ones. You did do more. Certainly FAR more than the average schmuck who lives by the word of Rush or Hannity or O'Reilly or one of those human holes. You cared enough to get off your duff and seek out the truth. That's a LOT. Especially in those times when apathy and futility and desolation were the watchwords of the day. When we against the war were being flipped off and denounced and demonized and sneered at and called names. It was hard to be at some of those early protests. I saw it for myself. Sometimes I felt very alone. Sometimes I actually wondered if my reading of the situation was correct and whether I'd be justified. One of those things where, for the sake of the troops, you almost hope you're wrong about something and that the "cakewalk" sales pitch and the jingoistic patriotic wave-the-flag-and-wrap-yourself-in-it crap would really prove to be true. We all know what happened.

Don't dump on yourself because you didn't do more. You did what you could. Hell, you did more than most of 'em did. And you have nothing to be ashamed of. You educated yourself and became more firm in your convictions. You sought out the truth and girded yourself with it. Those who still blindly follow are just that - blind. To be informed is EVERYTHING. And to be informed you can't just sit back and wait to be spoonfed. Until recently we haven't even had a single person in the media speaking out (except maybe Paul Krugman). Now, at least, a few appear to be waking up. Think how far ahead of the curve YOU are!

What you can do is continue to keep yourself informed. Be watchful. Be vigilant. In the Harry Potter books, there comes a character called Mad-Eye Moody. He's a wild-and-wooly wizard who, from the looks of him, has been through more than a few serious magical conflicts and confrontations. He winds up, I think in the fourth book, as the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher at Hogwarts, the witchcraft and wizarding school Harry Potter attends. He teaches his students stuff that's rather advanced, to say the least, and tells them some pretty serious and sometimes frightening truths. Some people object, saying it's not appropriate for the youngsters or that it's too scary and too out there. But, considering what ol' Mad-Eye knows is out there that they'll eventually have to face and do battle with, he admonishes them repeatedly: "CONSTANT VIGILANCE!" And "you've GOT to KNOW!!!" I kinda feel like I'm Mad-Eye Moody with my kids and some of my friends. CONSTANT VIGILANCE! You ABSOLUTELY HAVE GOT TO KNOW!" It's a MOST fitting and appropriate metaphor for what we're going through here in America right now.

And you do.