I have strong opinions -- as do many people. But learning when to take action and when to hold peace -- that is an art which I'm still working to master. Basically the problem is that I'm often afraid to do anything and act on my opinions about a thing. Case in point is this blog and my efforts to be involved in "talking on the internet." The past few weeks I've been discussing the issue of torture, rendering, and other abuses of human rights here and at the yahoogroup. Specifically this post:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/buddhist_dialogue_group/message/29078. It wasn't my best post ever, there were two grammatical errors and one major typo within it. I should have proofed it before sending it. But I did send it. I also sent a copy to the author I was critiquing. When I saw the grammar errors I was horrorized....
But the nice thing is that he read my letter to him, and he responded graciously. I hope I'm not being rude by telling this story. He didn't make me feel like I was talking to a star at all -- but a fellow human being. I'm not saying this was a touch of greatness. Far from it. We all should be writing these people. Not just pundits, but politicians and others. I don't know where my courage went to. I've got to get it back. Maybe he has helped me do that. I'm greatful.
If we are going to make a difference in the long run, we do have to summon up the courage to talk to these people. They won't always respond so graciously, but if we do present even halfway intelligent ideas sooner or later they may get noticed. That may be the best we ordinary citizens can do, but it is part of living in democracy. One has to act like one does and not let other folks decide that one no longer does. It's like climbing steps. If one tries to jump to the next floor it's impossible. But with steps one can climb to the top one foot at a time. We can make a better country that way.
And the key point of that post:
"The issue isn't really whether the CIA is deporting people for questioning, but how they are doing it and what is being done to those people and how much responsibility the CIA bears for what happens to them."
I hope that at least some people in the CIA or it's Congressional Overseers are thinking about that.
Chris
Posted by cholte at March 10, 2005 04:39 AM