Shooting in the Dark

This was suggested in a post over at the Democracy Cell Project. I think it is very fitting, and I know that the DCP would not mind my extending this thought and action over here.

Following is the post at the DCP blog:

Election 2006
The other night, at a 30-year retrospective for the Liz Lerman Dance Company, Peter DiMuro, her Artistic Director, stepped forward and led the audience through a movement exploration around the issue of genocide. The last gesture in the series we came up with was one in which we wrote the initials of someone who had stood up for us on our palms.

Then we took the initials and gave the hand gesture to the rest of the audience. It was moving and lovely and I had no trouble thinking of whose initials belonged inside that movement.

And tonight I went to the Vietnam Memorial to meet up with Cindy Sheehan and Ann Wright and others for a vigil. Cindy spoke about the hope we all have for tomorrow and for the end of this war, hopefully before the number of names surpass those on that wall.

She also pointed out that if we added the Iraqi names of those killed, the wall would be twelve times the size it is, and if we added the names of the Vietnamese killed, it would be double that.
Who stands up to genocide? Who speaks for those ghosts?

Tomorrow we vote, and it is a most important election, because it is surely our last chance to end this particular genocide. It may be the last chance to end the genocide of the planet.
And I know you all understand this and have already worked blessedly hard to get out the vote. But after you vote yourself, please take a moment to think about those who have lost lives for profiteering, those who have suffered under this administration, and vow to prevent these criminals from continuing with their program of callousnes and callowness.

Write the initials of someone who has stood against them on your hand and say thank you. And then pick up the phone and call your local organization and ask what small thing you can do to make the difference between despair and hope.

Everything counts on this day. Everything.

End

Tomorrow, as I go to the polls to vote, I will have the initials of two people written on the palm of each one of my hands. Both of these people have worked tirelessly over the past several years to prevent everything bad that has happened in America since the Bush victory in 2000 and 2004, and yet despite the setbacks, neither of them have ever given up, in fact each of them began working towards this election the day after the 2004 election, and they have never, ever stopped.

May tomorrow bring each of them victory.

Posted by Squib aka TwistedOreo on Monday, November 06, 2006 at 10:03 PM | Permalink