If these issues matter to you, I encourage you to explore the links on the left - between Moveon.org, the ONE Campaign, the HUman Rights Council, and TrueMajority, it's easier than ever to share your opinions with the people who represent you from the local level all the way up to the federal government. Why not?

On weekends, if I'm not gallivanting around the world or the neighborhood, I usually putter about the house with the TV on, tuned to one of Chicago's local PBS stations (there are several). Through this, I have become familiar with the excellent Dawn French and the subtly hilarious "Vicar of Dibley." I happened to catch an episode recently that was surprisingly heart-wrenching, and tied in to some of the issues that have been unceasingly on my mind these days (not to mention was connected to the ONE campaign that has become one of my own pet causes). One of the characters, a stuttering, leering lush, summed it up so perfectly that I swear I heard my heart crack just a little:

"No more children dying when we know how to stop it. No more excuses. No more."

Playlist of the day:

"Talking About a Revolution" - Tracy Chapman
"A Hard Rain's Gonna Fall" - Jason Mraz covering Bob Dylan
"Long Way Around" - Dixie Chicks
"Offer" - Alanis Morissette
"Union" - Black Eyed Peas with Sting
"Letter to Eve" - Indigo Girls covering Pete Seeger
"Mosh" - Eminem
"Gone" - Jack Johnson
"Dear Mr. President" - P!nk
"Giant" - Melissa Etheridge
"Which Way Are You Going" - Jim Croce

As one might guess, I'm feeling a little political today. All right, all right, moreso than usual. It's just that this world is so unfair, and the people who can do something about it so often don't want to....and the people who want to often are unable to.

Meanwhile, Congress and the President are wasting fucking time and energy on banning same sex marriage...I am revolted by the mindset that prioritizes this over peace in the Middle East, fighting poverty and hunger and disease in Africa, helping refugees from tsunamis and earthquakes and hurricanes all over the world. How can these people claim to follow Jesus, and yet ignore his message so willfully? I don't believe he was the Messiah, I don't believe that following his teachings will get me to heaven....and I still think his message is worth listening to, and his example worth following. I'm pretty sure he never said "condemn the homosexuals...and ignore the poor, war-torn, disease-ridden, and starving."

I am tormented by my need to DO something to help all of the people in the world who don't have the blessings I do. I spend so much time every day struggling against the guilt of the opportunities I have stumbled into by nothing more than an accident of birth. I literally choke up thinking about it, and wish I had more time and energy and money and power to help...but am having trouble making space in with the day job and the music and everything else I think I need to hold onto.

I cannot understand how those whose JOB it is to make the world a better place, who literally get PAID to make life safer and more secure....I don't understand how they aren't getting more done. It is mind-boggling.

Sorry to beat a dead horse. It's where I am.

Recent entries...
27 December 2007: 2007: Finis.
17 December 2007: A ruse, a rant, and a poem. It's short.
11 December 2007: Music & falling....story of my life.
08 December 2007: Briefly...ish.
29 November 2007: A poem, a rant, a lesson.