"Be the Change You Want to See ..."

Whenever possible I like to spin my blog comments off messages sent to me by friends. It cuts the chance of running on with subjects no one else cares about.
Early in the morning Monday a friend sent an e-mail, subject line: “Gonzales.” It turned out to be an online NY Times article. Breaking news: “Embattled Attorney General Resigns.” I knew my friend wasn’t shedding tears.
Also yesterday, an e-mail from one of my pastors, Esther Robinson—a forward of info on our local celebration of “International Day of Peace,” scheduled annually for Sept. 21. We’re meeting in a local park for a night of interfaith prayer, meditation and music of the harp and flute, along with the beating of peace drums.
It would be easy enough to draw a link between the peace drum and Gonzales succumbing to a drumbeat of criticism, his sins including involvement with the President in reversing the tide of civilization regarding the treatment of people in our physical custody. In law enforcement they use the phrase, “care and custody,” but with the help of Gonzales’ legal sophistry Bush managed to eliminate the concept of “care.” If you’re in our custody, we don’t care about the rules. “We’ll tell you the rules.”
It would be easy enough, but the truth is Gonzales is just another enabler in all this, and in a smaller way so are we all. These guys in the White House—the President’s MBA aside—run the country more like the mob that a Fortune 500 company. These are action guys and people like that. If they need something done, they don’t ask, “can we?” They just do it. And as Gonzales was helping rewrite Geneva the voices in opposition simply weren’t being heard.
The United Nations established the International Day of Peace in 1981, and calls for a cease-fire in all wars worldwide that day. The purpose is to “encourage peace and non-violence” and to help build “Cultures of Peace.” The e-mail included a quote from Gandhi that helps explain how to reach that difficult summit: “Be the change you wish to see in the world,” Gandhi said. It really is that simple. We can’t afford to have our voices go unheard any longer.