kagablog

“To be hopeful in bad times is not just foolishly romantic. It is
based on the fact that human history is a history not only of cruelty,
but also of compassion, sacrifice, courage, kindness.
What we choose to emphasize in this complex history will determine our
lives. If we see only the worst, it destroys our capacity to do
something. If we remember those times and places – and there are so
many – where people have behaved magnificently, this gives us the
energy to act, and at least the possibility of sending this spinning
top of a world in a different direction.
And if we do act, in however small a way, we don’t have to wait for
some grand utopian future. The future is an infinite succession of
presents, and to live now as we think human beings should live, in
defiance of all that is bad around us, is itself a marvelous
victory…

“… The challenge remains. On the other side are formidable forces:
money, political power, the major media. On our side are the people of
the world and a power greater than money or weapons: the truth.
Truth has a power of its own. Art has a power of its own. That age-old
lesson – that everything we do matters – is the meaning of the
people’s struggle here in the United States and everywhere. A poem can
inspire a movement. A pamphlet can spark a revolution. Civil
disobedience can arouse people and provoke us to think, when we
organize with one another, when we get involved, when we stand up and
speak out together, we can create a power no government can suppress.
We live in a beautiful country. But people who have no respect for
human life, freedom, or justice have taken it over. It is now up to
all of us to take it back.”

~ Howard Zinn