Incredible Faith? Hmm...I think for me it's a case of Faint Hope. In
fact, after listening to as much of Donald Trump's rant this
morning,as much as I was able to do, accompanied with the howls and
cheers of the Loyal Believers, I would say that it is more like Hope
Deferred.
But hope is hope, and as long as there is even a faint smudge, it can
be coaxed to life again.
I remember when I was around 12 years of age, making a vow to myself
that I would never become part of the American Communist Party. The
thought of these humorless, strict disciplinarians, who demanded both
loyalty and observance to the letter of Marx as they knew it to be
true, were not people I wanted in leadership roles. But they would
sit around and talk about, "After the Revolution", and dream about the
top jobs awaiting them.
While I never allowed myself to become that involved in the Democratic
Party, I did give considerable time to toiling in the field. But then
came blindness and the NFB, and I got myself suckered into exactly the
same situation that I had vowed never to allow the American Communist
Party to draw me into.
And oh yes, prior to blindness, I had made a conscious effort to
connect with God Almighty.
In all three situations, the Democratic Party, being Born Again and
Baptized in the Holy Spirit, and the NFB, in all three I came to
understand that I was not expected to think for myself. I was
expected to embrace the beliefs of leaders much wiser than I. And I
was to follow and spread the word, according to the word that was
handed to me.
The bad news is that, by declaring myself a "Free Spirit", any
effectiveness I might have is nullified simply if for no other reason
than the lack of numbers. It's hard to think of a conference of Free
Thinkers trying to organize an organization. As surely as I express
the sort of basic philosophy I believe we should adopt, dozens of
folks would spring to their feet with dozens of differing
philosophies.
So if anyone out there knows of an organization whose members are not
afraid of having their beliefs challenged by other members who are not
afraid of having their beliefs challenged, please let me know.
Carl Jarvis
On 4/30/17, Carl Jarvis <carjar82@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
On 4/30/17, Carl Jarvis <carjar82@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Good Sunday morning, Bonnie and All.
Although I did spend years as a member of the Democratic Party, not
the Democrat Party, and served as precinct committee person back in
the days when we were Committeemen, and worked within the Party trying
to keep it as an open, member driven Party, , after years of token
membership I tossed in the towel after the DNC and the Super Delegates
and the Party leaders all finished roasting Bernie Sanders and giving
us what amounted to Left Overs in Hillary Clinton.
We are privileged to be living in a time of great change. Well,
privileged unless we are in the growing portion of humanity living in
abject poverty. But we are witnessing the changing of the guard, the
end of Capitalism and the potential of a People's World. My personal
fantasy would be a world with no national boundaries. A world where
all people have a voice in governing themselves. A world where we
humans truly become the caretakers of Mother Earth. A world that no
longer has greed driven power hungry people making war upon one
another.
Well, that's a partial list, but you get the idea. As long as we, the
People, allow ourselves to be turned against one another, and Trump is
doing a wonderful job of this, we will be headed for extinction. And
with us, the entire planet as we know it.
Carl Jarvis
On 4/29/17, Bonnie L. Sherrell <blslarner@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
What comes top-down is brown and smelly, Carl? That is putting it
mildly.
I
cannot for the life of me figure out why people like Ronald Reagan, Dan
Quayle,
Sarah Palin, Bush Lite, much less Trump so invigorate the minds of the
Republican Party they'd even imagine them as Presidential material. As
I've
said before, the far right has so overrun Republican ideology I left the
party I
grew up within with few regrets. They have no room for intelligence or
intellectualism, and see progressives and moderates as being the
equivalents
of
Communists. Not that they understand the reality of what Communism and
Socialism were ever supposed to be.
Bonnie L. Sherrell
Teacher at Large
"Then do not be too eager to deal out death in judgement. For even the
very
wise cannot see all ends." LOTR
"Don't go where I can't follow."
We gave the Goblin King control of our nation!
