Monica Benderman: Where Are We Going?

[babylonsister]

http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/13454

Where Are We Going?
by Monica Benderman | March 15, 2008 - 8:58am

snip//

There is work to be done to correct the wrongs. We know what is wrong – do you know what must be done to make it right?

There are seeds to be sown. We know what must grow – do you know what must be done to give it light?

There is a direction to be taken. We know the goal – do you know how to take the steps to move us closer?

Freedom needs momentum. Are you ready to move forward or will you choose to remain standing on the shrinking ground you have stood on for far too long?

Isn’t it time we moved on?

We need our voices – not rising as one, but rising as ALL.

We have our hands, our feet, our minds and our hearts – shouldn’t we be uniting, not as one, but as all? Shouldn’t we be using the strengths of our uniqueness, our individual minds, our different talents to join together, creating the movement forward our future requires.

We are the hope. Do we show it by standing on an island shouting the words of dissent, waiting for others to do the work to make us free? Or shall we be that hope by realizing we are free already, embracing that freedom and using it wisely.

Look around, that shrinking ground you are standing on is not yet an island. We have a choice; to remember our abilities and use our hands, our feet, our minds and our hearts to live, to do, to be the change we need.

Shouldn't we be looking back less and ahead more? The place for us is in front of us, and we are not going to get there waiting for someone else to take the first steps.

Will you dissent for freedom? Will we live freely, respecting the differences in others? Will we allow those differences to come together, working to create the community we are in danger of giving away if we do not step off the shrinking ground and move forward in a new direction?

When will we allow ourselves to be free?

_______

Monica is the wife of Sgt. Kevin Benderman, a ten-year Army veteran who served a combat tour in Iraq and a year in prison for his public protest of war and the destruction it causes to civilians and to American military personnel.