We Use Our Gifts To Bring The Dream And Restore Democracy

[omega minimo]

“I refuse to accept the view that mankind is so tragically bound to the starless midnight of racism and war that the bright daybreak of peace and brotherhood can never become a reality... I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. This is why right, temporarily defeated, is stronger than evil triumphant.” --Martin Luther King, Jr.

Let’s use our gifts/talents/intelligence/dreams to bring peace, verify elections and restore democracy. Let’s use DU to do that.

Let’s remember that we are privileged to have this opportunity to reach out and speak out. Let’s not be afraid to be constructive. Let’s not fall for the Repubully lie that we are weak or ineffectual if we listen to each other rather than bicker like dittoheads, following the lying leader like demented lemmings.

“The hope of a secure and livable world lies with disciplined nonconformists who are dedicated to justice, peace and brotherhood.”

The subject of our gifts, talent and intelligence is resonating right now, with a call for community of those who were labeled special and then offered, not guidance, but ostracism.. A few decades ago, the testing, studies and paltry programs were going on side by side with an historic integration of America’s public schools, with a residual 1950’s embarrassment at being anything other than conformist and “normal.”

“Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.”

No one wants to be limited, excluded or stigmatized because of labels. And yet we do it all the time. We react to buzzwords, we respond to slogans, we embrace the Holy Grail of “framing” because it worked so well for the (lying, scheming, deceptive) Repubullies, we broadcast a new meme as the bumpersticker that will finally wake up the American people!

“One of the greatest casualties of the war in Vietnam is the Great Society... shot down on the battlefield of Vietnam.”

Another thing we have in common is our ability to dream. We are living in a nightmare. Even so, ours is a more comfortable nightmare than those being lived right now across the globe, due to government actions perpetrated in our name.

Do we have the courage to use our gifts, talents and intelligence to bring peace, verify elections and restore our democracy?

Do we have the determination to dream a new Dream and end the Nightmare?



“Put yourself in a state of mind where you say to yourself, "Here is an opportunity for me to celebrate like never before, my own power, my own ability to get myself to do whatever is necessary."


“Human salvation lies in the hands of the creatively maladjusted.”

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We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of Now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God's children.
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Let us not wallow in the valley of despair, I say to you today, my friends.

And so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal."

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

I have a dream today!
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With this faith, we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith, we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith, we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.



All quotes MLK. Thanks to mopinko and undergroundpanther for starting a revolt of the creatively maladjusted. :thumbsup: :grouphug:

[ninkasi]

1. We need a leader like him today

although I'm afraid that I won't live to see his equal again in my lifetime. Compare his words, and his vision, with what we are burdened with today, in a president who is more concerned with a pig than all out warfare in the Mideast.

How low we have fallen in the last 38 years. How sad that our Founding Fathers gave us a document that should have enabled us to have a peaceful, prosperous society, had it not been slashed to ribbons by the corrupt, arrogant men who are in charge today.

[omega minimo]

2. We. Have. To. Do. It. Ourselves.

Thank you for your reply but it is frustrating that people are hogtied waiting for "A Leader" and the point of the OP I guess is too obscure.

:toast:

[omega minimo]

3. I'm sorry that peace and freedom are not sexy and controversial

Being hogtied is SO much more entertaining....................................

[omega minimo]

4. "Group declined" Okay now can we talk about what we do with our gifts?

:kick:

[omega minimo]

5. ...or not...................

"With this faith, we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith, we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith, we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day."


:hi:

[ninkasi]

6. Omega minimo

Yours was a thoughtful and intelligent post. When I commented about needing a leader like MLK today, I know that we must do all we can ourselves to make democracy work. However, no matter how many of us crave to restore our Constitutional rights, or to have an open and free society again, the reality is that we must choose someone to lead.

Hundreds of thousands of us can be of one mind, but when it comes down to it, all that we can do is demand our rights, and only vote for people who will implement our wishes. I hope that the time is near for that, because we have fallen so far from the intent of the Founding Fathers that I doubt they would recognize the country they fashioned for us so many years ago.

The problem in my opinion is that while so many of us have made our opinions known on forums like DU, too many of our Democratic politicians are too timid to carry out our wishes. I can't see why they hold back, with Bush's polling numbers so bad, but they do. Thank you for your thoughtful post. I hope more people read it, and respond.

[omega minimo]

9. A leader like MLK a public full of Rosa Parkses..........

:hi: :bounce:

"I hope that the time is near for that, because we have fallen so far from the intent of the Founding Fathers that I doubt they would recognize the country they fashioned for us so many years ago."

They would kick us in the ass. We The People are hamsters running in wheels. That's why I answered #1 with some "frustration." We are lame.

Thanks for coming back!

[ninkasi]

10. Well, I'm disappointed that this post

didn't get a much bigger reaction. Reading the quotes, and your comments, were deeply moving to me. They came across as a wake-up call. We have the tools, we just need to learn to use them. Posts like yours make me think about how to use whatever power I have at my disposal.

It puzzles me sometimes, how great posts are ignored, and some that I think are trivial garner a huge response. Just goes to show you how much I know, doesn't it? Anyway, thanks again for what I consider a great post.

[omega minimo]

11. So many memes, so little time...

:eyes: Controversy is more exCITing than getting off the hamster wheel.

So glad the OP resonated with you. Thanks.

[EFerrari]

7. Shhhhhhh!

:grouphug:

[omega minimo]

8. bppppffffff!

:spray: :toast: :yoiks: