A Time To Reap~By William Rivers Pitt

[Crewleader]

A Time to Reap
By William Rivers Pitt
t r u t h o u t | Columnist

Wednesday 20 June 2007

My friend Dan was on his way home the other day, and found an American flag crumpled in a gutter outside his apartment building. The flag, perhaps as big as the cover of a book, had been used as a decoration for some pre-Fourth of July party, but afterwards was merely thrown aside like litter for the street-sweepers to collect.

Dan gathered it up, smoothed the creases, and hung it from a nearby railing. The motivation for his actions was hard for him to explain, but it came down to this: Everything else in America is so screwed up, but this American thing before him would not be defiled within reach of his arm. My friend, surrounded by the chaos of a flailing nation and filled with the need to act, found some solace in the rescue of that flag.

He is not alone in his sentiments, not alone in his desire to make things right again within reach of his arm.

There is something happening today in America. With the right kind of ears, you can hear it in the sound of millions of brows slowly furrowing in anger and disgust. It feels like those tense moments just before the eruption of a summer thunderstorm, those moments when the air is electric, the ozone reek of spent lightning fills the world, and you know something very loud is about to happen.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/062007A.shtml

[Spazito]

1. Excellent read, thanks for posting this

Recommended.

[Crewleader]

2. My pleasure Spazito and I agree with You!

The writer and I go way back...:hi:

[Hubert Flottz]

3. I feel it in the air too.

The sleeping Giant is waking up in a bad mood!

GTSY Crew!

[Crewleader]

6. Hello Hubert

You said it friend! And GTSY too! :hi:

[KoKo]

4. Pitt captures the mood, perfectly....n/t

[malaise]

5. Lovely article

Thank you.

[endarkenment]

7. Oh look: Will found his angry again!

Odd how it just keeps getting lost. Mine never gets lost. I have it on a chain, or maybe it has me on a chain.

[IChing]

8. LOL good one ................

yes he did......nominated thread.

[WilliamPitt]

9. It never gets lost

It just knows when to come out and play. No chains involved. Chains are for slaves.

[Vincardog]

10. Will nail's my mood exactly

[bleever]

11. This is prophetic of a long, hot, and angry summer

that is long overdue.

Excellent piece, Mr. Pitt.

[Crewleader]

12. to the top

:kick:

[KoKo]

13. Pitt Post...from the heart that speaks to many...good stuff....

[Crewleader]

15. Hi KoKo01

YES...from the heart that speaks to many...:hi:

[KoKo]

16. Hi Crew....glad to see you stopping by here....

long time ...no see! Hope you are well. :hi:

[Crewleader]

17. Surviving Best I can here in Florida.

Summers are always rough for me...I look forward to the day I can spend summers in New England. :-)

[WilliamPitt]

25. Is such a move under consideration?

Crew! The very same day you start spending summer up my way, you'll find a huge parade waiting for you outside the airport. :)

Thanks for posting this, my friend. :hug:

[Crewleader]

44. I almost missed this William.

My pleasure posting your writing William and you will be the first to know when I can enjoy summers up there. ;-)

[WilliamPitt]

46. I'll be waiting on the edge of my seat.

:)

Seriously, Crew, if I can be any help to you in this, let me know. I am available for recon missions to gather intel on potential towns of residence, houses, apartments, etc.

Best idea I've heard all year. :hug:

[Raksha]

14. K & R - Will really nailed it with this one!

A true insight: What is under attack in America today is PRECISELY the one indispensible thing that unites us as a nation. It's the one thing we can't lose if we are to remain a nation, and on some level we ALL know this.

[info being]

39. What's that?

I don't know.

[roamer65]

18. You reap what you sow.

This country has very difficult days ahead of it.

[GeorgeGist]

19. Some say that ...

the founding fathers rigged the Great American Experiment in Republican Democracy to favor elite white guys. And as any reputable scientist will tell you, rigged experiments are inevitably exposed as failures.

[Grandrose]

20. K & R

Thanks for posting...a great article!:) :kick:

[Crewleader]

21. Love your name Grandrose

[Grandrose]

22. Thank You!

Oh my...what a beautiful rose!:)

[Crewleader]

30. my pleasure Grandrose

:hi:

[Crewleader]

23. up you go

:dem:

[BeHereNow]

24. Perfect. Absolutely perfect.

I know this feeling.
Thank you Will, for putting it into words.
BHN:hug:

[BikeWriter]

26. Hold someone accountable today!

[lonestarnot]

31. Yes!

[BikeWriter]

32. Thank you, and please pass on the meme. :-)

[lonestarnot]

33. Going to hold Phil accountable for his support of McCain this a.m.

Even if I'm the only one there. LOL

[babylonsister]

27. Wonderful-thank you! nt

[Buns_of_Fire]

28. k&r. Will has taken the temperature of the majority of the electorate

and finds it, roiling, at that point just before full boil.

The bad thing (for the politicians) is that, even when the heat is turned off, it can still deliver some mighty nasty burns.

The good thing (hopefully) is that the heat will kill a large number of the germs and other assorted nasties.

[Mister Ed]

29. Very well written, sir K&R n/t

[lumberjack_jeff]

34. I doubt the noise will come from our now thoroughly dry powder.

Jesus Christ this pisses me off. Why are we waiting for the Republicans to do something about this bullshit?

Nancy. Harry. Here are your fucking pitchforks. The White House is the 2nd right and go to the end of the block. You can't miss it.

[Flying Dream Blues]

35. Excellent piece. I thought I felt as angry and betrayed as was

possible until I saw that the newly empowered Dems were just as bought and paid for as the Evil Empire. Now, my anger and betrayal know no bounds. I'm convinced we will need to throw the whole lot out to make a significant change in the direction of this country.

[chefgirl]

36. Good Call, Crew

Hello Friend! :) An excellent rec for a beautifully written article.

I truly hope, beyond all hope, that Mr.Pitt is correct, and that "something very loud is about to happen" , but I have to admit that my greatest sadness is that I can't agree.

Despite my best efforts to keep hoping Americans will finally wake up and correct this course we're on, before its too late, I've all but lost that particular faith.

We've become desensitized to all the lawlessness of the Bush administration. Its too much to take in, too painful to admit to ourselves what they've done to our once great nation.

Sadly, I think most Americans are just waiting till his term is up, mistakenly believing that once the little idiot is out of office, everything will magically return to normal in America, and this will have been just one, long, bad dream.

Most days all I can do is hang my head and watch the steamroller that's headed our way, and weep for how hard we've tried to illuminate how badly we've been played by our government, only to be met with monumental apathy.

Despite all that, however, I am thankful for writers like Will Pitt, with the fire in their souls, that might just some day tip the balance. I'm just finding it harder and harder to believe that will ever happen.

Thanks for posting this one, Crew.

-chef-

[Crewleader]

38. Hello chefgirl

Beautifully written, your post and most here and around the country would agree with you, including myself friend.

Since the start of DU and how we all came together here venting our frustrations and seeing our democracy not as strong as we all thought and seeing how the election was just taken from all of us as left us scarred. These years we've seen the deterioration in our society and how people are struggling to make ends meet. And not to have faith in our government which indeed have brought on the hardships to families across America, they intentionally forgot who they represented.

DU through the years have brought some wonderful insights from some great folks who tell it like it is, we got members here I am proud to stand with in our fight for better life's' for our families and friends.
I am amazed most of the members I welcomed here are the strongest voices and most dedicated, they are steady at it everyday, they all have my admiration and You certainly do chefgirl.

Thanks for posting...:hug:

And

Thank you William for writing with your heart, it stirs the emotions in all of us. :hug:

[info being]

37. I think your metaphore illustrates something else...

...the fact that such an action is meaningless and causes absolutely nothing to change...only to make that one guy feel better for the time being. Oh, and even if we could manage a thunderstorm...that's all it will be: something that blows over as quickly as it came.

[Mister Ed]

40. The thunderstorm could blow over...

...or it could turn out like that li'l storm they had down in New Orleans awhile back. There's just no telling.

[WilliamPitt]

47. Thank you for picking up on that

I wanted to leave the reader with the sense of the potential waiting out there...but the last few paragraphs were my attempt to make it clear that, without leadership or direction, the Becoming will be spent in random useless ways.

Nice pull (former English teacher, praising incisive analysis is in my DNA).

[WillyT]

41. Bravo Will !!! - And Thank You Crew !!! - K & R !!!

:kick:

[Crewleader]

43. Hello Willy T

Good to see you my friend! :hi:

[Bake]

42. This may be your best piece yet, Will.

And there have been good ones, no doubt. But your writing keeps getting better and better. Probably in direct proportion to your passion and rage.

Well done. You certainly speak for me.

Bake

[KoKo]

45. ...for the read......

[Senator]

48. Where's The Reap ?!?

I see this:

"Enough of talk. The subpoenas must be sent, the oaths must be required, the truths must be told, and the consequences of betrayals must be felt."

Fair enough, some of us have been saying "enough of talk" for years. But then you call for nothing but more talk?

The subpoenas, oaths, and truth-telling are just talk. And the "feeling consequences" comes after the fact. So, where's the reap?

It's like one of those complex flow charts, where a small box near the end is labeled "miracle occurs."

If you're demand that someone DO something, or suggesting that someone is about to DO something, it would be helpful to include what it is to be DONE.

And FWIW, Only Impeachment ... is actually DOING -- actual REAPING.

--
(With apologies to Clara Peller.)

[WilliamPitt]

49. I don't presume

the authority or wisdom to chart courses for others.

My life is about explaining, revealing, rallying, exposing.

If that seems empty of purpose to you, I'll just have to live with that judgment.

Every single one of us has a rudder. Who am I to start telling people where in the current it belongs?

We all have our roles.

:toast:

[Senator]

50. Oh, don't you?

Your tag line does. (Is it out of date?)

But I'm just discussing content.

Your purpose and your roles and what your life's about weren't queried. At least not by me.

--

[WilliamPitt]

51. My bad.

I apologize.

P.S. The "if" in my sig is there for a reason. That "if" allows me to choose whether it is time to lead, follow, or die...but specifically , that "if" allows me to see where I am within myself, so as to decide whether or not I am worthy of leadership. If I decide I'm not worthy, I follow. That is what usually happens.

Massed ideological inflexibility, and/or incomplete awareness of personal limitations, are reefs upon which many worthy causes have foundered. Think on that: how many inspirational voices have tried leadership, only to fail spectacularly, damaging the whole cause along the way down...which begs a question: Can you name a failed leader that you wish had known themselves enough to choose the second "if"? I can name a few right off the top of my head.

Shouters and rabble-rousers are, quite often, poor leaders who are too reliant on the fiery emotionalism of a protest's chant-leader, unable to act with logical precision, and usually bereft of the good manager's deft touch.

Any gathering of passionate activists is usually lacking the One, the organizer who learned how to lead in dribs and drabs, who thinks in mathematics but is filled with passion, who has a regimented mind that is fired with dedication to the goal. One with that battery of organizational and interpersonal skills needed to maintain the integrity of any loose gathering of fiercely independent minds.

Or, to repeat, that's why the sig says "if".

:toast:

P.S. If that last paragraph sounds like something Muad'Dib came up with, understand: Our political foes found exactly those people in church pews and classrooms more than twenty years ago, and they got organized, and now they're running shit. 2+2=4. We have those people in our ranks, and we have to find them.

[Senator]

54. Uh huh ... or maybe?

We are the ones we've been waiting for.

And our leader fetish, failed or otherwise, is just one more of our more masturbatory endeavors.

But do list those failed leaders whose flaw was they didn't "know themselves enough." I wouldn't want to waste any admiration there.

That is, "if" I choose not to die.

--
P.S. Our "political foes" have always been those willing to cheat, steal, and lie (often to themselves) to get what they want. They fool some of the people all of the time, and enough of the people some of the time. It's not something to learn from.

====

[opihimoimoi]

52. CREW.....ALOHA NUI LOA...how good to see you drop by...Wonderful....

America has tasted the New Coffee and cleansed their eyes with the Improved Visine.....The GOP has beed revealed as enemies of the State

Hubert and I still make time for the DU...Its been since 2000....this makes 7 years now...

Google Paul Potts...the winner of BGT in the UK....note...it makes you cry....

Aloha and come by more often....

Opi

[trumad]

53. Ahhh Crew

a sweet name from the past... Good to see you.