Renewed enthusiasm and a new rant.

2003-02-08 - 8:09 a.m.

And five pages in an awful lot of writing, so I am now going to procrastinate by writing an entry that I meant to write last night but ended up doing the work that I am theoretically paid to do. If I am successful with the procrastination, I will either skip writing or the gym. If I am unsuccessful (which is more likely) I will end up doing both and being tired at work tonight.

Anyway, I realised that within the last 24 hours, my activists' block was broken, and you'll never guess why.

You'll never guess because I am going to steal sweet victory from you by telling you straight out: George W. Bush is coming to our nation's capital in May! Yay!

Why is this thrilling, and how has it liberated my mind from its self-induced incapacity?

Because I am sensing another trip to Ottawa for another big, giant protest. Yes, folks, the key to defeating defeatism is to find some form of action that makes you feel enthusiastic about things again.

I'm feeling the tiny tingle of anticipation, the same one that I felt last year when I first thought I might be going to Ottawa for the protests then. I know that a few thousand of us with posters and placcards aren't going to change Bush's mind about anything, that by May the entire world could very well be embroiled in war, that poverty, oppression, and prejudice won't be magically eliminated. But I also know that if you get enough drops in a bucket, the bucket gets pretty darn heavy.

And I also know that these protests are a step toward building my own identity, of educating myself and taking action, even if only symbollic, for something I believe in. It's a way of showing my support, of raising my voice for something I'm passionate about. It's an experience in what is supposed to be a lifetime of experiences...

And it's something to look forward to.

And that's why I'm suddenly all enthusiastic about politics again.

One last note: when I was struggling out opf sleep last night, I found another way to articulate what bothers me about a war on Iraq (because, y'know, peace needs to be defended as an ideology). We're supposed to believe that it is an action taken for justice, that beneath all the "good and evil" rhetoric (and who else, besides 5 year olds, sees the world that black-and-white?) there's a genuine desire to see the right thing get done.

If that's the case, it would be more reassuring to at least see the US administration own up to its own culpability. I'd like to see the US admit what a lot of people have already said, that the US has been the one training Hussein and Bin Laden and a dozen dictators and terrorists now considered enemies of the state. Hussein is a horrible man, but can't the US administration at least own up to having helped put Hussein where he is today?

But to do that, the government would have to look at the School of the Americas, at their own current policies, at their failed attempts to build their own governments all over the world. And in an epic battle between the forces of Good and Evil, I guess the good guys can't be flawed.

Cheers,

The Magus

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