Right Wing, Left Wing...It Takes Both Wings to Fly

I am not one who is interested in engaging in politics, so please do not mistake this post to be about politics. In fact, it is an anti-politics post. I understand the need to know what your government is up to and who the players are, but knowing is not enough. When we find flaws, that something is broken or someone is corrupt, we must take action, and complaining about it alone is not effective action.


In the United States on November 19, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg Address (a two minute speech given by the President at the Gettysburg National Cemetery dedication four months after the Battle of Gettysburg). At the end of the speech, he described the U.S. government as "a government for the people, of the people, and by the people."  Earlier in the speech he said, "The world will little note, nor long remember, what we say here." 


 In his eulogy for the slain president, Senator Charles Sumner commented on that line of the president's speech, "The world noted at once what he said, and will never cease to remember it. The battle itself was less important than the speech."  If the Senator was here today, I think he would have to recant and acknowledge that the president was right.

I know many put little stock and/or trust in the words of those who run or even created the government. These words, their own words, however, can be used as fuel for the fire of freedom, justice, and equality. The preamble to U.S. Constitution begins "We the people." It's time we hold them to these words. We often complain about those who run the country, but we neglect to include ourselves. We have forgotten our own power...a power that goes far beyond voting.

I recently read a comment on a social networking site on a post about the occupy movements that read, "protesting doesn't work anymore."  What struck me is the puzzling contradiction of the article I had read just minutes before about how the government (White House level) ordered the dismantling of the occupations read article here. This suggested, to me at least, that the occupations were becoming a big enough concern that the executive branch of the U.S. government became involved. I wondered if those who think the occupations wouldn't work might have been too occupied with other things to see the world wide solidarity and attention they had garnered.

It seems that so many are so focused on political parties and left and right wings that "we the people"  are divided. Most discussions I see are about the pros and cons of each side and people become defined and condemned by that affiliation rather than defined by what they think, do, or desire for the world. Those that think that protesting doesn't work anymore should consider one fact; there were occupiers from all walks of life and political parties united for equal rights and justice...the real issues. 

I am solution oriented, so complaining without action or disparaging the methods of those who are acting rather than offering a viable alternative is fruitless to me. It is time we remember that the government works for us. We elect them, we should hold them accountable and fire them if they don't do their jobs properly. It will, however, take all of us collectively to do so. Left wing, right wing...it takes both wings to fly.