My good friend Michael Sudbury applied for conscientious objector status last November. He didn't receive his discharge papers until the moment his unit shipped out for Iraq. Michael has made several appearances at peace rallies. Last Sunday there was a rally at the Utah State Capitol building. Here is what he said:
How do you liberate a country? Do you remove the tyrannical leader? Do you replace him with leaders of your choosing? Do you kill thousands of people who live in the country? Do you send over soldiers to police the people who are still alive? What, really, is liberation? What if many of the people want to be ruled by a tyrant? Does killing him liberate them? I think freedom must include the right to mismanage your own affairs. What if there are people (even if only a few) who really don’t want to be ruled by the people that you put in charge? Are these people liberated by your actions? Have you liberated the thousands of people that you caused to be killed? How about those you’ve merely wounded, or those whose family members you’ve killed? Is this liberation?? I’m still wondering, “How do you liberate a country?”First, consider what freedom is… Are you free if you have everything you need? Are you free if no one ever threatens you, imprisons you, or hurts you? In other words, are you free if everyone treats you the way that you want to be treated? That’s a pretty tall order. One which requires making everybody do what you want them to… Good luck. And even if you do succeed in making everyone do what you want them to, are they still free? I think freedom is simpler than that. I think that you are free when fear is not the determining factor in your decisions. Obviously you cannot decide to do everything that you might like to do. There are practical concerns influencing every decision. For instance, you cannot decide to leap up into the air and start flying if you have not yet grown wings. In a similar way, you cannot decide to walk to the store if someone has chained your legs to the wall. There are many impediments to what you might do, and you will not have control over all of them. But I think you have only lost your freedom when you allow your fear to control you. If the school bully orders you to give him your lunch money, you are not free if your fear of being hurt makes you surrender that money. If you want to be onstage more than anything, but you let your fear of ridicule prevent you, you are not free. If you are ordered to kill someone that you do not think should be killed, but you pull the trigger because you are afraid of the punishment for not following orders, you are not free. In contrast, if you refuse to do something that you think is wrong, even though you will be fined, imprisoned, attacked, or even executed, then…..then you are free. You cannot always control what will happen to you, but freedom lies in making decisions the way you want to make them even though the world is pressuring you to do otherwise. Freedom is individual and can be obtained only by the individual who wants freedom more than he wants his own life.
Given this idea of freedom, I ask again, “How do you liberate a country?” “How do you liberate Iraq?”
The US Government thinks you do it by killing those who happen to be running the country, by replacing those rulers with new rulers, by restructuring the government of the country into something the American people find more appealing. For some Iraqis this means death, dismemberment, loss of family, loss of stability… For other Iraqis it is not so bad, no one they know was hurt, and they no longer have to deal with a hated ruler. Certainly all Iraqis now have to deal with a foreign government and its military ordering them about. After all this, which Iraqi has been liberated? Which Iraqi is now choosing to live his life the way he wants instead of the way he is told to live it? I maintain that not a single Iraqi has been freed by the US Government’s actions, nor will any Iraqis EVER be freed by them. In fact, I think the goal of the US Government is exactly the opposite. Their goal is to turn all Iraqis into responsible, tax-paying citizens, who do exactly what their US approved government tells them to do. How is this freedom? How is this liberation? All that has been accomplished is the replacement of a ruler that America did not like with one that it does.
So, once again, “How do you liberate Iraq?” - I think this is the wrong question. If all the law-abiding tax-paying citizens in the US had not given away their freedom and allowed their government to do immoral and imperialistic things abroad, then the people of Iraq would not have had their problems with Saddam and sanctions. The only country we can liberate is our own, by re-claiming our own individual freedom.
Forget liberating a whole country, there are too many people in it and you cannot do right by them all. Consider an easier question first, “How do you liberate an individual?” First of all, you must understand freedom yourself. You must understand that you can be a slave even though there are no visible chains tied to you, and that you can be free even though you sit stretched upon the rack. Do you choose to let someone else tell you how to live your life because you are afraid? Or do you choose to try to live your life as you see fit? Everyone dies. Everyone experiences pain and limitations. You are no exception. The only choice you have is whether you will let fear of these things control you. You cannot control what others do, you sometimes cannot control what they do to you, but you can control yourself. Once you understand this then perhaps you can help liberate another individual. By being an example. There is nothing you can do to make someone be free. Yes, it’s helpful to remove the chains from his neck, but you cannot make him be free. If America was full of people who understood freedom and never tried to control others, they would be a shining beacon to the rest of the people in the world. Oppressed people would see the example and begin to understand freedom themselves. But instead America’s government is going to other countries and imposing its will upon the people there. It has gone to Iraq to remove a tyrant simply to replace him. There is no example of freedom for the people of the world to follow, all they see is a threat. You want to improve the world? Then understand what freedom really means, swear to yourself that you will never try to control another, and then befriend and teach your neighbor. It goes one individual at a time.
The people in Iraq will not be free until they decide they want it and are willing to fight and die for it. If you want to help them in that fight, perhaps you can do some good. Until then, all you can do is become their new master…..yay.
"What do you call bad?-- Those who always want to put to shame.
What do you consider most humane?-- To spare someone shame."
--Nietzsche
1987
My family and I arrive at Grandpa’s house after the seven hour drive between southern Nevada and Yuma, Arizona. Our family would travel down to Yuma every year to visit Grandpa and get out of the cold, Utah winter. I run up to the door and ring the doorbell. Honey, a Lhasa Apso/Shih-Tzu mix, barks its greeting and scratches on the door. Grandpa lets us in.
"Can you believe those goddamn Republicans?!" I said.
Grandpa smiles.
"They are cutting taxes and borrowing more money to spend on the military again," I said.
Grandpa starts laughing. My face turns red. Maybe I am too young to say anything about politics. Politics are for adults.
2003
"I am writing a novel," Riley says, "do you want to see?"
Riley is the 8 year old son of one of my colleagues at work.
"I would love too," Norm says.
Riley hands Norm a sheet of paper with the beginning of a story on it and runs off. Norm sits back in his chair and reads the story. A few minutes later Riley returns.
"Do you like my novel so far?" asks Riley.
"Its very good," Norm says, "can you tell me more about what things looked like and what sounds your characters could hear?"
"I am going to draw pictures to go with it," Riley says with excitement.
"That's great," said Norm. "Did you know you can draw pictures with words?"
Shaming someone is one of the most horrible things you can do. You give their natural inclinations a bad conscience. Norm encouraged Riley and gave him something new to think about. Riley will not only have a good conscience about writing his novel. He will have some new ideas with which he can make his story better.
Art used to play a vital role in society. In the Renaissance it was a form of inspiration and a powerful communicator of Renaissance ideals. In that day and age, Christianity was still of central importance in Europe. Art was used to express faith and devotion. I do not suggest that art was free of more banal influences such as money. Wealth has been an important influence since the beginning of civilization. Many artists of the time painted Christian images because they were the easiest to sell. Portraits were also popular items. However, the arts still had a very central place in the lifes of many people in those times.
Where has art gone today? It seems that it is now just a pastime for a few snooty elites. It is easy to think this is so, but it is not. These days, the talents of artists are being used by advertisers. Some of the most talented artists of the day work in advertising. These artists are producing the only art that sells. Advertisements are art, despite there horrible content. They influence and effect what we believe about the world immensely. They tell women they should be unhealthy toothpicks. They tell men that they should be agressive. They tell us all that we have problems that only their product can solve. Whereas in the Renaissance it was images from the Bible that were valued, now meaningless consumer crap seems to be valued. Useless material goods are the new religion. Fortunately there is a movement to use the power of art to fight images that tell us we need this or that commercial item. Take a look at adbusters and see what I am talking about.
"He had learned the ways of things about him now. It was a war of each against all, and the devil take the hindmost. You did not give feasts to other people, you waited for them to give feasts to you. You went about with your soul full of suspicion and hatred; you understood that you were environed by hostile powers that were trying to get your money, and who used all the virtues to bait their traps with. The store-keepers plastered up their windows with all sorts of lies to entice you; the very fences by the wayside, the lampposts and telegraph poles, were pasted over with lies. The great corporation which employed you lied to you, and lied to the whole country--from top to bottom it was nothing but one gigantic lie." -Upton Sinclair