On MLK Day

It is a sad fact that because of comfort, complacency, a morbid fear of communism, and our proneness to adjust to injustice, the Western nations that initiated so much of the revolutionary spirit of the modern world have now become the arch anti- revolution – aries…. If we will make the right choice, we will be able to trans- form the jangling discords of our world into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood.

Martin Luther King, 04-April-1967

Yes, things have changed for the better since 1967, but we’re still destroying ourselves with our comfort and complacency. For the sake of midwesterners who can’t get around having to listen to a short telephone message in Spanish, we’re taking land and civil rights from people along the border (and how far from the border do we need to live to have our rights as American citizens?). For our comfort and complaency, rather than deal with our overdependence on foreign oil (or maybe look at a different mode of transit than huge SUVs), we attack other countries, and subvert our neighbors. We HAVE given up our “morbid fear of communism”, only to replace it with a morbid fear of populism and/or “terrorists”. We adjust to injustice — expecting working people to hold down two or three jobs just to afford to be able to see a dentist.

Mexico is not a perfect society, not by a long-shot. But at least I’m going back to someplace where “the revolutionary spirit of the modern world” still lingers… where no one would think of starting a foreign war… for the comfort and complacency of the people, or out of a morbid fear of anyone. Someplace where “adjusting to injustice” means having to stand in line to see the dentist… where there is still greed and abuse, but at least it’s nakedly presented, and openly challenged.

It’s my birthday too… all I want to to pay off my bills before I leave the country (and a new set of tires would be nice!):