Indeed, Steve. However, those who held the power always told those who didn't have any power that the things which would help us change the world are impossible, and thus nothing has ever changed. To which the powerful can argue QED. Maybe we should stop "asking".
"Ask for work. If they don't give you work, ask for bread. If they do not give you work or bread, then take bread.”
My father-in-law, who, as a young man, had lived through the Great Depression hitching rides on freight trains along with the hobos and trying to find work wherever he could, once told me he figured out early on there are three ways to get bread: "Whenever I could, I worked for food; if there was no work, I asked for food; if no one would give me any, I took it". He was the most honest, upright person I have met and I think his point could not be clearer. If by asking (for basic, decent rights) you are not given, then you will just take.
Thanks, Annalia. Your father-in-law had worked out a simple truth. The quotation as I have written it is believed to be by Emma Goldman in a book from 1910. Why, then, do we, over 100 years later, still need to fight for such things? I think someone, somewhere, is conspiring against us and we, in our benign ignorance, are allowing them to do so and even occasionally applauding them for it.
I think the someone somewhere is the ugly half of human nature, the part that gets some of my countrymen (and women) to close off our ports to the migrants rescued at sea because they are not "our people", the part that puts profit well above fairness in most of the so called developed world, the part that rapes and plunders the natural world and pretends there will be no price to pay for it, even in the face of evidence. I see no way to curb this ugly, dark half of our nature other than to continue to try and educate ourselves, to not give up "the fight". :)
Of course. I apologise if my response seemed critical. I did not intend to imply that you felt the events of the past were outdated. I agree, we must master our history ... but we also have to be aware of who writes that history and the biases that they inevitably introduce to it. Have a good weekend, Jean-luc and keep safe.
15 comments
Steve Bucknell said:
Old Owl replied to Steve Bucknell:
"Ask for work. If they don't give you work, ask for bread. If they do not give you work or bread, then take bread.”
Annalia S. replied to Old Owl:
Jean-luc Drouin said:
The Limbo Connection replied to Jean-luc Drouin:
Old Owl replied to Jean-luc Drouin:
Les événements may be long in our past, but many of the reasons behind them should not be forgotten or dismissed as outdated.
Berny said:
Jean-luc Drouin replied to Old Owl:
William Sutherland said:
Admired in:
www.ipernity.com/group/tolerance
Annalia S. said:
Old Owl replied to Annalia S.:
Annalia S. replied to Old Owl:
Old Owl replied to Jean-luc Drouin:
Sylvain Wiart said:
dolores666 said: