An Open Letter to You

[WilliamPitt]

"At Eternity's Gate," Vincent van Gogh.

An Open Letter to You
By William Rivers Pitt
Truthout | Op-Ed

Wednesday 20 November 2013

There are days, now and again, when I feel as if my skull is going to seethe through my face, as if I want to eat my teeth, and I want to simply lay waste to everything, because the absolute worst I could do would be better than leaving the current arrangement intact.

Tuesday was such a day, because of three things I never wanted to hear.

The first: there is a guy named Tom Brower, who lives in Hawaii, and he really hates homeless people. He hates them so much, in fact, that he smashes the belongings of every homeless person he can find with a sledgehammer. He is happy to be videotaped obliterating the meager possessions of this society's most vulnerable citizens because he is "disgusted" by them, and calls his actions "justice." He wears an Armani hat, and calls himself a Christian.

"I want to do something practical that will really clean up the streets," said Brower after one of his rampages. "If someone is sleeping at night on the bus stop, I don't do anything, but if they are sleeping during the day, I'll walk up and say, 'Get your ass moving.'" Mr. Brower has not been arrested for this brazenly sociopathic behavior, and he never will be, for Tom Brower is an elected official, a state representative, and a Democrat to boot.

"Blessed are the meek," Scripture says, "for they will inherit the Earth." Mr. Brower, the Christian, should probably pray that the New Testament is fiction, lest he find himself at the mercy of Earth's inevitable inheritors - in the fulfillment of prophesy, of course - on the losing end of his own sledgehammer.

(snip)

Her name was Stephanie. She was beloved by friends and family. She lived in grateful awe of the wonder that is life, and was extraordinary because of that simple, awe-struck wonder. She was joy transfixed and translated, astonishing and astonishment well met.

She died on Monday morning of a disease that could have been controlled and killed had she not been forced to wait for treatment. She didn't have the money needed to save her life.

Stephanie did not have to die. That she is dead daggers a finger at the system that let her go. Any society that calls itself civilized would declare her murdered, and would hunt her slayers down with dogs and torches until they were run to ground and brought to justice...but this is America, where health and sickness are a for-profit industry.

Stephanie's killers will eat well tonight, and sleep in beds plush enough to suit God. Stephanie sleeps in the ground tonight, and those who knew and loved her are forced to cope with her unnecessary absence, cold-comforted by the words that announced her passing: "She died peacefully."

(snip)

I am, perhaps, preaching to a hollow room.

After all, I speak to a country that elected to statewide office a man who smashes the pathetic belongings of the homeless with a sledgehammer while calling himself a Christian.

I speak to a country where a video game is made about the massacre of children, and the makers of the game are condemned and censored while the circumstances that allowed the actual massacre remain unmolested.

I speak to a country that let a wonderful woman die of an entirely treatable illness because she didn't have enough money.

I hope it is not a hollow room, a hollow country, a hollow soul I speak to, because these three stories happen all the time, and every day. This is where you live, and this is who you are. If you have a conscience, it makes you feel dirty in your heart.

We are responsible for this. We are all part of this thing that is dismantling our basic humanity brick by brick.

We can un-make it. We simply have to.

Freedom begins with a "No."

We are better than this.

Prove it.

Please.

http://www.truth-out.org/opinion/item/20156-an-open-letter-to-you

[mike_c]

1. rec'd....

eom

[Stargazer99]

2. To you who read this revealing post by the man who is being honest about our country

Now you know why I have no respect for this country
until you collectively clean up this evil
I will no longer stand up when the Star Banner is being played
or honoring the flag (I walk out during that time of where ever I am)
When the Nazi started killing Jews, the German people did not stand
up for what was moral....you are also sleeping at the switch

[heaven05]

12. +1000

We have 'christians' in this country who are racists that wear hoods, stand in the pulpit and damn anyone not white. I know, it happened to me. My crime to be damned? I came into that church with a woman of a different race than I. We have politicians allegedly 'christian' who are nothing more than teahadist and they roam the halls of power in our nations capital. Weimar republic redux. I hope they wake up before the collision. I am, like you, screaming through the engineers door to wake up, but to no avail.

[sinkingfeeling]

3. I posted my comment on Truthout.

[Turbineguy]

4. Thank you.

Quite possibly your best ever.

[n2doc]

5. Powerful. Thank you n/t

[HappyMe]

6. k&r

Excellent.

[woo me with science]

7. K&R

Thank you.

[Laelth]

8. Well done. k&r n/t

-Laelth

[TBF]

9. Excellent. K&R nt

[Myrina]

10. KnR

n/t

[Lifelong Protester]

11. I can't stand it, either, but I will go down fighting.

n/t

[Bluenorthwest]

13. I knew dozens of Stephanies before I turned 30, hundreds if we count casual aquaintances

That was in the 80's. This country elected 'Transformative' Ronald Reagan and the bulk of this country joined Dutch in a deadly silence around AIDS.
Those still making excuses for the for profit Grim Reaper Industry are not my friends.

[Paladin]

14. K&R.

[BobbyBoring]

15. A BIG K+R!

I'm afraid most of America is not better than this. There's a new kind of greed I've never encountered in my nearly 60 years on this rock. There are new levels of stupidity and indifference as well.

There is an answer, but most aren't willing to embrace it.

[Ace Acme]

23. Cynicism is very fashionable, a convenient excuse for mere greed

"There's nothing I can do about it, the world is hopelessly corrupt, and the best I can do is make a lot of money and write a few checks to charities."

[antigop]

16. no, William, you are not "out of words". You articulated it perfectly. K&R. nt

[Dawgs]

17. Finally. A post by WP that I can REC. n/t

[marble falls]

18. .... whoa ......

[ancianita]

19. I look around and think maybe we're not better than this. Struggle and suffering are everywhere.

Too much weary loss, boredom, careless distraction, drugs, guns and lonely hunkering down -- and judgment.

If the 150th anniversary of Lincoln's Gettysburg Address means anything in the current context, it means that we have to build a united identity. His speech reminds me that our united identity needs acknowledging, publicly and often.

I think our united identity is really based on two ideas: that "Difference Is Not Deficit," and that across regions we commit to "Live and Let Live With Difference." But messages that burden us are the opposite -- we should "see" for difference, because difference is a deficit that we should judge, beat back, and live with the separateness and free floating alienation that 'seeing for difference' brings.

As bad as the news is lately, I learned back in the day that one doesn't judge an entire people through a lens that judges them by their worst examples.

So I think that, rather than live with alienation from "seeing for" difference, I think our united identity needs more visibility -- how we "live with" and even celebrate difference -- skin, money, region, ideology. We need to keep reminding ourselves and each other that the American people's united identity rejects violent solutions through our struggles to solve problems not always of our making.

We don't have to agree with each other in order to support each other, but in neighborly and national negotiations our united identity should seek win/win, not win/lose outcomes that bring the greatest long term good to the greatest number.

We have to stay true to what is best about the "united" part in our title, United States of America.

[DonCoquixote]

20. k and R

We need a lot more Pitt.

And that "Demcorat" in Hawaii should be drummed out of the party.

[Mopar151]

21. A Powerful Truth

And yes, it hurts. Worship of money as wealth has poisioned our spiritual well.

[Ace Acme]

24. Worship of money reflects the prevailing anomie

We have lost all faith in the legitimacy of any values, so after decades of propaganda about the wisdom of "Mr. Market" we turn to money as is it were an objective measure of Good.

[RainDog]

22. ...

[lunatica]

25. kick'd and rec'd

[democrank]

26. Thank you so much, Will Pitt.

While the politicians` image makers in Washington wire up focus group participants to determine how they respond to the words "Welfare Queen", and while good "conservatives" everywhere fight hard to do away with school breakfasts and lunches for hungry children,there seems to be a pitiful few national leaders willing to stand up and call bullshit when they see it. Actually, it`s worse than bullshit. It`s an obscene oligarchy run amok......and it`s sickening.

[fadedrose]

27. Sickening stories

And to boot, that Brower is a 5-term Rep. in the Hawaii State House.

I wish he were in the US House so that he could be flooded with mail and old coats and jackets...most people in the states are not aware, as I wasn't, about crazy people like him doing crimes out of cruelty.

The lady is another tragic case, but as you stated, health is all about money and I don't look for that to change. Unless news coverage is there to help a dying person, the doctors and hospital just say, "SO?", and law doesn't care either.

[bvar22]

28. There IS a New GOD!

[font color=white].........................[/font][font size=4]The Graven Image[/font]

[BrotherIvan]

39. Correct.

Funnily enough, this one seems so much more brittle than a bloodline aristocracy. It is more like a gang of thieves among whom is no honor and who sit at table with napkins tied around their necks, a fork and a knife in each fist, just waiting to eat each other. It only lasts as long as people believe this is actually worth something, once the bubble bursts, it will fall to dust. I just don't know how long that will take and how much grist the mill requires.

[N_E_1 for Tennis]

29. Will I agree....

But remember the balance in life. Sometimes I need to get away from the ugly stories of humanity. I look to my neighbors. I live in a very poor area of Michigan, surrounded by wealth. In our neighborhood we take care of each other, share food, clothes, information, etc. We have a drive on now collecting blankets, coats, gloves, really any winter gear to distribute to the homeless around us. Poor, helping the poor. We get it that we are all in this together, then we do things. It may be as easy as allowing those with no internet access use of our computers. It may be as difficult as housing those that are homeless, least for a little while.
We are concerned with the assholes that are in charge of our country, but realize true change, true help and compassion begins in our neighborhood.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

30. How many times has Tom Brower been charged, tried, convicted, and jailed?

For vandalism?

For assault (making someone fear for life or limb)?

For disturbing the peace?

For destruction of property?

[WilliamPitt]

31. Zee

Ro.

[Plucketeer]

32. I hear you!

How about a nation where huge, shiny new SUVs and 4-door pickups clog the drive-thru windows at McDonalds while Mickey D's directs those cooking and serving to make up their wage shortcomings by going to federal assistance sites paid for by those in the SUVs and Mega-pickups?

[Enthusiast]

33. Kicked and recommended....nt

[Vietnameravet]

34. I wonder where that divine being that is supposed to be guiding his life is?

[nolabear]

35. Thank you, dear. You spoke what I think.

We are better than this. We are better than so many things that we see, and we need one another to counteract the horrors.

[kentuck]

36. You're on a roll, Will...

Keep writing.

[KatyaR]

37. "I am, perhaps, preaching to a hollow room."

I feel that way, too--when you're the one getting called out because you've given voice to the truth and someone doesn't like it, that's wrong. You should be able to tell the truth and not have someone smack you down because they don't want anybody to be insulted. The words "truth to power" have never been so right.

I am totally fed up and disgusted with what this country has become. The fact that the people who drove it there are practically untouchable makes me want to pound my head against the wall. People need to wake up and admit that we're not heading for the dumpster--WE'RE ALREADY THERE.

Bless you, Will. Keep feeding us the truth. You're not alone out there.

[WillyT]

38. HUGE K & R !!! - Thank You !!!

[840high]

40. Amazing OP/ Thank you.

[scarletwoman]

41. The problem is, pretty much everybody has bought in.

If you use a credit card, you've bought in.

If you pay for a cable TV subscription, you've bought in.

If you wait in line to buy the latest video gaming system/iphone/whatever, you've bought in.

If you have an account with Citibank, Bank of America, Chase, or any other mega-bank, you've bought in.

If you are "saving" for retirement with a 401K, you've bought in.

If you buy clothes made in China/Bangladesh/Guatemala/etc., you've bought in.

If you buy gas for your car, you've bought in.

If you heat your home with fossil fuels (fuel oil, natural gas, propane), you've bought in.

If you use all the water you want without thinking about it, you've bought in.

The evils you outline in your post are made possible by all of us buying in - buying into this comfortable way of life that affirms and supports the worst of capitalism and the human greed that enables it.

You know why people hate the homeless? Because the homeless are folks who won't buy in.

[Tigress DEM]

42. (((Will)))) We HAVE to be better than this.

And yet some days to keep my sanity so I can do the work and move forward I have to back away from the news cycle to breathe and connect with the reasons I'm fighting to make life better for myself and those in my sphere of influence.

[DeSwiss]

43. K&R

- I feel ya.

[center]''We live in our fantasies and endure our realities.'' ~Robert Anton Wilson

[/center]

[ReRe]

44. K&R

I was OK until you got to "If you have a conscience, it makes you feel dirty in your heart." And like a light switch, the tears immediately filled my eyes and the screen went white on me. As soon as I reached the tissue and wiped away the tears, another wave came.

Man's inhumanity to man. Conscience. One wonders if humans really are the highest form of life on the earth. Our conscience is supposed to be what sets us apart from wild animals whom live only by natures rules of "survival of the fittest," and instinct. Somehow, I think mankind still has a way to go before it can separate itself from the animals. Perhaps some of our minds have not evolved up the evolutionary ladder to a state of real conscience yet.

All I know is that we are where we are. I, too, am sorely disturbed by the evil that lurks in peoples minds and hearts. Sometimes I go outside and look up to the sky with upward reaching arms and scream "Whyyyyy? And when it gets me down, I just dial it back in history and remember where we were, say a thousand years ago in the middle ages and before. Mankind IS advancing, but it just seems like it's taking so damn long to get to a real civilized state. All we can do, Will, is keep on keeping on, bringing light to the atrocities of avarice and hate that surrounds us, and making a difference wherever we can on a daily basis to lift up the less fortunate, the maltreated in our society.

[truth2power]

45. So I'm sitting in front of my computer at this godawful early hour...

with my coffee and my cereal, trying to jump-start my brain for the day.

And while the thing is booting up I hear about a local man whose friends are having a fund-raiser so he can have cancer surgery. The reporter says the surgery could cost $100,00. And I thought about how long it takes one of our military vehicles to burn throu that amount of money. Ten minutes, perhaps?

And then I click on your thread, Will.

How long is it going to take some of the geniuses who frequent this place to realize that the prime task of a FOR PROFIT insurance company is to look out for their shareholders. And in the process to provide JUST ENOUGH care to keep the proles from taking to the streets with torches and pitchforks.

Why are we still effing around with FOR PROFIT INSURANCE COMPANIES???

Single payer health care.

I have to get ready for work!

[rtassi]

46. Maybe we are empty souls Will ...

We have had plenty of time to grab hold of this … The "System" is us magnified … It's overwhelming the levels of our hollowness actually. Maybe its time to get comfortable with the fact that the earth controlled by universal factors much beyond our control is going to set things straight … The rides going to be bumpy until and when she does … but by now a man of your intellect surely understands its not going to be the "democrats" who save us …

[dotymed]

47. What Mr. Pitt

has poignantly pointed out is not something that ANY of us are not aware of.
Yes, we of the non-sociopathic mentality bemoan "our condition" and agree that it is both unnecessary and getting worse.

I too am saying nothing new.

Like William said, we must UNITE before we can make the changes we want and need. One foot in front of the other, sometimes it is really hard and I feel like I cannot go on.
People have a great ability to really change things if they unite and keep trying, IMO.

[rhett o rick]

48. Great rant Will. Problem is that it's a very steep uphill battle. In DU you are ranting to a

crowd that is more liberal than the general public, yet there are many here that, although they may say they agree with you, will continue to support 8 years more of the status quo that got us here.

You are incensed at the conditions in this country to the point of at least speaking out. Nothing will happen until a majority of the population reaches that same level of disgust.

We need a strategy.

[SoLeftIAmRight]

49. My dear Will... Welcome my friend.

You might remember me About 12 years ago when this was a new place I asked you to call me. On a fine Sunday morning you did. I asked you how you keep your motivation and continued your good spirits. I had lost mine. I was then as you are now. For me, little has changed. I told you that I was from Alabama also. Born and raised in Huntsville. In my youth I felt the earth shake. The testing of the Saturn 5 rockets shook the ground when I played. I felt the wonder and believed in a wonderful future.

As I grew things changed. Great leaders were killed. The assaults on reason and good came with force. For me America falling for Ronny Raygun was the breaking point. Shinning house on the hill my ass.

The year was 1983, I lost hope. For me, we were all on a run away train and the bridge was out.

This new level of vileness and anger and hate and total lack of compassion is just another step down this steep hill we are speeding down.

I say welcome my friend. Welcome my friend.