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KippMuellerFirstPaper 11 - 06 Jul 2012 - Main.KippMueller
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John Brown 2012 | | | Where will I stand? And you?
I found your piece engaging. It's really interesting to think about how revolution would look in our world or how revolution should look in our world. John Brown picked a single cause and died for it. I think the real question is when you find that thing that you can't tolerate, that thing in the world that you can't bare to live with, will you fight to end it? As long as there is inequality, there will be injustice. If you are still drinking the coffee, then that's not where your fight is and that's your choice. Slavery was one injustice of many in Mr. Brown's day. He picked the one he couldn't handle. I don't think the issue is so much one of picking your battles as it is knowing your limits. The only thing we can do is keep learning about the way the world really works until we find the thing we can't handle. At that point let's introduce ideas of courage.
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> | Thanks Rachel!
This response isn't so much of a response... just my stream of consciousness based on what you said.
What I'm ultimately getting at in this piece doesn't really have to do with John Brown's actual life so much as what he symbolizes to me. I think living in a privileged country with a privileged life, as we all do, requires some level of rationalization. Purchasing a piece of art or an iPad or even a chair is allocating resources that exist on this earth towards yourself. These are resources that could otherwise be allocated towards feeding a family, if we choose to do so.
What I'm trying to find, and constantly coming short of finding, is where enough is enough. How do you draw that line? And if you come short of depriving yourself of all luxuries, knowing that the purchases you're making could feed or vaccinate or educate, how do you justify it?
I didn't want to go down the path that conservatives would likely take, just because it's very uninteresting to me: You earned it, it's your money, blah blah. That's premised of course on the revolting idea that we live in a Me vs. You world rather than Me and You world.
Assuming arguendo that you (whoever you are reading this) and I share a "Me and You" worldview, how does one choose battles without complete self-sacrifice? And how is it justifiable when I refuse to fight a battle that I know is an injustice?
I know there's just not really an answer to that question. But it's one worth asking... I suppose?
-- KippMueller |
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