The Gray Champions

[PatrickHenry]

Anyone familiar with Strauss and Howe's book, The Fourth Turning? An outgrowth of their previous monumental work, Generations?

They postulate a four generational cycle of American history with a critical cusp at the time of the fourth turning. They theorize that, at the proper moment, the Spirit of America rises and creates the conditions for a return to the essential values of the nation.
http://www.fourthturning.com/html/gray_champions.html

And I wonder, is Cindy Sheehan a Gray Champion? http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=stor...0_200508111708

She spoke with a combination of utter determination, unassailable integrity, fearlessness, and the peace of someone who knows that their cause is just. Her commitment was palpable -- and infectious. It reminded me an old quote about the great Greek orators: “When Pericles spoke, the people said, ‘How well he speaks.’ But when Demosthenes spoke, they said, ‘Let us march!’” <snip> A woman driven by faith and conviction who used to think that one person couldn’t make a difference and is learning otherwise. Her humanity stands in stark contrast to the inhumanity of those who refuse to admit their mistakes and continue to send our young men and women to die in Iraq. She may not be the kind of media figure the cable news channels would order up from newsmaker central, a la Natalee Holloway. But she is the kind of unexpected leader I’ve been writing about for years. One who springs not from the corridors of power, but from among the people. One who may come from Vacaville, California, but who makes nonsense of red state/blue state distinctions. The time has passed when we can stand around waiting for a knight on a white horse to ride to our rescue. We’ve got to look to ourselves -- to the leader in the mirror. Our elected officials have woefully failed to provide the leadership needed on this most vital issue of our time. And stepping into that void is Cindy Sheehan. Inspiring us. Touching our conscience. Calling forth our courage and our commitment. Focusing our outrage. And acting as a catalyst for the tens of millions of Americans who know that the war in Iraq is a disgrace.

I have pondered Strauss and Howe's work for years, and wondered about their predictions. There may be some powerful insight for our time.

[SteveA]

That's an inspiring post, Patrick. Thank you :)

A woman driven by faith and conviction who used to think that one person couldn’t make a difference and is learning otherwise

So true. We tend to view things on such a large scale we don't realize the impact individual actions have. But if you stop and consider that 98%+ of the time most people are just trying to live within the system, even spending a few hours a week trying to change it (for the better hopefully) has an order of magnitude more impact that the average person. And I believe taking a firm stance on something is worth 20 votes at a ballot box.
Things change through education and spreading the word. If people can see where the problems are realize the impact of them. I have some faith in the future :)

makes nonsense of red state/blue state distinctions.

Yes, politics aren't left/right, black/white or even shades of purple, individuals are more different than colors of the rainbow.

The time has passed when we can stand around waiting for a knight on a white horse to ride to our rescue. We’ve got to look to ourselves -- to the leader in the mirror.

'nuff said.

Again, great post.

[Osborn F Enready]

Excellent post Pat. ( as usual )

[SteveA]

Here's a (powerful) piece written by another woman regarding this:

http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig5/samples5.html

Wow

[Prometheus]

This is kind of what I was talking about in my "I wanna be a terrorist" thread - but a little more peaceful and rational....

[RickSp]

It is fascinating how from time to time throughout history, the right individuals emerge to play a role that it seems no one else could play.

Where the Democratic and the Republican "leaders" seem to lack both the integrity and will to stand up against the war, a mother with tragic credentials, stands up and says what needs to be said and the nation is stunned and stirred by her fearlessness and conviction. In some respects she reminds me of Rosa Parks except that Psrks had the eloquence and organizational skills of a young Martin Luther King Jr. to support her. Sheenan has stood almost alone and been all the more powerful because of it.

[Milton Bradley]

Nice summation Rick


[claps]


You really hit the nail on the head with that post.

[PatrickHenry]

Cindy had this to say on truthout today:

I think if one is not speaking out right now against the killing in Iraq, one is supporting it. I believe that the members of Congress who have always been, or are now, opposed to this war, need our 100 percent support, admiration, and encouragement. Everyone else needs to be prodded in the right direction. I implored every member I spoke to this past week (and during our bus trip) to lead our country out of the desert. I believe that if they did, America would follow them through fire to bring our troops home. Finally, I was harrassed at the Capitol Building by a thug security guard, who screamed at me to get out of the building until my next appointment. I complained to another security guard about the disrespectful treatment that I had received from the other guard and he said that most of the employees were "Republicans" and they didn't appreciate what I was doing. I have news for them: this is not about politics - to me, this is about flesh and blood. This is not about right and left, this is about right and wrong. 19 troops were needlessly killed in Iraq this past week. 19 families were destroyed senselessly and avoidably. Hundreds of innocent Iraqis were killed for just being home that day, just being out shopping, or just going about their daily lives. An average of almost three of our young men and women are killed every day in George's abomination. While the War-Hawk Repbublicans are wrongfully supporting a wrongheaded war and the "anti-war" Dems are hemming and hawing about the politics of this administration's misguided and evil policies, how many more families will get the news that their lives have been destroyed in the tragic meantime? What are they waiting for?

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/100405Y.shtml

[mr.perfecto]

Well you're either with us in the War on Terror or your against. My sedition charge wasn't at all off the mark. Now all the Feds need to do is ferret out where she is getting her money from. She will probably never be convicted of treason, but maybe she will help break down the fifth column. These left-wing agitators have gotten even more subtle with their invidious propaganda since Vietnam.

[Clarence]

bump. can't let perfecto have the last word on Pat's thread.

I could never comprehend how history's madmen acquired power. Perfecto is like that Rolling Stones song Sympathy for the Devil, kinda. his character has lived over and again throughout time. not as a great man or woman and not even as a terribly evil man, but as a tool. Perfecto lives again as a god-fearing sucker for any political leader, who can bring hateful punishment to those he wishes to punish. They rise up, cause terror, and they all fall down. and then peace reigns until another cult of personality emerges. perfecto will be there to help. spineless. Thank goodness Cindy Sheehan will live again as well.

[PatrickHenry]

Cindy wrote this today:

We realized at Camp Casey, we remembered something, after almost 5 years of the virtual dictatorship of control we have in America now: we the people have all the power. We the people NEED to exercise our rights and responsibilities as Americans to dissent from an irresponsible, reckless, ignorant and arrogant government. We realized, a little late, but not too late, that when George said, "If you're not for us, you're against us," we all should have risen in angry, righteous and patriotic unison and said: "You are damn right, you lying, out of control madman. We are so against you and your insane rush to invade Iraq." We didn't rise up then, but Camp Casey taught us that it is okay to raise your voices against the government. Not only is it "okay" but it is mandatory if your government is responsible for killing innocents. It is mandatory, if there are no other checks and balances in place, that we the people be the checks and balances on the media and government

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/100705Y.shtml
I think she IS a Gray Champion...

[PatrickHenry]

Another Gray Champion:
Bill Quigley | Grandmothers for Peace Get Federal Prison Instead

Cathy Webster, a grandmother living in Chico, California, organized "A Thousand Grandmothers for Peace" to protest in November 2006 against the torture-training School of the Americas (SOA) (now called the Western Hemisphere Institute of Security Cooperation or WHINSEC) at Fort Benning, Georgia. SOA-WHINSEC has been the subject of international criticism since it was disclosed that torture manuals were used in training Latin American military personnel. Amnesty International USA called for the closing of the school, an investigation into the human rights atrocities committed by its graduates, and reparations and an apology to its victims. This week a federal judge in Columbus, Georgia, sentenced Ms. Webster to two months in federal prison for stepping through a hole in the fence onto the grounds of Fort Benning to carry her protest to the doors of SOA-WHINSEC.

Ms. Webster told the judge, "You will notice that increasingly it is the elders who are speaking out and acting boldly and authoritatively to bring understanding of what justice, kindness, generosity and compassion mean in a world weary of the endless conquest and dominance mind-set of nations." Ms. Webster estimated that over 1,000 grandmothers participated in the November protest organized by School of Americas Watch which was attended by nearly 20,000 people. The annual protest commemorates the thousands who have died at the hands of the graduates of the SOA-WHINSEC, which used and taught from publicly disclosed torture manuals in its training of Latin American military personnel. The grandmothers and the rest of the 16 protestors will join more than 250 other activists who have spent a collective 92 years in prison and dozens of years on federal probation for prior nonviolent civil disobedience at the gates to Fort Benning and SOA-WHINSEC.

[Technosoul]

I have often wondered what our nation would be like if we had someone like her as a President and if Congress had people like that.

We have just exprienced what is like to have our country run by the right wing people. It would be nice to find out what might result if we had the left wing in control for a term of office. But looks like we will getting a "moderate" staffing after the elections in two years.

But what if we really did vote for people who were indendant and who were non-political to our so-called political offices. Someone who truely comprehended the values of human life and someone who would echo the compassion that sometimes activates the "spirit of America", when everyone wants to pitch in and do good things for everyone else. Not someone following a book outline for socialism, democracy, captialism, or other pre-established idealologies, but someone who is truely gifted with wisdom relative to all topics confronting a President, and who could likewise break through to the hybernating conscience of our citizens to overcome poverty problems, crime, polution, and so forth. And someone who could restore the image of Ameirca in the eyes of other governments.

Spingtime follows winter, it is a circle. Let us hope that world peace will follow the wars and the mess we must now witness. But we need someone to "shine" like the summer sun, to bring back the flower power that we now are without.

If you get my drift ( sort of got poetic).

I believe it is evident that millions of people are waiting for that ray of light that can activate a new momentum, a new direction, for our nation.

If we had an army of compassion in action. Instead of just an army of distruction, I bet millions would line up to be inlisted. 10 times the numbers who signed up to fight terrorism or Saddam. They are ready, they are willing, they are able, if only someone came to the forefront who could tap into that massive human resource as a leader who cannot be pushed aside by a mere security guard.

Nice O.P. - we can use a lot of these nowadays.