October 03, 2002
I'm stealing the following off George Partington's site because it really got to me. He got it from here.
Filmmaker Steve Tesich, who wrote love letters to America in films like Breaking Away and Four Friends, was described by his sister as being "romantic, sweetly naïve [and] full of optimism until 1990," when his illusions were shattered during the Gulf War. His disgust over America's behavior in Iraq later turned to rage -- particularly as he tried to remedy the media's laziness and disregard for truth during the conflict in Yugoslavia. Yet his essays and letters went unpublished.
"My brother suffered." Professor Nadja Tesich, wrote. "Silently most of the time. He suffered because he thought he was an important writer, whose voice ought to be heard. He suffered because most of the people around him, even old friends, appeared brainwashed, brain-dead. He suffered more than I because he loved America once. That love turned against him. Yes, it can kill you.. . . It was easier for me. I was immunized from before -- Vietnam, Chile, Panama, Guatemala -- the list is long."
"When I heard my brother was dead, she wrote, "my first words to his wife were, 'America killed him.' Yes his anger against it was huge. On some days, powerless, dying for justice, we could only howl together."
That's the price of feeling and of caring and of waking up. We feel powerless. And until more of us awaken, we will remain powerless. What can save us but some sort Dickensonain model of redemption? A Spirit of Compassion Past, perhaps? Who knows? But something has to give. Something has to happen. Because if this unthinking and uncaring injustice continues, it will eventually destroy us all.
~ Maureen Farrell
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Old Comments (1)
dzwonki polifoniczne on 14 Jun 2004
Hmmmmm interesting !!!