My clock has struck the hour and, once more, it is Easter Monday.
So oft I hear the moaning and keening.
The small questions, the quieter answers, chirped out from all of the voices of all of the unknown people in all of our states, so that the combined sound is an endless clicking of jaws and teeth.
It whirrs across our land, a constant quiet buzz, the sound of a late summer's cicada chorus, long dead, but still conjured deep in winter, making for a case of non-medical
tinnitus for those hearing it.
It says, in the hearts of all true Patriots, "Where is the Courage?" It asks its own mind, the hearts of its kindred Americans, even the wind that sighs through the still branches when all else is quiet.
And when the silence is total, when sound is finally reduced to a soft beating of the heart, riffing only on the incomprehensible stillness of a pulsing Universe, it even asks the ineffable question of the inscrutable mind of God, "Where is the Courage?"
Endlessly, endlessly, asking everything it knows, or hopes to know, "where is the courage? The courage to change the things that must be changed?"
Amidst the clicking and clattering of both tongues and heels, the new voices, new faces, of a new Congress assembled, born of a common and indomitable cry for change, heard last November at the precincts of this Nation, make noise but cannot utter the one message that was, and is, sought by those very agents of that change; the unnumbered and mostly unknown Patriots of this nation. The common citizens of this nation that, with a single voice last November, silently uttered a common
crí d'couer and now silently turn eyes and ears to Washington, waiting for an answer.
Perhaps their attention is incorrectly focused?
Perhaps. But, even if so, the question is unspoken on a millions of sets of lips, and echoing in as many hearts. If the answer is ever comes, even if from an unknown quarter, it will be heard. And Americans will turn, in whatever direction is necessary, to listen to, and understand the message. Thus it was, ever.
For those who think "It is the wrong question" or "The seekers must find it themselves", or even "Look inside!", or the most fore-lorn of all thoughts, "There
are no answers. Who is there to give answers to us?", I would say one thing alone, "It is Easter Monday."
Far from any religious statement, the statement is a history lesson, and nothing more.
It is meant for those mentioned above; for those whose unspoken voices contribute to the generally Cicada-whirring that stays in our ears, and our minds, long after all sound has passed from the air.
It is meant only as a historical affirmation that questions, sometimes,
are answered, even if the answer comes from a different direction than one looks toward. Even if the answer is not direct, not the first in order of importance, it is the answer needed.
The unspoken question of the lips of countless millions might be, indeed, "Where is the Courage?", but when an answer blows through the country on the sighing branches of countless budding trees, or springs unbidden from the lips of a child or a prisoner in the dock, the answer will be the Truth that is being sought by our heart's question.
But when the answer finally finds its way to the silent questioners, it often becomes apparent that the "Where?" portion of the Courage question is important only after the Truth of some other, more important, more central, "What?" question, is made manifest.
For those who have read this far, I promised history only. So be it. But for those who have hoped for more, pay heed and listen. Sometimes, with wisdom, more is received than is promised, if one will but look.
Easter Monday, 1916.On Good Friday, in the year 1014, High King Brian Ború of Ireland, defeated the Danes, and their Irish allies, at the Battle of Clontarf, thus uniting the Irish under one King.
Though King Brian Ború was mortally wounded in the latter part of the combat, but after his success was assured, his victory returned Ireland to the sole rule of the Irish, after a period of several hundred years in which Ireland was repeatedly sacked by Vikings.
During these long centuries of battling the sea-raiders, Ireland was often partially occupied by these Vikings, and their allies, who installed their own rulers, and laws, in an area called "the Dane-Law" (an area primarily from the seaport, Dublin, and then outward into the country). This area of the "Dane-Law" included many of the most holy places, including the ancient seat of the High King (the Ard-Righ) at the Halls of Tara.
For the next 155 years the Irish continued to rule themselves. Then, in 1169, they were invaded by Strong-Bow, a relative of William the Conqueror, who defeated the English at the Battle of Hastings in 1066, thus bringing the reign of the Anglo-Saxon kings came to a permanent end (unless you are still waiting for the return of Arthur, the once and future King of England).
The Normans (the Norsemen had by then settled in Normandy, France) conquered the British in 1066, and proceeded to gradually push their hegemony over all of the British Isles, which includes Eiré, the Emerald Isle of Ireland, as well as Wales, Scotland, and the Isle of Man.
The Irish, however, were not of a mind to accept this arrangement, and for the next 838 years, with varying success, have resisted the occupation of their little island. Sometimes, as in the 1300s and 1400s, Ireland had much control over their own destiny and culture, but by 1800, the Irish were largely vassals, nearly slaves, in their own land.
Though many movements, by both British and Irish, came up in the 1800s, nothing changed to significantly better the plight of the Irish during that century.
Indeed, the Irish Potato Famine of 1845, reduced its population from nearly 8 million in 1840, through a combination of starvation and emigration caused by British seizure of Irish lands. to under 4 million by the 1880s.
Yet the Irish remained determined to maintain their Irish identity, despite centuries of British efforts to totally eradicate and destroy their culture, religion, land ownership, customs, and even their language. All of these latter steps were taken when the British were not otherwise actively engaged in various genocidal programs, carried out at various times, in various ways, throughout the centuries, to eliminate all things Irish by the sheer, simple and blatant act of trying to eliminate every single drop of living Irish blood which flowed through the veins of the Irish.
This was not a particular or special program for the Irish, at the hands of the British, as British Colonialism has a long and bloody history, and genocide was simply a tool the British used, much as they used sailing ships, the Slave Trade, thumb screws, smallpox infected blankets used as gifts to American Indians, and trade goods and monopolies.
On the other hand, whereas most British Colonies were relatively far away, and dealt with only to the extent that they needed to be to kept in line, the Irish were a mere thirty miles away and were often dealt with in a much harsher fashion than other colonies because they shared so much with the British, in terms of genetics, religion, culture, education, etc., ad infinitum.
Make no mistake. It is an entirely different type of bigotry that comes into play when a colonizing nation subjugates another nation that, for all intents and purposes, is almost identical to itself is in virtually every way. This is compounded even further when the Colonial power (Britain) has among its vassals (the Irish) some of its own most superior minds and intellects of their time (Jonathan Swift, Earl of Longford, W.B.Yeats, Oscar Wilde, etc.)
Indeed, more Nobel Prizes for Literature, written in English in the last hundred years, have been written by Irishmen than have been written by the British. And the population of the British has, during the time the Nobel prizes have been given out, been about ten to twenty times that of the British.
But, instead of turning this OP into a strictly academic history lesson, let us return to the beginning premise and make a comparison.
Implied in the OP is the suggestion that, after November's miraculous election, many of us are carrying around unspoken, unasked, possibly unrecognized questions in out hearts, on our tongues.
Obviously our political position in the US has changed rather more swiftly than the political position of the Irish who, with the clock still running, has entered its 838th year.
So it is not at all odd that we could have a question nagging us, "Where is the Courage?", without having determined who
needs to display that courage, and for what
purpose the courage is required.
This isn't odd. Even though we might all feel that
things need to change, even though we might
not know exactly what things need doing
first, and all the while we sense that those things will
take courage on someone's, or everyone's, part.
The important thing is that we know that some things need to be done, we know that we will need courage to do those things, and we are searching for that courage, even before we know how we must use it.
It is, perhaps, a peculiar trait, perhaps a uniquely American trait, to muster one's courage for a trial of our personal, or national, character even before we know what the task at hand will be. But, as mentioned initially, the "What?" question, the question we need to know before we put our courage to the test, will soon manifest itself. It is the nature of things.
Unlike the Irish before us, who have had 838 years to consider the "What?" question, and valiantly try to succeed at it, we know that we had a wake-up call in November 2006, and need to act, and succeed, before November, 2008. Yet, when we do learn "Where the courage is at", we need then to find out the "What?" question which summons us.
And that is the history lesson for tonight. For, as stated above, "(it) will soon manifest itself. It is the nature of things." It
will happen. So, quickly, to the Irish.
By 1800, Britain had subjugated virtually all of Ireland , and all Irish Patriots had either "been transported" (to America or Australia), been executed, were exiled, or, for the few actives who remained, had literally "taken to the hills, as raparees" (guerrillas if you will). In those days, it was a hanging offense to even speak the Irish tongue.
Yet, with no military options then available to the Irish, they chose to start a Cultural Revival, featuring the Irish Language, Irish music, folkways, etc., and to work closely with the emigrants and deportees who were flocking to the shores of virtually every new nation that was being built.
This included America, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and other English speaking countries, but also many other countries, many in South America, many who were throwing off colonial shackles of their own. The conventional wisdom behind this was that it would allow the Irish to get the best military training, get experience as commanders, and be ready to serve "Auld Ireland" when the time came.
As it happens, the Irish had observed that everytime the British Empire went to war, there would be an opponent who would make good use of any English speaking soldiers who also had a pre-existing antipathy for the British. And being starved out of Ireland by a British government was a great incentive young Irishmen to emigrate to a new country and enlist to fight the British.
In America, the War of 1812, the Mexican-American War of 1846, our own Civil War, and the Spanish American War, all provided opportunities for the Irish to gain military experience. This was done in anticipation of the day when the Irish could take military action directly against the British.
Yet, though the Irish had over 800 years to prepare their courage and keep it readily at hand, it had always been a challenge (being 30 miles away from Britain and 1/10th its manpower) as to "What to do?" and "When is it to be done?"
Still, the promise of this history lesson was to be "It will manifest itself when the time comes". Indeed, it
must be true for we Americans to act correctly, to act courageously, and to choose the right actions and tactics when the time comes.
And, if the promise is true, the evidence should be found in Irish History. And it is.
The Irish took advantage of British Wars to train themselves. And by the first part of the 20th century, Britain had become the largest Colonial and Imperial power in the world. And it accumulated a string of wars of conquest and wars against "insurgencies" throughout the last half of the 19th Century. And the Irish trained themselves in all of them, to good effect.
By the beginning of the 20th century the goal of the Irish Nationalists was set, and codified into a motto, if you will. The "What?" question, which precedes the "Where will the courage come from?" question, would have been answered in terms of their goals, stated either as "Thirty-two counties, Irish and Free!" or "One Island, One Nation, Irish and Free!"
Yet Ireland, without arms and garrisoned by British soldiers, was in a poor position to take an effective military action. Still, for over 700 years, she had remained Irish to the bone, culturally. And Britain had never been able to totally subjugate her periodic "insurgencies".
This made for an interesting dynamic when Britain became involved in The Great War (World War I). The British (and all the countries involved) were being slaughtered in the trenches of Europe by the hundreds of thousands, and needed soldiers. The poverty of the indigenous Irish had always made a tempting target for the British recruiting officers, yet much of the feeing on the Irish Home Front was very much against the war.
Into this mix of politics, war and money, stepped up the man with the plan (more accurately, men of the Irish Republican Brotherhood).
The IRB was a secret organization which dated back to 1847,and was one of many who had members who served in foreign armies to gain command experience. Several of the US Generals in the Civil War were members of the IRB (Gen. Francis Meagher, later Governor of Montana was one).
In the early years of the First World War, two large unarmed Irish paramilitary organizations were formed (marching and drilling each Sunday with broomsticks), The IRA (the Irish Republican Army... still in existence, and the IRV, The Irish Republican Volunteers, largely a Socialist Union Organization).
The IRB infiltrated both of these organizations and gained effective control of the IRA, while the ICA (Irish Citizen Army, controlled by the charismatic James Connelly) cooperated with the IRA, but kept its own command structure.
In 1916, plans were made to have a "rising" in Dublin with the combined forces of these two organizations taking control of, and occupying, certain key civil installations, most notable of which was the Dublin General Post Office and Jacob's Biscuit Factory.
The purpose of this "rising" was to declare Ireland a Free Republic. The leaders had no illusions about their ability to prevail, considered the press coverage to be the most important aspect, second only to the Declaration of Freedom. The fully expected to be executed, as can be seen from the correspondence and poetry (something more than half of the ringleaders were academics, most of them professional poets).
So, along with the courage that was asked for, there was also a plan to which it was applied. The surprise rising of one of the "marching and drilling corps" which was scheduled and executed on Monday following Easter Sunday.
The ultimate result was a bloody repression and counterattack by the British Forces who used Naval Artillery against the rebels in the GPO, armed only with small arms. The "Rising" lasted for only six days, and the leaders were put to death at Birmingham Jail in the early weeks of May, 1916. The executions of the rebels themselves, by the British, went a long way in changing the sentiment of the Irish people toward the Rebellion from one of no support/lukewarm support to active support and ultimate participation.
So the plan by the IRB, and Commander Padraic Pearse, ultimately succeeded in causing a general "rising" in Ireland, at the cost of a "blood sacrifice" to "Roisín Dubh" (Gaelic for Black Rose = Ire;and).
By 1921 a treaty had been negotiated with Britain which resulted in the ultimate freedom of Ireland of 26 of the 32 counties, exactly as it stands today. Six counties still tied to the Crown of England, with twenty six counties belonging to the Republic of Irelandd.
What would have happened if that plan of Padraic Pearse's had not been on the table when the "people found the courage"? It is anyone's guess.
There probably would have been no Civil War between the pro-Treaty Forces (of Michael Collins) and the anti-Treaty Forces (Of Eamon de Valera). But there probably would have been no Irish Free State, nor a Republic of Eiré, either.
Colonial powers tend to give nothing up. And when they promise to do so, they tend to drag their feet or renege entirely.
My concern is that Americans, though subjects of their own country, tend to be treated as if they were subjects only in the same manner that colonial subjects are treated. All the while, our Constitution states that we are not subjects, as such, but the rulers of our own country, through our elected representatives. Yet that is not the way I feel when I walk into my Election Directors Office.
Something must be changed to preserve out democracy, it will take the courage and effort of all of us to change it, and the specifics have not yet come to us. This I do know.
I also know this. November 2006 was a message to Congress, and they seem as if they have not heard us clearly. That is cause for great concern.
This, too, I know. That the elections of November, 2006, were also a message from the American people to themselves, and we do not seem as if we have understood that ourselves. That is of even greater concern than our Reps. and the POUTS not having gotten the message.
Yet, if we pay close attention to the nagging little questions about "Where is the courage?", I am sure we soon find ourselves with the answers about what we, the American people, should be about.
Let us keep thinking and talking among ourselves, reviewing what has happened since November, and continuing to understand that when the courage is needed, we must be prepared to provide that ourselves. And that when the answers finally come to us about what efforts we must make, how we must react to situations, what things that we must change in order to preserve our democracy, that it will be our own duty, and ours alone, to carry out those tasks
A representative democracy is a fine concept. But only to the degree that my representative is doing what I wish him to do, in the manner I wish it done. When my representative ceases to do that, or is unable to do that, it becomes incumbent upon me to replace him. And until such time as the representative
is replaced, it is my responsibility to myself and my fellow citizens to ensure that it us done correctly.
Thanks for all your patience,
Gallegos
PS. Here are some links to the Irish Documents.
A. The Proclamation of the Republic of Ireland The Proclamation of the Republic of Ireland was read by Padraig Parse outside the Dublin GPO on Easter Monday 24th April 1916 which marked the beginning of an up rising against the British on Irish soil.The Irish Proclamation was a statement made by an Irish republican provisional government that claimed Irish Independence from the United Kingdom. The republicans first symbolic move of claiming Independence was not only the reading of the Irish proclamation but also by removing the British Union Jack from the GPO and flying the tricolour and United Irishman flags.
The proclamation of the Republic was drafted and signed by several leaders from the Irish Republican Brotherhood who were Thomas J. Clarke, Sean MacDiarmada,Thomas MacDonagh, Padraig Pearse, Eamonn Ceannt, James Connolly and Joseph Plunkett. Each member was brutal executed by British forces after the 1916 Easter Rising.
Poblacht na h-Éireann
The Provisional Government of the Irish Republic to the People of Ireland
Irishmen and Irishwomen: In the name of God and of the dead generations from which she receives her old tradition of nationhood, Ireland, through us, summons her children to her flag and strikes for her freedom. Having organised and trained her manhood through her secret revolutionary organisation, the Irish Republican Brotherhood, and through her open military organisations, the Irish Volunteers, and the Irish Citizen Army, having patiently perfected her discipline, having resolutely waited for the right moment to reveal itself, she now seizes that moment, and, supported by her exiled children in America and by gallant allies in Europe, but relying in the first on her own strength, she strikes in full confidence of victory.
We declare the right of the people of Ireland to the ownership of Ireland, and to the unfettered control of Irish destinies, to be sovereign and indefeasible. The long usurpation of that right by a foreign people and government has not extinguished the right, nor can it ever be extinguished except by the destruction of the Irish people. In every generation the Irish people have asserted their right to national freedom and sovereignty; six times during the past three hundred years they have asserted it in arms. Standing on that fundamental right and again asserting it in arms in the face of the world, we hereby proclaim the Irish republic as a sovereign independent state, and we pledge our lives and the lives of our comrades-in-arms to the cause of its freedom, of its welfare, and of its exaltation among the nations.
The Irish republic is entitled to, and hereby claims, the allegiance of every Irishman and Irishwoman. The republic guarantees religious and civil liberty, equal rights and equal opportunities to all its citizens, and declares its resolve to pursue the happiness and prosperity of the whole nation and of all its parts, cherishing all the children of the nation equally, and oblivious of the differences carefully fostered by an alien government, which have divided a minority from the majority in the past.
Until our arms have brought the opportune moment for the establishment of a permanent national government, representative of the whole people of Ireland, and elected by the suffrages of all her men and women, the Provisional Government, hereby constituted, will administer the civil and military affairs of the republic in trust for the people. We place the cause of the Irish republic under the protection of the Most High God, whose blessing we invoke upon our arms, and we pray that no one who serves that cause will dishonour it by cowardice, inhumanity, or rapine. In this supreme hour the Irish nation must, by its valour and discipline, and by the readiness of its children to sacrifice themselves for the common good, prove itself worthy of the august destiny to which it is called.
Signed on behalf of the provisional government,
THOMAS J CLARKE
SEAN MACDIARMADA
THOMAS MACDONAGH
PADRAIG PEARSE
EAMONN CEANNT
JAMES CONNOLLY
JOSEPH PLUNKETT B. "The Foggy Dew" w/ Derek Warfield & others w/ Unreal period photoshttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NVYZpN0Z-4oC. Easter, 1916 by William Butler Yeats, Nobel LaureateI HAVE met them at close of day
Coming with vivid faces
From counter or desk among grey
Eighteenth-century houses.
I have passed with a nod of the head
Or polite meaningless words,
Or have lingered awhile and said
Polite meaningless words,
And thought before I had done
Of a mocking tale or a gibe
To please a companion
Around the fire at the club,
Being certain that they and I
But lived where motley is worn:
All changed, changed utterly:
A terrible beauty is born.
That woman's days were spent
In ignorant good-will,
Her nights in argument
Until her voice grew shrill.
What voice more sweet than hers
When, young and beautiful,
She rode to harriers?
This man had kept a school
And rode our winged horse;
This other his helper and friend
Was coming into his force;
He might have won fame in the end,
So sensitive his nature seemed,
So daring and sweet his thought.
This other man I had dreamed
A drunken, vainglorious lout.
He had done most bitter wrong
To some who are near my heart,
Yet I number him in the song;
He, too, has resigned his part
In the casual comedy;
He, too, has been changed in his turn,
Transformed utterly:
A terrible beauty is born.
Hearts with one purpose alone
Through summer and winter seem
Enchanted to a stone
To trouble the living stream.
The horse that comes from the road.
The rider, the birds that range
From cloud to tumbling cloud,
Minute by minute they change;
A shadow of cloud on the stream
Changes minute by minute;
A horse-hoof slides on the brim,
And a horse plashes within it;
The long-legged moor-hens dive,
And hens to moor-cocks call;
Minute by minute they live:
The stone's in the midst of all.
Too long a sacrifice
Can make a stone of the heart.
O when may it suffice?
That is Heaven's part, our part
To murmur name upon name,
As a mother names her child
When sleep at last has come
On limbs that had run wild.
What is it but nightfall?
No, no, not night but death;
Was it needless death after all?
For England may keep faith
For all that is done and said.
We know their dream; enough
To know they dreamed and are dead;
And what if excess of love
Bewildered them till they died?
I write it out in a verse -
MacDonagh and MacBride
And Connolly and Pearse
Now and in time to be,
Wherever green is worn,
Are changed, changed utterly:
A terrible beauty is born.
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