"The worst thing a progressive can do these days is sit at home, alone, and fret"

[Better Believe It]

Letter to a Discouraged Progressive
By Sherry Wolf
December 17, 2010

If progressives continue to look upward toward politicians for answers, disappointment is guaranteed. But there are more people than in decades attending leftist meetings, reading left-wing blogs and Web sites and seeking out independent left alternatives to the politics of Washington.

I don’t honestly know what it looks like when a society starts to go from grumbling into mass resistance. I’m too young to have experienced the last major upheavals, despite my head of salt and pepper hair. It’s actually been that long.

I am certain of two things: 1) The numbers of people wanting to read and figure out a way forward are greater than at any time in my adult life; and 2) The worst thing a progressive can do these days is sit at home, alone, and fret. It only reinforces the isolation and defeat that the people at the top want us to absorb. We have a long road ahead, but there are actions to get involved in and groups to join.

As I look toward the next year, I think about the teachings of Howard Zinn, a kind and brilliant historian who passed away early this year after a life well-lived and engaged in struggle.



Sherry Wolf

Read the full article at:

http://sherrytalksback.wordpress.com/


"To be hopeful in bad times is not just foolishly romantic. It is based on the fact that human history is a history not only of cruelty, but also of compassion, sacrifice, courage, kindness. What we choose to emphasize in this complex history will determine our lives. If we see only the worst, it destroys our capacity to do something. If we remember those times and places — and there are so many — where people have behaved magnificently, this gives us the energy to act, and at least the possibility of sending this spinning top of a world in a different direction. And if we do act, in however small a way, we don’t have to wait for some grand utopian future. The future is an infinite succession of presents, and to live now as we think human beings should live, in defiance of all that is bad around us, is itself a marvelous victory.
"
— Howard Zinn

http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/show/83112

[WingDinger]

1. Wrote a song about it, and it goes like this

http://journals.democraticunderground.com/WingDinger/40

[LongTomH]

2. "Net recommendation: 0 votes (Your vote: +1) "

The un-reccer battalion is out in force today!

[emilyg]

4. Rec #4

[emulatorloo]

3. Thanks for posting that n/t

[xchrom]

5. Recommend

[nc4bo]

6. I'd never know she existed if it weren't for your OP. Thank-you! nt

[Better Believe It]

9. Check out her appearance on Hardball with Chris Matthews

Watch the video at:

http://www.chicagonow.com/blogs/big-gay-welcome-wagon/2010/08/sherry-wolf-debates-ground-zero-mosque-on-msnbcs-hardball-with-chris-matthews.html

[felix_numinous]

7. K & R!! Thanks for a great post.

Exposing corruption is a great accomplishment, and it is important to keep doing that--however the psychological effects of reading the endless horror stories have to be taken seriously.

Along with facing all the abuses of power, we must empower ourselves--we have to take time out to celebrate life, stay connected, listen to good music, see art and stay inspired.

Change involves something breaking down--we cannot attach ourselves to what has to fall away, but what we can create!

Stay well good people~~

[TheWraith]

8. Someone who doesn't think having a temper tantrum on the internet is the answer?

She can't be a REAL progressive! :sarcasm: