By Ronald Sitton In America, we have people starving in the streets though farms are shut down and being sold as resort land. In America, we have generations of families having children at younger and younger ages because our government will support them. In America, we have people who make more money sitting at home than they can make on a job. In America, we have people who can't get a better education because of culturally and racially biased tests. In America, we have people being required to work longer hours and more years to make ends meet thus depriving younger generations the opportunities to become financially secure. In America, we have people dying daily because of a disparity of medical support. In America, we cut down trees for paper though we could grow flax, hemp or other natural derivatives that make better paper. In America, we pay our neighbors in Central and South America to destroy the rainforests so they raise cattle to feed us but disregard the dangers of raping the land and destroying the ecological balance of nature. And so you ask, "So what? There's nothing I can do about this. I'll go home, watch "Friends," play Super Nintendo, drink my bourbon and coke, take my Valium, turn on my radio and think on it tomorrow." Well, what happens if tomorrow is too late? It's time for a change today. Not just a change in government, but a change in the way people think, react and treat each other. A change in the way we view government and the way it views us. Thomas Jefferson, author of the Declaration of Independence, recommended that it happen every 20 years or so. Gandhi taught that it could be done without violence. Martin Luther King Jr. actually lived out Gandhi's teachings. Singers talk about it and older generations revel in mild manipulations of the word. Of course, I'm talking about revolution. Webster defines revolution as the completion of a course or a sudden, radical or complete change. I would expand this definition. I'm talking about a revolution that destroys all social barriers. I'm talking about a revolution that is open to new ways of living that improves our lives while caring for our environment. I'm talking about a revolution that looks at the effects on the seventh generation as the basis for making decisions today. I'm talking about a revolution that feeds its own. Many of you would say I'm nuts. What do I expect you to do, join a commune? I would say yes. Plant a garden? I would say yes. Limit your childbirths? I say yes. Make people work for a living? I say yes. Free and treat our so-called criminals? I say yes. Quit working for less than you're worth and longer than is necessary? I say yes. Quit eating beef? I say yes. Change the tests, change the rules? Yes. Barter instead of buy? Yes. Change our value definitions? Yes. Overthrow the government? Most definitely yes. So you ask, "Doesn't that mean violence?" I answer it is violent to kill younger generations through overpopulation and eventual starvation; to rape the land and subject future generations to radiation through global warming; to kill the hopes and aspirations of an entire generation by refusing to change, thus making that generation only a husk of what it could be. The violence occurring in current society may mean that violence is the only way to create a revolution. But I am also reminded that violence breeds violence. Can America stand a violent revolution? With the sociological, political, sexual and racial unrest already present, there would definitely be a blood bath in the streets. Therefore, I recommend a peaceful revolution. Stand up and be counted. Raise your voices in protest over that of your transgressors. Become a thorn in the government's side. Begin the change from within. When this nation was formed 220 years ago, our forefathers gave us a peaceful process to work a revolution: the vote. So we find politicians who will stand up for these ideals. If the politicians become too crooked, if the vote doesn't work and we're backed into a corner, then we come out fighting. And when you're beaten down, when your family is torn apart, when you are starved and dispossessed of everything but your self respect ... remember: be true to your goal, not for your sake but for the future of the world. It's true that you could do everything in your power and nothing would change today. But it may change tomorrow. If the country's consciousness changes, perhaps there will be a world in which your grandchildren and great-grandchildren could flourish. It is the seventh generation that will suffer the most if we refuse to act now. Likewise, it is the seventh generation that will benefit tomorrow from what we do today. It's worth the effort. Everyone has a part to play and intrinsically, we know how we can help. Let the teacher teach, but in a class of the underprivileged. Let the warrior fight, but on a field of minds. Let the doctor mend, not for money but for the value of one life. Let the politician work for those who are deprived instead of those who are fortunate. And this is only the beginning. If we don't change now, if we wait until some other time that is more "ripe for change," there is only one certainty: death through apathy. We're almost there anyway.
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