Lone Trees

Sometimes lone trees do survive even under the harshest of conditions. A few branches may no longer carry sap, and the trunk may be bent by battering winds, but the tree lives. Today, a well spoken writer, Glenn Greenwald, posted a response to personal attacks against him and "liberals" (don't assume you understand the definition until you read the post) in general. It is not a new theme on the Internet, but rarely is the idea explored with such clear insight and care.

The name calling is useless; it reveals nothing about policy ideas or basic assumptions about what government is or worse, what the role of an individual is in our society. The bedrock of our United States' uniqueness is the power, respect, and dignity of the individual. When party lines are demanded or commanded, when people forsake their personal ideas for alignment with a group, or person (no matter how fleetingly powerful), we have stepped back into the dark ages. We are better than this, and we know it. Whatever "side" one is on, we are still citizens of the same country. Thus, when name calling, innuendo, or mocking highlight an issue or conversation, it is time to turn the dial, write a letter, or simply recognize that someone is trying to play on our weaknesses and not our strengths. At some point, we are going to have to fix the current mess of contention and deceit, or we will face another civil war. Ideas are to be explored, evaluated and measured based on one's perspective of the world and life.

A lone tree totally exposed has much less chance of getting swept up in a forest fire. We are in this together, but the only way we create positive change is through individual dignity and determination like that of Glenn Greenwald today.