Home

Such a week. Not a week for reading. Weather was too nice. A week of
experiencing. Good things and Silly things! A silly thing. 15 people singing
happy birthday to me while I am getting my annual Flu shot in front of the
Flower Shop at the local Price Chopper ( Courtesy of Julie and a guy named
Ralph who we don't even know).

The week started Saturday, at the Rolling Thunder Down Home Democratic
Tour, where Julie and I, working with the American Friends Service Committee,
gathered signatures from Kansas Citians to support an effort to get the K.C.
Mo. City Council to pass a resolution opposing the Patriot Act.

But the Highlight of that day was a 2 1/2 hour talk by Patch Adams (Oh you
remember who Patch Adams is - He is the guy who plays in real life the
character of Robin Williams in the movie of the same name). A man of true
compassion. Dressed in his Clown Pants, and his Clown Shirt (no they don't
match) Blue hair and a red bulb nose, he related stories of how he developed
his Gesundheit Institute and a No Charge Hospital, where Humor,
Compassion, Laughter and participation replace Drugs, Therapy and a
professional demeanor.

The most moving part of that presentation was a film, that was made on his
visit to Afghanistan. A little history - Patch was asked by the Pope to go to an
Afghanistan hospital to minister (as a Clown) to the children there that had
been ravaged by the war. Since the Pope contacted him, asking a favor,
Patch felt he might just have a little bit of leverage with the Pope. So he
decided to press his perceived advantage and laid out 'his proposal' to the
Pope (kind of a gutsy move). He told the Pope he would be happy to go; but
only if he could take with him Clowns from 6 continents (he said he would have
liked have taken Clowns from all 7 continents but he didn't know any Clowns in
Antarctica). The Pope agreed. So he gathered his group (about 15 as I
recall, from all 6 continents). They made the trip.

The Film - The most Horrible I have ever seen, yet totally compelling. You
could not look at it, but you could not look away. Screaming children, burned,
mutilated, traumatized, living with unimaginable pain. Their mothers faces
showing feelings most of us could not conceivably endure. Terrible to watch,
yes. Possible to turn away from, no. Why, our bombs were the cause of much
of this suffering. In a land we are now considering abandoning (again)
because it isn't in our interest to stay there.

Yet the Clowns were there, working in tandem with the Doctors to distract
these children's mind away from their pain. Balloons, Silly Clown noses,
Silliness of slap stick, caused these children to forget their pain maybe for just
a moment. Even the Mothers faces eased and they had to smile. Yet in their
time off the Clowns cried, and cursed the pain these children were
experiencing- for no reason. These children were not the culprits, they were
not the cause, they were just what we call "collateral damage". How callous we
are!   If ever you have the privilege to see this film, you will never support war
ever again. Patch is the Clown Saint representing all of those "Good Things"
that most of us are not.

Oh and By the way - Patch thinks Dennis Kucinich should be President.   Why
you say? He has visited with him and feels he is the most forthright, honest
candidate, who has the best plans. What do you think? Visit his website and
view his ideas. www.kucinich.us/ (but hum John Lennon's "Imagine" while you
are reading)

..............And on a lighter note! Julie and I went to the Kemper Museum today,
viewed Jean Lowe's The Course of the Empire.   Jean's stuff blew us away.
She looks at today, who we are and what we do to the land. How we impact
nature, our surroundings, our environment. She looks at how we destroy our
environment, the very thing that supports us - to satisfy our consumerism. Not
recognizing that what we do today robs us of our tomorrow's. (i.e. We continue
to gobble up the hand that feeds us). She tells her story using paint, paper
mache, wit, and her artistry to shows how we have been dumbed down by
corporate society. How we have allowed our affluence to seduce us away from
participation in public life thus losing control of our destiny. We have
relinquished our power to the corporations,and politicians. Now we try to
satisfy all our needs through the gross accumulation of "things".. She has
fantastic landscape portraits, bigger than all outdoors, depicting how we level
the landscape, to create housing complexes. And.... And small paper mache
plates where the center displays the eyes of the animals we consume on them.
But to me the most intriguing part of the exhibit were her book shelves. Made
of Paper Mache, very realistic (looked like wood) with a vast array of books on
self help to satisfy our every need.    As the Docent explained "It looks like a
Doctor's office where he can give you a book to cure all of our perceived and
real ills". With titles like "Happiness is a Kitten", And, "A Stitch in Time (an
adolescents hand book to plastic surgery)" she illustrates how we are pacified
with ideas that keep us in check by directing all of our thoughts toward our
self gratification. To me the best of the titles that relate to our countries
direction today. were - "Global Economics & Your Grandchildren" ( illustration
a little girl and a little boy foraging in garbage cans).   And "International Trade
Deregulation and the Expanding Job Market" (illustration - 2 prostitutes
leaning up against a lamp post). Think about it.

And so I have to apologize for my "musing"! For those thinking I was going to
direct you to some websites that would inform, I have certainly let you down.
(except for Dennis's website). But next week it will be a little different. We will
look at how the current Administration has gutted the clean "anything" acts
that were the dreams and the highlight of the Nixon Administration. Next week
it is "your" environment. Breathe in!

Speak out, Be Heard and
Take Care
Paul






						Rolling Thunder

							A Down Home Democratic Tour