A Letter to a Retired Activist

As intense as the pursuit has become, the murderers have not only not been brought to justice, but they seem to become emboldened each time more evidence is revealed. 

This is helped by the fact that what people know about them is being framed by friends of the criminals and people don’t believe in their guilt.  They’re busy going to work, earning a living, coming home, mowing the lawn, looking at new cars, watching American Idol.  They learn all they need to know from the criminals' enablers and protectors and, as far as they’re concerned, the criminals have never broken any laws. 

You were anxious and nervous and frustrated because you know that the criminals are guilty and that there's been a long line of criminals and that the entire process has had Americans believing in myths and stories and lies. 

Finally, you came to the conclusion that, after many years of seeing the cracks in the walls, pointing them out and listening to people tell you that they’re supposed to be there or that they’re not even there or blaming the wrong people for the walls’ worsening condition and constantly getting no help in repairing the wall, all you really need to do to recapture your sanity is open the door and leave the house.   

You’ve found that the sun shines outside of the house and it’s warm and if you don’t buy anymore houses there will be no more cracks and you won’t have to try to point them out to people and it won’t matter if they know or not and you surely aren’t going to continue to ask for help repairing the wall because you’re no longer in the house.  You’re no longer in any house. 

You worked hard to fix the house and discovered that you could live just fine without it, thank you.  You’ve adopted Gandhi’s “Be the change you want to see in the world.”  You now help people smile who are staring into the face of their last days by playing oldies on your trombone.  That’s the change you want to see; you want to see people smile. 

Me?  I have to repent and have my go at fixing the cracks.  The house is so close to crumbling in on itself, like those buildings that are intentionally demolished by professionals with explosives, that it will take more than just one person to hold it up.  Additionally, it will take an assemblage of carpenters with skills above and beyond any others to rebuild it. 

The world doesn’t know it, but it owes you a debt of gratitude for working on the house for all those years. 

Though it’s a cliché, “better late than never” describes where I now stand in the queue and, from where I stand, it’s my turn. 

Thank you so much for what you did for all of those years, John, and I only hope that I can approach making the kind of difference you made during your “angry” years.

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