Most Popular Choices
Share on Facebook 38 Printer Friendly Page More Sharing
Exclusive to OpEd News:
OpEdNews Op Eds    H4'ed 5/4/16

Dan Berrigan: "How can people who are supposedly so wise, respond to realities in such a base or baseless manner?"

By       (Page 1 of 2 pages)   4 comments
Follow Me on Twitter     Message Kevin Anthony Stoda
Become a Fan
  (9 fans)

"Make the connections between all the issues as activists and uncover the spiritual roots of our work for peace and justice....We're trying to discover what it means to be a human being in an inhuman time."--D Berrigan

In the Mid-1960s, a surprising face-to-face discussion took place at the request of the Kennedy family at a private retreat. This debate involved Secretary of Defense, Robert McNamara, and peace activist and poet, the late Dan Berrigan.

Robert McNamara stated in a somber tone to the Kennedy's who were present and who had invited both he and Berrigan to a private debate or discussion on war: "Well, I'll just say this to Father Berrigan and everybody: Vietnam is like Mississippi. If they won't obey the law, you send the troops in." Moments earlier, Berrigan had once again asked McNamara to end the war in Vietnam.[1]

Decades later, Father Dan Berrigan shared of his first reactions or thoughts on just how-off-the-mark McNamara seemed to be for him and many Americans. Specifically Berrigan stated in one Democracy Now interview,

"[T]his [Secretary of McNamara] was supposed to be [among] the brightest of the bright, one of the whiz kids, respected by all in the Cabinet, etc., etc., etc. And he talks like a sheriff out of Selma, Alabama. Whose law? Won't obey whose law? Well, that was the level at which the war was being fought."

This is the American leadership at War with Vietnam that I was born in and raised in during the 1960s and 1970s. I, like Berrigan, could not and cannot comprehend how America's so-called best and brightest continue to sound, in terms of promoting war and war making, like some high-horse Selma, Alabama Sheriff who is ready to beat up peace activists and civil rights marchers at a moments notice.

Has this been your American experience, too?

From the 1980s through the early part of this century, whenever I went to the nation's Capital to lobby against the USA's role in wars in Central America and later against the newer wars in the Middle East, I met time-and-again many such "bright people" from all over the USA working in Washington, DC who simply spoke like"inhuman beings [living] in an inhuman time."

Dan Berrigan wanted to encourage all of us though to plod on, often inviting others, "Make the connections between all the issues as activists and uncover the spiritual roots of our work for peace and justice....We're trying to discover what it means to be a human being in an inhuman time." [2]

I want to live my life like that.

Are you, your friends, your family and community doing the same?, I.e. "trying to discover what it means to be a human being in an inhuman time."

If not, please reorient your lives and our lives as a greater community called to do better than we are today.


NOTES

[1] Daniel Berrigan: Remembering the Life and Legacy of the Antiwar Priest & Poet , http://www.democracynow.org/2016/5/2/rip_father_daniel_berrigan_remembering_the


Next Page  1  |  2

(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).

Must Read 2   Well Said 1   Valuable 1  
Rate It | View Ratings

Kevin Anthony Stoda Social Media Pages: Facebook Page       Twitter Page       Linked In Page       Instagram page url on login Profile not filled in

KEVIN STODA-has been blessed to have either traveled in or worked in nearly 100 countries on five continents over the past two and a half decades.--He sees himself as a peace educator and have been-- a promoter of good economic and social development--making-him an enemy of my homelands humongous DEFENSE SPENDING and its focus on using weapons to try and solve global (more...)
 

Go To Commenting
The views expressed herein are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of this website or its editors.
Follow Me on Twitter     Writers Guidelines

 
Contact AuthorContact Author Contact EditorContact Editor Author PageView Authors' Articles
Support OpEdNews

OpEdNews depends upon can't survive without your help.

If you value this article and the work of OpEdNews, please either Donate or Purchase a premium membership.

STAY IN THE KNOW
If you've enjoyed this, sign up for our daily or weekly newsletter to get lots of great progressive content.
Daily Weekly     OpEd News Newsletter
Name
Email
   (Opens new browser window)
 

Most Popular Articles by this Author:     (View All Most Popular Articles by this Author)

BED-INs and Other Protests Needed Now

Why have German-, Italian- and Latin American Internment during WWII been kept out of the USA History books?

GULF CIVIL SOCIETY FORUM calls for Gulf Monarchies to abandon absolutism and to adopt European-style Parliaments

TRIBE, TRIBALISM AND CULTURAL CHANGE-KUWAIT 2008

A WORLD OF PRETENDERS: Partial Review of the Filipino Novel, THE PRETENDERS by F. Sionil Jose

PHILIPP ROESLER, of Vietnamese Descent. to Head the Health Ministry in Germany, as his own Party Plans to Push for more

To View Comments or Join the Conversation:

Tell A Friend