Annual May Day post

In May 2002, someone on a mailing list I was on posted a message asking people to take a moment of silence on Memorial Day, saying "Let us ensure that those who have made the ultimate sacrifice for our freedom are not forgotten."

In response, I wrote this, which I like to recall every Memorial Day:

And in that silent moment remember, too, the many nonviolent warriors who struggled, searched, sacrificed, for justice and freedom, who remain without songs or memorials to celebrate their lives or their passing, but who at some moment stood weaponless against the machinery of oppression and showed in their simple “No more” a force that can move history.

And here now in 2016, with our "practical" choice limited to on the one hand someone who voted for the Iraq War, took credit for the Libya attack, approves of the drone wars, and would have undermined the nuclear deal with Iran and on the other hand someone whose rambling, self-indulgent monologues make George Bush seem coherent - that is, between the hawk and the doofus more interested in seeing if he can score the ultimate pitch than in actually being president - it is wise to remember that while some describe war as a force that gives us meaning, it is better described as a racket and a lie.