Today is the 40th anniversary of the Milwaukee 14. I was 25 years old on Sept. 24th, 1968, when 13 other men and I entered the Selective Service offices in Milwaukee, took thousands of 1A files outside and burned them. Also 40 years ago, in 1968, Marquette (MU) students(of which I was one at the time), after winning a major battle against “institutional racism”, took on the issue of having Marquette Being Faithful to the Gospel and No Longer Hosting Departments of Military Science. The first issue, like that of “institutional racism” at MU, was won. There is no more forced selective service system. The second issue, resistance to military training for war at MU, continues on. Actually, after 40 years I realize there is no “winning” or “losing”; what matters is how you work for changes you seek. Like in a garden, it is the “how” not the “what” that determines the outcome. Violence breeds only more violence, and wars do not end wars. It is in the Way you change, not what you change, that determines the end. George Orwell taught us that lesson in the book “Animal Farm”, and Gandhi says it clearly in the statement: “Be the change you want to see.” This is an old lesson of history that often is forgotten.
In the financial crisis of today we see some awareness of this lesson of history: that the ways and means are important. Some are calling for quickly throwing 700 billion dollars toward the very people who created this financial mess. Others are saying, yes we need to do something, but how we do it is more important than doing it.
In growing soil, it is how we do it that is important. In creating castings, it is how we do it that is important. Without the proper means nature tells us we do not reach the end. The end does not justify the ways and means. The Ways and Means decide the end.
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