Martin Luther King, Seeking Justice
or Receiving Justice
May 1st means a lot of things to many people. It is a pagan holiday, a day to honor Mary, the Mother of God, a Workers rights day, a day to show off military might and here in Milwaukee a day to focus on Immigration reform.
The meaning of May 1st changes from where you are and who you are. So does the meaning of words. I used to use “family values” to describe basic human values of concern and love for all people. Than the conservatives took it over and made it stand for conservative values only.
I thought of myself as a person for peace and justices. However, now when one says they are “seeking justice” they usually mean punishment or revenge.
“Peace through strength”, war, violence and nuclear power sure messed up the word peace. Government existing for the “common good” is gone these days that now government exist for the individual.
Human rights and dignity are now often due to like persons, like Americans, but does not seem to apply to most woman, children and men in places like Pakistan or Palestine.
During the Vietnam War a famous general said that “to save the village we had to destroy it”. This makes no sense to me as the police officer who just shot eight times and killed a person with mental illness as the person was attempting suicide.
Another word change was thrown at me today by a friend. He used the word “patience” to mean keep silent about an issue with poor and Catholic Church which was supposed to be resolved over two years ago. Patience now seems to mean, in certain instances, keeping silent.
One reason I am attracted to poor, ill, children or many elderly person is that say often what they mean. I like that and have little patience for word games. A family without a bed, refrigerator or stove does not use the word “patience” to describe waiting and frustration for “justice”, the old kind of justice.
Sometimes I think people can misrepresent words or other people, even change the meaning and think it makes a difference. When will we ever learn words are just symbols to describe reality and by changing the meaning of words changes nothing in reality.
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