did it?
i'd love to see your answers to the following questions in comments:
1 - what long term changes have you seen in your everyday life, at work, at play, at home, on the street?
i see a much sharper division between those who support war and those who oppose it, and a much greater conflict within those who are unsure. i see alternately an avoidance of the issue altogether and animated debate about it, sometimes by the same people.
2 - what long term changes do you see in the political landscape of the country and the world?
i see an opportunistic group who are in power taking advantage of the omnipresent talk of war and fearmongering in the press to push a domestic agenda which is anaethema to the public at large. i see a squandering of the worldwide goodwill we experienced after 9-11 by our leaders, and also an all too quick denial of kinship by the world's people based on a myopic notion that the bush administration represents the american people.
3 - what has changed in the way you feel about life, work, play, other people?
life is more precious than ever to me. work is much less central to my life, more about being in a comfortable place and less about money. i play harder and more often. people are to be appreciated and respected. their stories are to be listened to. the lives of strangers seem much easier to identify with.
4 - what have you deliberately changed about the way you interact with other people and the earth?
i have put my money where my conscience is, lessening my ties to the oil economy, changing the way and the quantity that i consume. i go out of my way to express goodwill to people of other cultures and to try to learn about them. i have rediscovered some of my lost activism, proclaiming my views loudly, speaking up to ignorance and hate. i am doing as much as i can to reduce my footprint on the planet as a whole and my immediate environment in particular.
5 - how have your goals and dreams changed?
many places on earth that i would love to visit are now unsafe for americans. i may never get to the cradle of civilization in the middle east, i may not make it to southeast asia. i no longer make long term plans as concretely as i used to. i live much more in the moment, from day to day.
thank you to everyone who responded last friday.