To everything there is a season, it says in Ecclesiastes. A time for beginning; a time for ending. Last week, Jews celebrated Rosh Hashanah, the new year. Time to shake off the past, reexamine yourself, and start anew. Everything comes full circle.
So it is for me. This experiment of a weekly column has been a failure; it is time to acknowledge that, and to move on. It's not easy to shake off the past, but it is the only way to move on to the future. A new year and a new life.
After two months, this column has not generated the interest I had hoped for; it has not made the world any better. To those few who read it faithfully and responded--either positively or negatively--I do thank you; your comments meant a lot to me. But it has not gone where I had hoped it would, so I must find something more appropriate to do with my life. Therefore this will be my last column.
But this is not a time to be glum. Endings are but beginnings. As Percy Bysshe Shelley wrote in his famous poem, "Ode to the West Wind," "Drive my dead thoughts over the universe / Like withered leaves to quicken a new birth!" Shelley knew that for new leaves to be born, the tree had to be blown free of the old withered leaves by the West Wind. For me to find something new and exciting, I must shed the past, like a leaf in autumn.
This theme is very much on my mind right now, not only for my professional career, and not only for my personal life which is also at a crossroads, but for our whole country. As the November election approaches and the political campaigns take shape, I realize that our country has the same opportunity which I am taking for myself. We have the chance to shed the old withered leaves of politics-as-usual, of the moneyed-interest parties, and bring in new, outside leadership as a breath of fresh air.
Ralph Nader's campaign has become energized. Nader is not in anybody's pocketbook--he has made a career out of criticizing corporations and corporate-interested politicians who fatten their pockets at the expense of the people and their environment. The content of his character is noble; he is an honest man whose integrity is unquestionable. He offers a true alternative and the hope of a new America.
Did anyone watch the debates last night? Bush and Gore, two boys born of privilege, so alike down to the same color tie, argued over minute points. Because they agreed on almost all of the big issues, and they both support the corporate rape of the working class and the environment, they came across as two dueling factions of a single "Republicrat" Party. Most Americans are rightly turned off by both of them. But they are starting to turn their attention to Ralph Nader as a real alternative.
Many liberals had been criticizing Ralph Nader for taking away votes from Gore, leaving Bush as the winner. But now those liberals, feeling deserted by Gore, see the act of voting for Nader as a message to the Democratic Party that it had better return to its roots if it wants their support. Meanwhile, thousands upon thousands of previously disinterested, apathetic non-voters are registering and plan to vote for Nader.
The Greens urge people to "Vote your hopes, not your fears." And if everyone who hopes Ralph Nader will win will vote for him, they may just discover that they are the majority and their dream could come true.
Think about it for a minute. Try to imagine the United States under by Ralph Nader. Social justice prevailing. The environment protected. Diplomacy, not force, used to solve international problems. Workers paid a decent wage. A man in the White House who really means what he says.
Let that West Wind blow over us, clearing out the entrenched political system of corporations buying politicians; let a new breath of freedom fill the air. Let us move on to a more positive national destiny. Let America lead the world by example, not by force. And let the world judge us not by our might, nor by our image, but by the content of our national character.
And so it is with this optimistic thought that I now take my leave. It has been mostly a positive experience for me. I have learned a lot, not only from my research, but more importantly about the content of my own character. I do not know where my life shall take me next, but I am excited by the prospect of change and energized by the thought of facing new challenges. I am filled with a sense of hope, not fear. Though I will not forget the mistakes--or the joys--of the past, I eagerly journey into the future...