Just say NO

Elizabeth Taylor RIP. I liked her in a Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and Who’s Afraid of Virginia Wolff. 

But we are an obsessed culture; obsessed with icons that at most give us a momentary diversion from the daily grind, give us a pretend life to wish for in the hope that the reality of daily life might suddenly turn into eternal sunshine, rainbows without rain, and blankets of wildflowers in late spring that last forever. 

The country, and probably the globe, spent much of last week mourning Ms. Taylor. During that time several thousand more dead were found in Japan, and because of radiation issues, thousands more are dying without knowing that they are. Ordinary people, who want a different life in the middle-east, have died or been imprisoned as they fight for change. And the two wars that Obama should have shut down immediately continue to kill.

I’m not offering a plate of sour grapes, nor do I want to take away from Ms. Taylor's life or death, but instead of mourning one human’s passing we should celebrate that one human—Ms. Taylor—singlehandedly forced our collective conscience to recognize HIV-AIDS as a serious disease, to force our leaders to recognize that to ignore this disease was unconscionable, that the disease preys on all equally: poor, uneducated, rich, gay, straight.

In forcing us—especially our “leaders”—to look at the disease she was a driven person. She refused to give up, refused to hear the word no, refused to accept that apathy and prejudice were a family value.

It is this same attitude that we must use to take back our government, reshape our economy, develop a forum for civil dialogue, and say NO to extremists—the Tea Party (America’s Taliban) and the politicians who superficially embrace them--who would redesign our country into a society mired in contention, hate, and a severe loss of rights for those who disagree with their agenda.