Happy New Year Mom, sister, and the FBI agents who've googled their way to this post. Of course, when I say "bomb" I refer to that age-old practice of inundating our elected representatives with letters of encouragement, discouragement, and any other couragement that we think they should consider in their deliberations. Let's bomb the White House this year with calls to end this despicable war. Hear hear!

As long as you're here, how about a movie recommendation? Lost Boys of Sudan (2004) carried Heather and me into the new year last night (this morning) with a mixture of sadness and intense fascination. It's a documentary about two of the nearly 4,000 Sudanese boys orphaned in that country's brutal civil war (now roughly 19-20 year-olds) and eventually brought to the U.S. to find work, an education, and the perversity of a country they had long perceived was like Heaven.

The predominant theme is the incredible difficulty these guys find just getting started in this society. For the ethnomethodologist within us all it's a great study of the taken-for-granted rules of everyday life. Upon arrival they're quickly given an orientation to the local Safeway to learn of new fruits and products for personal hygiene. They're dumbfounded by insistent warnings by their hosts against same-sex public displays of affection in this country. Circled around their speakerphone, they're perplexed by the high cost of their phone service as the operator tries to explain the costs of 3-way calling and the "*69" feature.

The Christians who apparently run this program of resettlement don't hide their evangelical intentions and their attempts to help are tinged with an obvious misunderstanding of what these guys most need and want (girlfriends, jobs, an education). The boys come to question whether the difficulties they encounter here are any less than those of the refugee camps they left behind. It's as damning of the extravagance of Western society as it is enlightening about the hurdles for this remarkable refugee population. Three thumbs up!

Labels: movies

Last night I watched, again, the 1982 film Gandhi. As perhaps the most recognizable social movement icon ever, you may be surprised to find so many parallels between Mohandas K. Gandhi and me. That's right, me.

Let's start with the obvious: we're both men with strong vegetarian convictions. We're attracted to Indian women but fighting temptation. Our fathers held socially prominant positions (his a local political leader, mine a nuclear engineer) and we are more educated than 99% of the world's population (he as a lawyer, me as a sociologist).

Gandhi and I both highly value minimal living - that is, not taking more than we need - when others are less priviledged. We agree on the virtues of democracy and the necessity of resisting unjust authority. Like Gandhi, I believe non-violent resistance can overcome violent oppression. We both take loving our fellow humans - friends and enemies alike - as a moral imperative that should not be sacrificed in our struggles against oppression. When others do not receive an equitable share of bread, water, dignity, or respect, we believe we have a moral duty to rectify that. We also share the belief that personal actions - such as the food we eat, the clothes we wear, and the words we choose - can be important means for rectifying these injustices.

I could go on.

Sure, you could find differences if you look hard enough - we have vastly different senses of style, he's Indian and I'm American, he's a Hindu and I'm an atheist - but this would be nit-picking, wouldn't it? As Gandhi saw Jews, Muslims, Hindus, and Christians as brothers under the same god, I see us all as passengers on the same great, yellow submarine.

I've got to admit, I admire Gandhi more than anyone, ever. He oozed humility, breathed compassion, and never stopped challenging himself to live up to his ideals. He made idealism a possibility - his had concrete effects on the world around him.

I'll also admit that on every organic, union-made, logo-less t-shirt I wear I have written, what would Gandhi do?

Labels: Gandhi, movies