R.I.P.

~ susie ~ 6 Comments

http://youtu.be/nZlCTcqdaug

My friend Lyn (aka commenter Shadgirl) killed herself Saturday night, an hour or two after she left my house. I just found out when I tried to call her and her sister-in-law answered her phone. She took all the pills she had and climbed into the bathtub, where the guy she was breaking up with found her.

I’d spent the day with her, helping her work out a budget and prepare to have a cleaning lady work on her house this week. You know how it is when you’re depressed — you can’t seem to get started on anything, and I was trying to help. Turns out she was about $500 in the hole every month and didn’t know what she could do about it. She was making plans to get a new roommate after her ex left, but nothing was final yet.

She was on Zoloft. I don’t know if that had anything to do with it.

We’d known each other since high school. I can’t say I’m completely surprised, but I can’t quite believe she’s gone.

Beyond Vietnam: A time to break the silence

~ susie ~ 4 Comments

There’s a reason why Martin Luther King Jr., the great man whose birthday we celebrate today, was such a threat to the establishment. Not because of the soft-and-fuzzy, non-threatening MLK the media so loves, cherry-picking his legacy to leave only the pacifism, but because of his radical views on social and economic justice. (As he said, “I take the gospel seriously.”)

It saddens me that so many young people seem to have no real understanding of who he was, or why he was so revolutionary. To them, it’s just a day off from school, or a day taking part in public service. But why? And why do so many political pretenders claim his legacy while shunning the hard work of justice? Only the Occupy movement echoes the same moral voice as King’s.

“Beyond Vietnam: A Time To Break The Silence” might be the greatest speech of our generation. I can think of nothing that comes close.

Dr. King attacked the military-industrial complex, calling the U.S. government “the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today.” He said war was the enemy of the poor. He was right then. Sadly, he still is.

If you listen to the entire speech, you’ll see how very little has changed since he made it.
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