That's all nonviolence is - organized love.
~ Joan Baez ~
singer, songwriter, and activist
Tonight I watched Gran Torino, a Clint Eastwood movie. Clint's character is a retired Korean war veteran whose neighborhood now has a high occupation of Hmong. He is a racist. No one is spared. Throw in a little gang violence, a couple of fist fights, and some blazing guns and you get the full picture.
My reaction to the racial and cultural slurs surprised me a bit. That level of violence so often goes unnoticed--or at least unrecognized as violence. Each time someone threw a derogatory term, I flinched inside.
The physical violence only begat more violence. It didn't take a rocket scientist to see it coming. And it made my heart ache.
I guess it was a good movie to evoke these responses in me. But if anyone asks me how I liked the movie? I hated it.
So, Joan Baez, sing us a few verses of Blowin' in the Wind.
Seriously, when will we ever learn?
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6 comments:
one of my kids said almost the same thing about this movie. actually told me, mom you won't like it.
Organized love - I love that!
Slurs are the worst - all kinds.
Always wanted to see that movie and now I'm glad you told me about it. At this moment in time for me, I'm exuding peace so thank you! Organized, grounded, sophisticated, and not so sophisticated love is what I want and bleed right now and hopefully, forever! Sharing and sending a arm full to you Ms. Wanda!
I truly can't tolerate any form of violence as entertainment these days. When you spend so much time with two little people so pure of heart, the contrast is unbearable.
Love.
Full Soul...
I can't either. I go to the video store and skip all the violence (including war), drugs, dysfunctional families, horror, mafia, and a fair amount of the suspense.
This time, I went against my intuition and rented it because someone had recommended it highly. Next time...I trust my intuition.
I haven't seen it yet, and may not. I find my heart aches every time I see these images or hear these terms. I ache because of the hatred from whence they come, the ignorance, the lack of intellectual questioning of assumptions.
I ache to think about it.
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