The Only Causes Worth Fighting For

"We just watched "Mr. Smith Goes To Washington" last night. Corruption and greed have been a part of politics since at least 1939, and probably (he suggested sarcastically) before that. When the people (us) have had enough, we (they) will look for change. Somehow we (us) have forgotten that." This was part of the e-mail I wrote to my mother-in-law in response to the video she sent me about the upheaval in Spain.
It could have been Greece, or France, or Syria. You can type in "unrest in" before just about any country in the world and get back some pretty disturbing footage of chaos in the streets. The people (us) are fed up. The way things are tightening up around the globe, it would appear that we have a summer of rioting ahead of us. Some of it will be put down in angry ways. Some of it will be negotiated in less violent terms. Some of it will flare up, simply to burn out in the haze of indifference that pervades so much of our existence. If change is hard, revolution is virtually impossible. That is why this summer shows up as such an amazing thing.
Meanwhile, back here in the land of the brave and home of the free, we (us) continue to grumble and strain against many of the same issues. And yet, it's up in Canada where things are on fire. Corruption in the parliament? Economic meltdown? Nope. The Canucks lost the Stanley Cup. Talk about lost causes.