The sparrow sat at the edge of the highway, chipping at a large piece of bread. Three massive ravens swooped in, drove the sparrow off, seized its bread, and started to fly away.
I was driving back from church this morning (happy mother's day all)and observed this while waiting at a red light.
To my surprise the sparrow, though dwarfed, outnumbered, and overpowered, counterattacked, winging fearlessly after the three black marauders, pecking, scratching, harrying them, trying to get a piece of the bread for itself.
The small bird's fearlessness astonished me. As I regularly lurk on Daily Kos, I swear the first thought that came to my mind was that some of our democratic senators might improve themselves by this sparrow's example.
I root for the underdog; I guess that's why I'm a social entrepreneur. I wanted to jump out of my car and throw rocks at the ravens, but in an instant the sparrow snatched a crumb and darted away.
The stoplight turned green and I drove on, but I've been thinking about it all day and I can't deny that this damn, brave, tiny, sparrow makes so much more sense than a lot of what I see right now.
Because the ravens are having a good go at us too, aren't they. You want to talk about universal health care? EFCA? Global warming? Environmental protections? Personal freedom? Privacy?
On issue after issue we as individuals compete with powerful interests that want what we have, what we need, or what we might get. And, it seems to me this sparrow did a hell of a lot better job of fighting back than we do.
I'm not claiming conspiracy. Just the natural order of things. Ravens exist because scavenging for food works, and because they are good at it. They aren't evil. Scavenging is their purpose.
If health care companies oppose a public health care option or business interests object to EFCA, it's not that they are evil, per se, or even wrong for that matter, it's just that their purpose is to take your labor and your consumer needs and turn both into profits for shareholders. Your needs don't enter into it. Actually, your ability to live, or not to live, doesn't enter into it. It's nothing personal, it's just business.
Although I celebrated when Barak Obama was elected, I understand that Barak Obama has his own fights to win. It's been said many times on this forum that his election isn't the end of the fight, it's the start. Sure, at least he doesn't think it's the role of government to ensure that business interests triumph over ours, but he cannot carry this fight for us.
And all those democratic gains in congress were gratifying to be sure. But this isn't their fight either. They won't lose their health insurance when they leave congress, will they? The revolving door to K Street is always there for them, if they want it.
No this fight is ours, and ours alone. Want access to health insurance? Want the ability to freely unionize? Want to stop global warming? Or keep some of the productivity gains that over the past decades have gone to the top 20 percent?
Then be the sparrow. Harrass them, scratch them. Crashing the gates is all good. We need to peck their god damned eyes out.
It's nothing personal. Me? I just really need the health care.