I grew up in Berkeley in the 60s and 70s. As a child, I was aware of the ongoing struggle to make this country and this world a better, freer, more humane, more just, and more harmonious world. I learned about the people who stood up and spoke against the sins of our society. I joined peace marches, attended integrated schools, and had soul-searching conversations with my girlfriends about how we would advance the cause of women.
The torch burned brightly when those Berkeley radicals passed it to me. In recent years, its light has been dimmer. I’ve had moments when I’ve been afraid that the torch might burn out completely.
My 16-year-old daughter posted this on her LiveJournal yesterday:
| I see these old sci-fi films and see some things that, frankly, I consider barbaric. Oh, Trek’s not utterly backwards, but still. And my mum keeps reminding me that back then those things weren’t considered barbaric. It’s scary to realise that when I see Han Solo committing sexual harassment in Star Wars, it wasn’t even terminology that had been invented when the film was made.
Then I think, I used to believe that war didn’t happen. I still have trouble realising that actually, my freedom can be taken away. I can’t fathom the idea of not being able to vote when I turn 18. I honestly used to think that racism was strictly a thing of the past. I still can’t believe any of these things, really. And then I look around and realise that the majority of people my age and even a decade or two older think the same way. Why is feminism not a liberal issue any more? Because people, both men and women, think that it’s over. Why is racism not a mainstream issue at all? Because people think it’s only practiced by old-fashioned rednecks. Why were people so shocked by 9/11? Because we believed, all of us, that there was no danger for our nation any more. When people assume that all the evil is in the past and that nowadays people are too modern to do the horrible things people do, when people assume that “oh, it can’t happen here,” when people forget that the past is not over and that history does repeat itself, then we lose what so many people fought to gain. And I’ll be damned if I’m going to give up what millions of people suffered for to make my children repeat that fight. I will damn’ well hold on to what I’ve got and not let myself take it for granted, because the future deserves better. |
I think that she and her generation are going to need every ounce of that fighting spirit to get through the struggles of their times.
