Spin Dry

The woman pictured above is one of America's heroes, and she has just passed away, at the age of 92 -- proving that, sometimes, the good don't die young. In case you don't recognize her, that woman is Rosa Parks, and it was fifty years ago that she decided she's had enough, wasn't going to put up with society and government's bullshit any more, and she said "No."

It was, perhaps, the biggest "no" ever heard, as it launched the Civil Rights Movement to national attention, started to turn the tide of feeling, and pushed this country at last on the road to ending segregation.

It took one small, lone woman and a two-letter word to start that ball rolling. When Rosa Parks refused to move to the back of the bus, she reminded us all that this country is governed by We the People. All those elected officials just work for us, and when we're tired of them or think they're doing a really bad job, it is our right and duty as citizens to fire them. We must speak up and tell our servants, "No."

"No" to your abuses and oppression. "No" to your lies and theivery. "No" to your incompetence and failure. No, no, no.

We need a hero (or heroine) right now to say "No." History has not yet recorded who the great activist of this generation will be. Is it Cindy Sheehan? Patrick Fitzgerald? Someone who has yet to be arrested, oppressed or repressed by this Administration?

Whoever it is, may they have the courage of that little woman from Montgomery, who had the guts to just say "No."

Quoth the late Ms. Parks: "I'd like people to say I'm a person who always wanted to be free and wanted it not only for myself; freedom is for all human beings..."

Remember that last bit, and work for it. Freedom is for all human beings.