Chris Butler sent me this:
Spent all last week back in Ohio for the 35th anniversary of the Kent State shootings. Sparsely attended, not much media play either...but oh so life-affirming for the geezers that were there. And it felt different from the other reunions…calmer, deeper…something. Dunno why…age?...wisdom?…just living? It really struck me this time how much May 4th has become a part of me/my life. The anger is still there (goddam...i hate those bastards), but also a sense of it being as much a part of me as an arm or a leg. When one is confronted w/ something so terribly wrong, it becomes a moral absolute. Not in the sense of how those right-wing Christians are glomming onto Biblical teachings as 'the only way'…more like as a way of judging all parts of your life. I ducked - my friends didn't - and so I'm living on borrowed time = make each moment count. Don't sweat the small stuff/save your freak-outs for the real crises vs. the day-to-day bullshit. Be happy now/pay yourself off now/joy now…'cause life is short and flimsy. Don't tolerate injustice & unfairness & hypocrisy…if life is unfair, change it/don't be surprised at the pettiness of human nature, but don't succumb to it. Those old idealistic hippie/political values have turned out to be valid and enriching - solid..and practical. In short…I am never lost as to 'what to do'…that single event has become a tool for parsing right & wrong.
