What if ___ was alive today...

[Pra]

This is actually a two/three part...erm..thought. I was watching a Hindi film about this old man who gradually goes insane because he believes he kills Gandhi. Long story short, he asks and takes a look at India now some 60+ years after Gandhi's death and asks what Gandhi would do if he were still alive today.

These sentiments seem to be popping up quite a bit in India, or at least in my impression of it. Movies like "Raang De Basanthi", and even "Lage Raho Muna Bhai", examine this dilemma; a conflict between idealism and reality.

For India, it seems that the Colonial Gov't that the people sought to supplant has only been replaced by a somewhat inept bureaucracy, which is in some ways worse than that of before. A farcry from Gandhi's vision, but perhaps a necessary one, in light of the failings of socialism.

Nonetheless, my main point in writing this is that I think I'm seeing similar things in America today. There is disillusionment in the government as a whole; for me at least, I think that our forefathers would greatly question the path our country has taken. A lot of freedoms have been taken and I earnestly believe that if these fathers were alive today they would certainly beg for change.

I think this sentiment seems to me to be the greatest in the black community; it seems to be amongst the most abject and depraved in terms of historical circumstance, but its current state seems to be the most depressing, in terms of what the black leadership of the past envisioned.

For instance, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HEh8QoFN7OE (warning, profuse usage of the 'N' word.)

I think that this reevaluation is something that is going worldwide; without the guiding hand of these leaders, corruption has taken hold of once beautiful dreams. The question then comes to the power of the community of concern. If the community is healthy, it can repair itself; I see positive signs in all three examples, but is it too little too late? Particularly, for the black community, with the crack cocaine epidemic overcome, I feel that greater things can come; unfortunately, the 'pop' part of the culture seems to only encourage the self destructive and ignorant behaviour...hopefully this can change.



Perhaps this is too much of a rant to really make sense.

[Last Roman]

If Washington were alive today, he'd put a flintlock pistol to his head.

[Last Roman]

delete