Carrying Pictures of Chairman Mao

If I had met William Ayers in the sixties, I would have liked him. And listened to him. And agreed with him.

In fact, I agree with his educational views today. He is profoundly on the side of children, and devotes himself to the methods by which they can learn, grow and remain free to be themselves. (Like me, Ayers was influenced by “Summerhill,” A.S. Neill’s groundbreaking book on child-directed education.)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Ayers

But one thing I would not have done was become Ayer’s acolyte, as was dramatized by Evan Rachel Wood in “Across the Universe,” the recent film which used Beatles lyrics to dramatize the sixties. I would not, as did three others, have died while making a bomb for Ayers.

I can recognize the difference between an evil condition and an equally evil reaction to it. Yes, I understand the compulsion to test oneself by stepping further and further out on the limb of opposition, but I also know that taking one’s own dare can become more important than righting the original wrong. I believe in retaining my humanity even though living with unacceptable conditions, as I have done during the past eight years of Bush’s Indiana Jones Adventure in Presidency.

Ayers, however nobly motivated to end the Vietnam War and achieve social justice for all, slipped into fanaticism. He followed his passions directly into an arena he shares with fanatic, right-wing zealots who bomb family planning clinics.

Extreme actions do play a role in furthering cultural evolution: Angry women burning their bras helped all women enjoy more equitable pay, even if they were excoriated for their unladylike behavior. Blacks who rioted in Detroit in the sixties, chanting, “Burn, Baby Burn,” helped define the tolerable limit of suppression and ended the racist assumption that they were powerless to oppose it.

The leader of a nation, especially one as culturally polarized as the United States, should understand the full range of hopes, views and expectations that he must oversee. He should know pain as well as joy, hope as well as despair, courage as well as fear, and vision as well as prudence. In my opinion, Barack Obama, who could have slipped into the arena where Ayers chose to go but didn’t, because he chooses to create instead of destroy, is an ideal candidate for the position.

He should also appreciate the lyrics to this Beatles song:

You say you want a revolution
Well, you know
We all want to change the world.
You tell me that it's evolution,
Well, you know
We all want to change the world.
But when you talk about destruction,
Don't you know that you can count me out. In.
Don't you know it's going to be all right,
all right, all right.
You say you got a real solution
Well, you know
We'd all love to see the plan.
You ask me for a contribution,
Well, you know
We all do what we can.
If you want money for people with minds that hate,
All I can tell you is brother you have to wait.
Don't you know it's going to be all right,
all right, all right.
You say you'll change a constitution
Well, you know
We'd all love to change your head.
You tell me it's the institution,
Well, you know
You better free your mind instead.
But if you go carrying pictures of chairman Mao,
You ain't gonna make it with anyone anyhow.
Don't you know it's going to be all right,
all right, all right.