by John Murtari
There is a lot of “activity” in the area of a Kid’s Right to be with their parents. There are especially a lot of men/father’s groups that have meetings, write letters, lobby legislators, etc, etc, etc… Don’t know why, but this old joke came to mind:
I was walking down a sidewalk late one night and happend across another man who was frantically searching the ground near a street light. I asked the man what was wrong, and he told me, “I lost my car keys and I’m trying to find them.” Always ready to help, I joined in the search and begin looking around in the grass.
Minutes later, with no keys to be found, I asked the man, “Exactly where did you lose them?” He replied, “Oh, up the street about 30 yards.” To which I replied in exasperation, “Then why are you looking here?!”
“Oh, the light’s better here,” he replied.
Quite truly, I just got back from a New York State Meeting about “father’s rights”, that was held in a nice hotel. I had also participated in lobbying in Albany, not too painful either. And writing a letter to the editor is always sorta nice…maybe some of you have done the same things?
But you know what, is any of that stuff really doing any good, or is the light just better?
I enjoy history, and brought to memory the struggle over segregation. Or how about women winning the right to vote? I seem to recall their was some “pain” involved with all that, and some sacrifice. DO NOT read this as a call to ANY type of violence, quite the contrary, I firmly believe in the plan outlined in the article on Civil Disobedience. There is some sacrifice involved, and we may have to realize that
Please understand, I really want to believe that significant social change can be accomplished through “letter writing”. I would love to get some real world examples!