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SubTitle: Churches
Posted by: rs on 11/20/1997@23:56hrs:
In Reply to: Re: Churches posted by: DAN BLAINE on 11/20/1997@23:03hrs:
I lived across from the Moravian Church on Victory at Hodges and went thru Pack and Troop 26 there, including Ten Mile River. We'd meet in the basement meeting rooms and go to the annual religious service for the Scouts. A lot of boys from all around were in that troop, not all members of the church, in fact most were not. A number of dads came on the hikes and camping trips. When I think back on it I think how lucky I was to have been a part of it. When I see what goes on today, I think things have changed. I doubt they really have. The difference is looking at the world thru the eyes of a ten or twelve year old when you think everything is supposed to go allright and the eyes of a middle-aged guy who realizes they don't.
We were talking about cynicism, today, some legal colleagues at a luncheon, and the guy who defended Elmer "Geronimo" Pratt, a Black Panther convicted of murder in 1972 in L.A. was describing how recently the conviction was overturned on the grounds Pratt was framed as a result of the FBI's Cointelpro and other misdeeds of government officials caught up in the spirit of the times, no doubt. I picked up on the theme of "cynicism" he mentioned during his talk, and noted that yesterday's paper contained news of the lengths the U.S. planned to go to overthrow Fidel Castro in Cuba, like sink a ship at Guantanamo and blame it on him and suchlike. Thirty years ago I wouldn't have believed we would do such a thing, because, after all, we're the U.S., the good guys, and we don't play dirty tricks like that. But yesterday, I believed it. So the speaker told of a trial he was participating in where he asked the jury whether they would believe the uncorroborated word of a police officer and the jury panel just laughed. We seem to have experienced a change in attitude towards government and officials, or at least a lot of us have. I'll thank Nixon and his progeny for that, but I must say that my hero JFK has sure been taking a beating. Maybe it's better to be disillusioned. Didn't learn that in no church, Moravian or otherwise. Whaddaya know?
rs