Eight Words: "You've got to Stop this War in Afghanistan"

this didn't work either, or did it?

I don't know much about Richard Holbrooke, and I don't trust anything the media says about him.  Some of my tweeps are saying he was a dick; perhaps, but his final words moved me: "You've got to stop this war in Afghanistan."
  Maybe those weren't his final words and somebody's yanking our crank: it doesn't matter.  It's amazing to think that the dude they sent as Special Envoy to Pakistan and Afghanistan might not have been there to pad his resume or give somebody political cover - he may have been dedicated to peace all along.
  The thoughts and feelings of a single man matter, even if they fail to change anything.  I've seen a few posts criticizing Bernie Sanders for his speech last Friday.  Some people sarcastically reported, "Look! Bernie Sanders' filibuster magically resulted in the immediate defeat of the tax cut compromise."  Of course, it didn't, and it won't.
  But it doesn't matter.
  As Bill Ayers said in his Citizen Radio interview last week:

"To be an activist is not just a calculation of what works; to be a radical, to be a person on the side of humanity, to go to the root of things and want to stand up for justice and peace is not a calculus of, 'if I do this, will it work?' . . . You didn't choose to be born into a world of tremendous imbalance, a world on the brink of extinction, a world of capitalism raw and unchecked and running amok, a world of invasion and occupation, and militarism on a scale that we've never seen in history before; no one chose that.  But you do have a responsibility to choose who you will be in light of that."

remember remember the 5th of november

  The idea that Holbrooke believed in his heart that a war should end is reassuring, inspiring, and potentially world-changing.  We live in the age of viral information.  All viruses start out very small. A world-changing idea starts out in one human brain, maybe a few at the same time.  The beauty of our networked society is the "hive mind."  Holbrooke's last phrase and Bernie Sanders' 8-hour speech may have planted a viral idea in the mind of a little girl somewhere, or a reporter somewhere, or a pissed off IT guy somewhere.
  Something got Julian Assange started.  Somebody pissed off Malcolm X.  Something lit a fire under Michael Moore's ass. Once upon a time.
  For better or worse, we are all on stage 90% of the time now: our embarrassments, our fuck-ups, our ugliness are all exposed, but so are our inspiring moments. Wars are on TV, but so was Captain Sullenburger's landing, Susan Boyle, and yes, Bernie Sanders' speech.
  The universe notices everything. I'm an atheist, but I believe in redemption. Somehow it was important for Holbrooke to come out against the war. Somehow it was important for one member of the United States Senate to show some socialist grit, to speak extemporaneously for 8 hours, at 69 years old, on the effect of a routine bullshit tax bill on real people who are hurting.
  The tax bill will go through - but somewhere, because of Bernie, a federal prosecutor is rededicating herself to the fight against too-big-to-fail banks; a college student is starting a podcast on socialism; a woman is asking around at work about starting a union.
  The war is not going to end this christmas because of Holbrooke, but somewhere a young man has decided not to enlist, a diplomat is rethinking a position, and a college professor is changing the lecture for her class.
  Did Bernie Sanders fail?  Did Richard Holbrooke fail? They did if you think they did.
  Our decisions matter - yours and mine: you don't have to be famous or important.  We have a responsibility to choose who we will be in light of the war in Afghanistan and the decline of the middle class. Holbrooke took a small stand for peace.  Sanders took a small stand for equality.  A small stand is all we get, but when you're right, you're right:
  Remember the Whos, after the Grinch took all their christmas shit? They made a choice. Not to cry, but to sing. That's why Whoville fucking rocks.