Under heaven nothing is impossible.
All you need is a human being with a heart.
–Chinese
proverb
What can one person do, I ask
myself.
I see the dangers, the
indifference
of those in power to how we will
suffer
if those obsessed frack the
ancient
rock under us to release the gas
they
claim we need. Scientists warn of air,
water, and earth pollution, of
earthquakes
along our fault line. What can I do? I
planned to be a token activist,
use my
books, my letters to the editor,
my work
on Election Day as my part. In two years
the drilling may begin. I hear despair
in people’s voices. They tell me the rich
and powerful have it all sewed
up.
Nothing can be done. They speak of
leaving the state, of its being
ten years
before we can shift these
leaders
who have gerrymandered
themselves
into office and now attack
voting
rights. It’s as if they aimed their
high-powered rifles at poor
people:
they cut unemployment benefits,
increase the sales tax, refuse
to
extend health care. One of them said,
“Let people get hungry; then
they’ll
go back to work.” How?
Where?
Good people, thoughtful people
act
like terrified deer unable to
move
out of the headlights of an
oncoming
truck. One human being with a heart
can change that, wake those who
despair, save us from this evil
hurricane
set to blow us off course, away
from
true democracy, away from civil
and
human rights. People say change
yourself first. I will.
I’ll write more
letters, put up more signs, send
more
emails, talk to more
people. People can
change things. I have the heart, the will.
I can’t do it alone, but I can
start a
revolution, one person, one word
at a time.
Judy Hogan
