| August 26, 2005 Red Alert by Soren Wuerth The
Flight of the Finger
We stood on a dirt track, 30 runners with our coach yelling instructions, when the geese came. At first there were three or four, the scouts, flying low over a bluff, over us and toward a vast yellow-green expanse of tundra. Then, above the roar of the coach, we heard the honking of the others. Like a squadron of forgotten fighter planes emerging from a bank of clouds, the geese came in formation. The runners took notice, and, as the numbers of geese increased, the group swelled with cheers and, then oddly, applause. When I’ve seen Canada Geese in Anchorage, I’ve always looked up. For most urban residents the honking of the biennial geese migration is little more than a quick distraction, and then it’s into the car, or the restaurant or the mall. When some of the village runners held up an index finger, pointing it like a gun, one of the birds suddenly arced and dropped to the ground. The students whooped and screamed. A few runners ignored their coach’s order to line up for another sprint and instinctively raced across the tundra toward the bounty that fell from the sky. So it was just a few months ago that Cindy Sheehan pointed toward George W. Bush’s Crawford, Texas ranch and, to the applause of millions of supporters, asked, “for what noble mission did my son die in Iraq?” One woman. One action. Since Sheehan began to make a stir, Bush has dropped from the sky. His approval rating has fallen into the 30s and papers are calling Cindy’s action the “tipping point.” In Anchorage, awake and aware patriots joined Cindy’s struggle with a vigil of their own. The results of those pointed fingers were more than symbolic. Out in the tundra, someone with a .22 took food from the sky. In Texas, a single activist took a president to task for an illegal, immoral war with the single shot of a question. Both actions were, in the context of their communities, nonviolent. And nonviolent action is the most powerful action. The applause for the magnificent flight of the geese echoed, for me, with international applause for Sheehan. As they flew on past their shrinking muskeg bogs and lakes—freshwater drying fast, as any rural resident can attest to, from global warming—some may land, in a few days or weeks, in Anchorage. The mayor may pause to see them pass his window. Mark will not aim a finger. He will look back down at his computer where he will read his quote on a flat screen, one he made at a mayor’s conference, reported in Grist Magazine: “There are members on my city council who think the term ‘global warming’ is more objectionable than the term ‘liberal.’ Some consider it a wacko radical concept.” To get his applause, Mark needs to consider Cindy Sheehan. Mark needs to get the point. Soren Wuerth is perhaps Alaska's best known community activist. He resides in an undisclosed location in Southeast Alaska and can be reached at soren@insurgent49.com. |
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| Copyright
2005
Insurgent Media. All Rights
Reserved. in-sur-gent (in sur'jent), n. 1. a member of a group which revolts against the policies of its leadership. |
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