Revolution

"You know, it's not hard to see that there is this great imbalance,

and that things aren't right.

I know that, but for me I suppose it really hits home

if I stop and think about this moment,

cause it's happening right now.

In the same moment you have a generation

who are sitting around entertaining themselves,

watching reality television,

which, to be honest, is anything but real,

while you have a child who is being prostituted behind closed doors,

and robbed of their innocence.

It's not fair that we can go about consuming

every single material option that comes our way

while the widow and orphan are stripped of life's basic dignities

because they're victims of a conflict that simply isn't theirs.

It's not fair that there's a generation

who are choking on their obesity,

while, at the same time,

there's 30,000 children who will die today

for lack of food.

It's not fair that we have no problem going about

spending $3 or $4 on what is basically

glorified tap water in a bottle with a fancy label,

while you have entire communities suffer at the hands of disease

because the only water they have access to is foul and polluted.

It's not fair that we can sing and dance and jump around

in our freedom and in our liberty,

while, at the same time,

the slave remains captive out of sight and out of mind.

It's not fair that we can sit and watch the evening news

from the comfort of our living rooms

and pity those who lived where the storm hit

or where the ground shook

or where the water rose,

and simply feel sorry for them

and then change the channel

and get on with supper.

Is it fair to walk past the homeless man and give him nothing

in the assumption that he'll spend it on booze or cigarettes,

or to suggest that he should go out and get a job?

I mean, who are we to judge

the alcoholic

or the prostitute

or the addict

or the criminal

as if we are any better?

Who are we to forget

the downtrodden

or the oppressed

or the marginalized,

while we go about chasing the dream?

We see this imbalance and we amend,

"That's not right. That's not fair."

But all too often, that's all we do.

Because for us to do any more,

is actually going to cost us something.

And if that's where it ends,

perhaps then it's fair to say

that when we ignore the prostituted child,

that we actually lend our hand to their abuse.

That when we ignore the widow and the orphan in their distress,

that we actually add to their pain.

When we ignore the slave who remains captive,

that it's us whose entrapping them.

That when we forget the refugee,

that it's us who's displacing them.

That when we choose not to help the poor and the needy,

that we actually rob them.

Perhaps the only fair thing to say

is that when we forsake the lives of others,

we actually forsake our own."

Excerpt from We're All In This Together

The I-HEART Revolution Documentary

Showing in theaters November 4, 2009

http://www.theiheartfilm.com/