Sometimes I would go off the deep end. I thought that the revolution would happen simultaneously on December 18, l984, in Jerusalem, Israel and Burlington, Vermont. Because those were two of the places I called home, of course. As you can tell, my fantasies were a bit desperate, if not slightly narrow in focus. I did hold out the hope that to effect permanent change, it would have to be non-violent.
Violence begets violence, and peace is the point here.
We Americans are led to believe otherwise. Another truth I've had to face over the years is that pain is the touchstone of growth. Most people don't bother with gigantic changes in behavior unless they've been suddenly kicked in the butt by life. And here's one more lesson I've picked up. If pain goes on for a long period of time, you can almost get used to it and deny that it even exists.