Tuesday, October 02, 2007
Tuesday Vigil: Witnessing
My turn at Street Prophets for the weekly meditation, so I adapted a basic writing exercise:
"If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be." Thomas Jefferson
We tend to think of "witnessing" in the larger meanings of the word; witnessing for religious faith, witnessing for the oppressed & voiceless, witnessing in the legal sense. Somewhere I read that when two Irish clans met on a battlefield, their respective bards were sent to a nearby hill under protection. If one clan were annihilated, its history & heroic final fight would be honored & live on through poetry & song. The poets were witnesses. Such great responsibilities. But don't we often fail to witness what is most ordinary in our lives? By witnessing, & remembering those things or occasions, however mundane, we give them significance.The rest of it is here. Hope you visit.
Labels: about writing, religion
