Barriers

Maybe if Jefferson had not promised his dying wife that he would never remarry he would have chosen to marry his mistress Sally Hemings, a black woman; maybe not.

Maybe if Darwin had not been ridiculed by his colleagues on the H.M.S. Beagle he would have kept his faith in God.

Maybe if Dostoevsky wrote grammatically his works would have lost their power.

Maybe if the Union lost the American Civil War the U.S. would not be the imperialist power it is today. Maybe more Native Americans would still be alive. Maybe civil rights would have been given to black people sooner. Maybe if the war had not been fought there would be less enmity in the world today.

Maybe if Lenin had chosen to work instead of live off income from his family’s estate he would have understood what it meant to be a working-class Russian. Maybe if had not enjoyed an elite upbringing he would not of viewed the peasantry and proletariat as dumb multitudes in need of an elite “vanguard” to tell them what’s best.

Maybe if the first Zionists had not grown-up in 19^th century Germany they would have not chosen to pursue a program of ethnic nationalism like their non-Jewish contemporaries. Maybe if Iranians had white skin Netanyahu would not threaten them with war; but, then again, maybe not.  

Maybe if the U.N. representative sent to oversee the partition of Palestine had not been killed by a future prime minister of Israel and his terrorist outfit, the map of the Middle East would look slightly different today.

Maybe if Lyndon B. Johnson and his colleagues knew how to speak Vietnamese they would not have escalated the Vietnam War.

Maybe if Martin Luther King Jr. had not been murdered the establishment would have continued to demonize him for his efforts to organize labor and for his opposition to the Vietnam War. Maybe he would currently be known for his promotion of economic justice and broader challenge to oppression of all forms, not just racial.

Maybe if Charles Manson had a stable home-life, or even just a stable home, he would not have formed a cult.

Maybe if the U.S. had not siphoned money off to radical Islamists during the Soviet-Afghanistan War there would be no Taliban or al-Qaeda.

Maybe if Bush and Cheney had chosen to fight in Vietnam instead of dodge the draft, they would have understood the “terror” inherent in war.

Maybe if the government sponsored artists instead of war the world would be a more beautiful place. Maybe we would rediscover something long forgotten: peace.

Maybe if presidents of universities did not draw their six-figure salaries from the pockets of children they would be able to call their work “public service” with a straight face. Maybe if their carpetbagging occurred in another country if would be called “stealing candy from a baby.”

Maybe if Republicans categorically opposed war they could honestly say they were “pro-life.”

Maybe if Democrats actually opposed war they could honestly say they are different from Republicans.

Maybe if corporate executives lived alongside migrant farmhands they would realize that their hands do not move heaven and earth – maybe they would feel a little bit embarrassed by their seven-figure salaries.

Maybe if bankers had to personally evict the families whose homes they foreclosed there would be fewer homeless people.

Maybe if war-profiteers – those manufacturers of death – knew what the fruits of their labor were, they would not be able to sleep at night. Maybe they don’t.

Maybe if the U.S. had not chosen to starve to death over one-half million Iraqi children after the Gulf War, Osama bin Laden would not have approved 9/11.

Maybe if we turned off the streetlights and looked at the stars more people would believe in God.

Maybe if people stopped looking at “love” in cost-benefit terms our concept of “love” would be more than a euphemism for mutual exploitation.

Maybe if we surrendered our pride we would finally understand what the word “love” means.

Maybe if love was practiced history would stop repeating itself, the bent components of human nature having been straightened out again.

Maybe if people looked around they would be surprised that good can continue to exist in the world instead of growing bitter about the bad.