Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource TomPaine.com Stories Description An account of the resource TomPaine.com -- a liberal advocacy organization -- distributed a public call on August 12, 2002 for 300 word "opinion advertisement" similar to those that the organization had been running regularly in the op-ed page of The New York Times. TomPaine.com received hundreds of submissions from the public, most of which the September 11 Digital Archive has preserved here. TomPaine Story TomPaine Story: Story "Toward a More Perfect Union","Living in Rome Living in Rome, you could be forgiven For forgetting your country is at war. You could be forgiven for believing That while you might be inconvenienced by that war, Most likely you wont, And that while the daily news may seem a bit darker these days In the end it will all come out right. There is nothing so telling As a room full of self-satisfied patriots Warming each others hearts with assurances Of just how beloved their nation truly is, How powerful, How just, How free, How innocent. There is nothing so telling as a nation that sings itself to sleep each night With love songs to itself. There is nothing so telling As a national war machine that only grows stronger And richer Each day that passes without peace. Living in Rome You could be forgiven for wanting to win the war Without having to fight it, For refusing to allow for the possibility that those who hate you Might have some justification, For denying the accusation that your countrys heavy-handedness And self-interested myopia Might be treading just a little too painfully On the very peoples you swear Youre only trying to help. Living in Rome you pray for peace. You pray for strong leadership. You pray for re-isolation from the ills of the world. You pray that your children will not have to be afraid Of bogeymen who wrap themselves in sheets And religion And a terrible hatred And come to insane conclusions About just what must be done. Living in Rome Its easy to forget that the vast majority of the world Doesnt. Its easy to be ignorant of the fact that what you see as the Imperial Might of Rome May be felt by others as simply a heavy black boot Pressing down hard on their scrawny necks, May be considered by others not such a great thing, As a nightmare of epic proportion, A thing that will throw a giant dark shadow across their doorways And their childrens doorways And their childrens doorways Until something is done. Living in Rome you might be excused if you cannot believe That anyone would wish for something to be done, That anyone might wish to remove the heavy black boot From his scrawny neck. Living in Rome you never think about the sixty million civilians, Innocent victims of twentieth century armed conflict, Nor of the forty million soldiers who passed Along with them. You think that you live in a safe world, A world in which security is a birthright, Happiness a pursuit, And a peaceful retirement is something you earn. You think that forty thousand children dying everyday from hunger Out in the rest of the world Is a problem, yes, And a cause for great concern, And you want someone to do something about it, But at the same time you cannot conceive That somebody living somewhere else, Somewhere not in Rome, Might hold you responsible, You or someone who lives just next door, Someone who shops in the same supermarket you do, For the death of a child, Perhaps her child, Perhaps even today, Because there was not enough food to eat. I live in Rome, you would say (and you might be forgiven), I do not live in Africa, I do not live in Afghanistan, I have nothing to do with the rain, I have nothing to do with the seed that refuses to sprout, The grain that refuses to grow. I cannot make it grow. I may live in Rome, but that does not make me responsible For every drop of rain that refuses to fall In Afghanistan. Living in Rome you would be right, of course, Exceedingly right. The raindrops that refuse to fall in Afghanistan, The seeds that will not sprout in Africa. The fish that no longer swim in Lake Victoria Are not your responsibility. Even though you live in Rome Your wish alone is nothing more than a wish, And, contrary to what some TV preachers or politicians Might lead you to believe, Your prayers do not ring any louder in heaven Simply because you live in Rome. Living in Rome you might have forgotten this simple truth: That we are all one. You might be living in the mistaken belief that your own life Or the life of your child Is not inextricably linked To the lives of others. You might be forgiven for believing that a child who dies for lack of food In another remote part of the world Is a tragedy, But not one that will ever affect you. You might be forgiven For not wanting even to be reminded that the child has died Since there was nothing you could do anyway. Living in Rome you are proud to be a Roman. You are free and you are fed and You are as generous as you can afford to be. You might even wish that the entire world could live in Rome, But only in some theoretical way Which will not threaten your standard of living. And living in Rome there may come a day, An awful day, An unforgettable, traumatic, miserable day When from somewhere outside of Rome A message will come, A terrible message. A message of anger, a message of hatred, A message of inconceivable inhumanity and consequence. And living in Rome you may be forgiven If you are taken completely by surprise. You would be justified in feeling anger and sorrow. You would only be human if you felt frightened or self-righteous. But you would be mistaken, Living in Rome, If you failed to hear the message behind the violence, If you chose to pretend that there was no message at all, Only insanity, Only evil, Only twisted religious fanaticism. Living in Rome you might choose to believe that life in Rome will go on As it always has, indefinitely, That even as the Earth grows smaller, Even as her population swells, Even has her resources are stretched to their limits, You will live in Rome, And your children will live in Rome, And their children will live in Rome As Romans always have ñ Forgetful and forgiven ñ But it may not always be so. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource tp180.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. story Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2003-03-03