ScienceFictionpage14.html

TEXT OF TERM OF REFERENCE 8) TO CHRISTMAS, 1989 (FEBRUARY 7, 1992)... REGISTERED LETTER TO "IRANGATE" INDEPENDENT PROSECUTOR LAWRENCE WALSH:

"SCIENCE FICTION"

14.

AND yet childhood
Being so fleeting
Minutes
AND hours
Pass into days
To be remembered for years
By those left behind
Unknown
Never seen
Comforted so little
By that momentary satisfaction
Of little whimpers
AND hidden shed tears.
Missing in action, missing...inaction.

Ah, what a future they have
Their lessons determined by "tough love"
Rather than the care of a mother
A father
AND what the history lessons should teach.
As if for some, feelings are commodities
Like pork futures
In the markets for some
But for some are withheld past their reach.
Missing in action, missing...inaction.

The missing in action (missing...inaction):
Shrewd social Darwinists label them a blight on society.
We can only guess
What they may evolve to be.
The experts will rationalize
In their experienced manners offhand
(Oblivious that their "views" will be formed
By what they live through
AND by
AND that which they see)1
That they're given names by minorities
(Read this: their families).
As if societies are qualified
To judge
What matters more:
The love they're denied
What they have
Or both at the right times
In the right places
With the right people
AND...

Those who found their answer
Could they walk away from it
In their love
With their faith
With their lives thought complete?
Reduced (by science exception)
To "tough love" statistics
Black marks in the marginal
Of some Moebius stripped balance sheet?

All of us have woes
And cares
That make times
Happy
Sad
Or bland.
A wise man called
A relationship
A "slow sculpture"
Of a love between
A man and a woman
AND...

Is this the time to make a rhyme?
To drop a bomb with calm aplomb?
Unanswered questions, no answers face to face?
Missing in action, missing...inaction...

Or is this the place for the human race?...

AND...




--by GORDON C. WONG,
from "What Lies Beyond This Door",*
copyright 1987 by GORDON C. WONG

*-hopefully to be published in the new millennium.




1-HERE'S A CASE WHERE I FEEL AN EXPLANATION SHOULD BE PROVIDED FOR WHAT 'INSPIRED' THESE PARTICULAR LINES.
TO CONSIDER JUST THE EXPLANATION FOR THE INCIDENT WHICH LED ME TO WRITE THIS, TAKE A BRIEF SIDESTEP HERE.

THE WHOLE LETTER THEN TO THE FORMER CANADIAN PRIME MINISTER, HOWEVER, BEGINNING WITH ANOTHER REFERENCE TO THE WELL-BEING OF (CANADIAN) CHILDREN ON THE PAGE CONTAINING ITS LIST OF CONTENTS, SEEMS TO ME TO REMAIN RELEVANT TO DEVELOPING CONDITIONS IN THE NEW MILLENNIUM.
SO, TO CONSIDER THE WHOLE THING BEGINNING FROM THE LIST OF CONTENTS, TAKE A SERIES OF (11) BRIEF SIDESTEPS HERE.
...THE LAST TWO SIDESTEPS IN THIS PROCESS ARE THE SCANS OF JOHN TURNER'S EXTRAORDINARY TWO-PAGE PERSONAL RESPONSE TO THAT 1990 LETTER TO HIM.

ON THIS SUBJECT OF "INACTION," I NOTE THE FOLLOWING REMARKS BY THE CHINESE HEAD OF STATE, JIANG ZEMIN, DURING THE UNITED NATIONS MILLENNIUM CELEBRATIONS:

The world is diverse and colorful. Just as there should not be only one color in the universe, so there should not be only one civilization, one social system, one development model or one set of values in the world.

Each and every country and nation has made its own contribution to the development of human civilization. It is essential to fully respect the diversity of different nations, religions and civilizations, whose co-existence is the very source of vigorous development in the world.

We should promote the exchanges between different civilizations in a spirit of equality and democracy and encourage them to learn from one another in order to attain common progress.

Dialogue and cooperation in the field of human rights must be conducted on the basis of respect for state sovereignty. This is the fundamental and most effective way to protect and promote human rights.

So long as there are boundaries between states, and people live in their respective countries, to maintain national independence and safeguard sovereignty will be the supreme interests of each government and people. Without sovereignty, there will be no human rights to speak of.

'Inaction speaks louder than words.'

(text of excerpt from September 7, 2000 New York Times On The Web article)

Copyright 2000 The New York Times Company

ON THIS SUBJECT OF "INACTION" AND "SOVEREIGNTY" VS. RESPECT OF HUMAN RIGHTS ACCORDING TO UNIVERSAL STANDARDS, TAKE A BRIEF SIDESTEP HERE.

DURING WALTER CRONKITE'S MAY 24, 1993 APPEARANCE ON "THE TONIGHT SHOW" WITH JAY LENO, HE MENTIONED THAT OVER THE WEEKEND PRESIDENT CLINTON BOUGHT HIS DAUGHTER, CHELSEA, "FIVE SCIENCE FICTION BOOKS."

1