The Glebe 1914/04 (Vol. 2, No. 1): CollectsTraubel, Horace
General
The Glebe 1914/04 (Vol. 2, No. 1): Collects
Traubel, Horace
American essays -- 20th century; Literature, Modern -- 20th century -- Periodicals
I claim everything for the people. And everything is not too much. What
do the people claim for themselves? So far they have claimed little.
They have let the saviors give them religions. They have let the saviors
give them economics. They have stood aside to let the saviors pass.
Instead of making the saviors stand aside to let the people pass. The
saviors have given them religions which were blasphemies. The saviors
have given them economies which were robberies. The saviors have been.
The people are to be. The people are next. Now the people will give the
saviors religions which are reverent. And they will give the saviors
economies which are justice. The saviors used to succeed. Now you may
notice that the saviors fail. The saviors only succeed when the people
fail. When the people succeed the saviors fail. Saviors belong with
kings and owners and bosses. When the people at last object to being
ruled or owned or bossed the saviors will disappear with the saved. The
mendicant and the millionaire are symptoms of the same disease. The
savior and the saved are symptoms of the same disease. The superior
person and the inferior person are symptoms of the same disease. The
capitalist and the laborer are symptoms of the same disease. They
require only one treatment. You cant get one without the other. You cant
rid yourself of one without the other. The people dont need saviors
because they dont need to be saved. You cant save people for the same
reason that you cant damn people. The people are people. That's the
answer to all the saviors. The people are themselves enough answer.
People intoxicate me. My eyes see people. (I dont acknowledge things.)
Look for, find, abandon themselves, to people. Dont acknowledge saviors.
Reach out to, are reached out from, people. Everywhere I meet the
threatening saviors. Do you shrink in the mire till you can borrow wings
to take you to heaven? I know the black in the people. But the black in
the people is not the people. Even the white in the people is not the
people. The hate or love in a man is not the man. The man is the man.
The people are the people. It's stupid to say that. It's like saying a
cloud is a cloud. It's like saying a star is a star. But what else can
be said? Time and space are time and space. Can you damn or save time
and space? The people are the people. Can you damn or save the people?
You might as well tax the skies as tax a man. As well assume to save the
sun for pay as save the people for pay. As well pretend to be the
necessary middleman between Jupiter and the moon as between people and
people. I make the whole claim because I have the whole faith. And
everything is not too much. I claim everything for the people.
I see what you see all around: the half lives lived: the cruel
quarrels of brothers:
I see what you see: haven't I lived where the fight is thickest?
But I would have no hope of peace if I could not say: I guess
it's all about love:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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