This one I like, but I have to contest due to personal experience. I think back to the late 90’s, there was a supposed economic prosperity going on, yet the writing was on the wall after the enactment of NAFTA and the welfare reforms that had been pushed through. I think of how I did have the fortune to know real champions of truth in those days. I worked with three of the most tireless men I have ever seen, M.P. Bigenho, Wilfredo Colon and Fred Aceves in the SPF. With these three, somehow in an age of bloated consumerism and unending social apathy, the SPF rose from non-existence to being just under the Libertarian party in registered members in under a year: that was a feat unto itself that I still don’t understand, and something of significance for third parties then. I also had two of the most influential academic mentors available at anytime to speak with: Christos Galanopolous and Willis Truit. Wilfredo Colon never seemed to sleep, always tirelessly working on progress, be it with the party or helping out a grassroots movement to unorthodox union organizing in downright, hostile, factory settings. Fred Aceves manned the pots all the time he had for Food Not Bombs feeding the homeless and still participated in Animal Rights Activism along with the party functions when called upon. Both Fred and Wilfredo had the sharpest minds one could imagine, and the inane ability to see through bullshit like no one else I have ever seen. M.P. Bigenho was one of those unsung invisible hands of history: this man supposedly headed the first racial integration of Latino and African-Americans in the Teamster local out in Oakland, CA in the 50’s. He was known to be the ideological advisory to Jimmy Hoffa himself, especially after they had a public argument that almost came to blows on a local, Sunday morning TV interview with the two of them! In fact M.P.’s wife and himself were quite obvious in their disdain for Hoffa at a union dinner when the two of them refused rise from their seats when Hoffa walked to the podium. It earned them the glares of anger from Hoffa and co. Merle (M.P.) had always been true to the cause, and never deviated from honesty and integrity. He could raise hell and anger at national party conventions, but he was one of the nicest and giving people anyone could have ever met. Willis Truit…brilliant professor of Philosophy. Who cares if his father-in-law was Alger Hiss??lol I would later learn that he succumbed to cancer that he had developed at Chernobyl helping in the relief efforts that were mounted during his teaching position in Moscow. Truitt always was quick to point out the discrepancies and what was needed in the thoughts on the social issues of the day. He was also quick to point out that I needed to learn patience! Both him Bigenho were always “kindly” suggesting that me. In the current time it is ironic: I have learned patience beyond belief and in the most adverse conditions, trust me on this one, it isn’t easy, but it does happen. If it can happen to me, it can happen to anyone. But I think what really makes the irony most poignant, is that both of them have passed away, and I really wish they were still around just to talk with. Especially now at this current time. As for Christos Galanopolous? Whereabouts unknown. Christos was in fact one of the world’s leading experts on the writings of Nikos Kazantzakis. Christos was the one that introduced me to the Postmodern writers, and the quandaries those writers tried to tackle. Christos being an Athenian Greek, lived up to what would be expected of someone of his knowledge and thirst for knowledge. If it wasn’t for him, I don’t know if I would have been able to delve deeper into the human conditions of life in the 20th-21st centuries, and really examine what implications these times in the sociological affected the subjective psychological in myself. Basically it was Christos that opened the queue to the stage of life and say welcome to the club of existential strife, you’re not alone. He was the epitome of what a Humanist should be and should understand. Two are dead, one is unknown about in his whereabouts, and the other two are thousands of miles away on completely different continents. It makes me think that the lost time of the late 90’s was premature for myself- maybe more could have been done if I had not been so easily impatient, but at the same time, these individuals left their imprint on me forever. So, I cannot complain: my life has been up and down like anyone else’s, but I have to admit I have had the great opportunity to meet and be good friends with some of the most extraordinary people walk this planet. From where I came from and am at now, I really am pleased, I didn’t just get to meet one “Champion of Truth in boring times”, I met Five! I am truly lucky.
Posted on: Tue, 09 Jul 2013 03:30:36 +0000
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