WEBVTT

00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.200 align:middle line:90%


00:00:01.200 --> 00:00:02.660 align:middle line:90%
A call to arms.

00:00:02.660 --> 00:00:07.000 align:middle line:90%


00:00:07.000 --> 00:00:12.080 align:middle line:84%
A call to arms came as the
lanterns floated upward

00:00:12.080 --> 00:00:16.640 align:middle line:84%
on a night of celebration,
and as flares spun upward

00:00:16.640 --> 00:00:19.560 align:middle line:84%
out of the fear of
those who set them.

00:00:19.560 --> 00:00:24.200 align:middle line:84%
As shawled women smiled in the
night, prayed into the night,

00:00:24.200 --> 00:00:28.200 align:middle line:84%
and just as many ran through
the swallowing night.

00:00:28.200 --> 00:00:31.800 align:middle line:84%
As a bed was shared between
those shepherding each other,

00:00:31.800 --> 00:00:35.680 align:middle line:84%
and others shared
nothing, nothing at all.

00:00:35.680 --> 00:00:39.360 align:middle line:84%
As doctors took their oaths
and committed no harm,

00:00:39.360 --> 00:00:42.280 align:middle line:84%
but privileged some
and denied others.

00:00:42.280 --> 00:00:46.060 align:middle line:84%
As another dies by the hands
of a group of strangers,

00:00:46.060 --> 00:00:49.200 align:middle line:84%
and another by the hand
of her father, and another

00:00:49.200 --> 00:00:53.060 align:middle line:84%
because a stranger was lost
in the anger of his mother.

00:00:53.060 --> 00:00:57.160 align:middle line:84%
I'm telling you, the call
to arms came as we slept,

00:00:57.160 --> 00:00:58.580 align:middle line:90%
and as we marched.

00:00:58.580 --> 00:01:01.040 align:middle line:84%
As we questioned, and
as we hid our heads

00:01:01.040 --> 00:01:04.800 align:middle line:84%
in the dust of nostalgia
or our spent dreams.

00:01:04.800 --> 00:01:06.640 align:middle line:90%
As bills came due.

00:01:06.640 --> 00:01:09.620 align:middle line:84%
As the debt grew and
values diminished.

00:01:09.620 --> 00:01:12.720 align:middle line:84%
As women decided other
women mattered less.

00:01:12.720 --> 00:01:15.440 align:middle line:90%
As we raged, and as we ignored.

00:01:15.440 --> 00:01:20.000 align:middle line:84%
And the doors began to close,
and close, and close, and close,

00:01:20.000 --> 00:01:21.140 align:middle line:90%
and close.

00:01:21.140 --> 00:01:23.200 align:middle line:84%
And those who had
opened them were

00:01:23.200 --> 00:01:25.340 align:middle line:90%
marked for death or forgetting.

00:01:25.340 --> 00:01:29.860 align:middle line:84%
And those who kicked them down
are marked for death or slander.

00:01:29.860 --> 00:01:33.680 align:middle line:84%
And this is not the
first time a call to arms

00:01:33.680 --> 00:01:36.380 align:middle line:84%
has caught us imagining
it had stopped.

00:01:36.380 --> 00:01:39.380 align:middle line:90%
The call is ever, is constant.

00:01:39.380 --> 00:01:41.440 align:middle line:90%
Don't you hear it, don't you?

00:01:41.440 --> 00:01:45.480 align:middle line:84%
What, it didn't ring
out in a peal of bells?

00:01:45.480 --> 00:01:49.280 align:middle line:84%
It rings out in the silent
appeals of children.

00:01:49.280 --> 00:01:52.660 align:middle line:84%
A child who cannot remember
the name of their father.

00:01:52.660 --> 00:01:54.320 align:middle line:90%
You aren't listening.

00:01:54.320 --> 00:01:57.160 align:middle line:84%
And if you are listening,
you must keep your ear

00:01:57.160 --> 00:02:01.180 align:middle line:84%
to the street, to the field,
to the alleys and bridges,

00:02:01.180 --> 00:02:04.980 align:middle line:84%
to the riverbeds, and floor
planks of abandoned houses.

00:02:04.980 --> 00:02:07.880 align:middle line:84%
And I heard the call
to arms like a moan

00:02:07.880 --> 00:02:10.560 align:middle line:84%
from a drain
desperately clogged.

00:02:10.560 --> 00:02:13.340 align:middle line:84%
And in the lowing
of cows in drought.

00:02:13.340 --> 00:02:15.740 align:middle line:84%
In the impotent
drone of senators,

00:02:15.740 --> 00:02:17.600 align:middle line:90%
that officious blather.

00:02:17.600 --> 00:02:20.400 align:middle line:84%
And in this moment,
I hear the call,

00:02:20.400 --> 00:02:24.560 align:middle line:84%
and realize I am not the
lion, but the antelope.

00:02:24.560 --> 00:02:27.880 align:middle line:84%
And I must resort to
my feet and my wits

00:02:27.880 --> 00:02:31.480 align:middle line:84%
amid a storm of teeth
and claws on a day

00:02:31.480 --> 00:02:33.920 align:middle line:90%
that began as any other day.

00:02:33.920 --> 00:02:38.640 align:middle line:84%
And I can't tell you why I
hear what too many refuse

00:02:38.640 --> 00:02:42.200 align:middle line:84%
to admit, like the
pounding of your own hearts

00:02:42.200 --> 00:02:45.120 align:middle line:90%
upon hearing this.

00:02:45.120 --> 00:02:48.470 align:middle line:90%
[APPLAUSE]

00:02:48.470 --> 00:02:51.000 align:middle line:90%