Breathe for freedom!

Yesterday I became aware of a new wrinkle: turning one's lights on at night for social justice. Here's the gist of the article:

On Monday night before the General Election, as we prepare to vote, The
Interfaith Alliance asks that people engage in the simple, yet powerful act of
leaving their lights on in homes, businesses, houses of worship, and community
centers. We ask that you keep the symbolic lights of justice burning through the
dawn of our Election Day. Let this act make a public statement that you are
committed to civic participation in support of universal values of social
justice and human dignity and that these values must be embraced by every
society, including ours. On the eve of this critical election, please join us
and let your light shine as a beacon that you are devoted to peace and justice
in Iraq, in the United States, and around the world.

Let me get this straight: Here in the darkest season of the year, when night falls early and mornings are inky black, here in a season where oil prices are sky high and resources are short, we're supposed to turn on our lights at nighttime and leave them burning? Um, wouldn't we have them on anyway? And otherwise, wouldn't we want to actually conserve energy as much as possible?

And am I supposed to reason that when I go around at night when it's pitch dark and I see lights burning on street after street, and in house after house, church after church, I'm supposed to conclude that they're lit out of solidarity with this movement? I don't think so.

Maybe I should start my own campaign: BREATHE FOR FREEDOM!

On Monday night before the General Election, as we prepare to vote, The Berkley
Blog asks that you engage in the simple, yet powerful act of breathing wherever
you may be. We ask that you keep the symbolic aspiration of liberty alive,
inhaling and exhaling throughout the night and into the dawn of our Election
Day. Let this pneumatic act make a public statement that you are committed to
civic participation in support of universal values of freedom from oppression
and liberty to practice one's faith, and that these values must be embraced by
every society, including ours. On the eve of this critical election, please join
us and let your every breath be taken as a public declaration that you are
devoted to freedom and liberty in Iraq, in the United States, and around the
world. When you see men, women, and children breathing throughout the night in
solidarity with your cause, you will know that they share your belief in
respiratory justice!

Or maybe not.