|
DAMASCUS • CITIZEN • SUSTAINABILITY
"Damascus" is an English & Latin word which was imported from Greek, which originated in Aramaic which means; "a well-watered place." DAMASCUS The Holy Bible, (Acts 22) What shall I do, Lord?’ I asked. “‘Get up,’ the Lord said, and go into Damascus. There you will be told everything you are destined to do . . . Our Road to Damascus More than 2000 years ago, a man named Saul had a conversion. Saul was a bright, young Jewish scholar--passionate, courageous and charismatic. He had such a zeal for Jewish law that it lead him to become a fervent anti-Christian persecutor. But on his journey to Damascus, in present day Syria, something transforming happened to him--he had a vision, became enlightened, and re-emerged with a new identity as "Paul", becoming the world's most effective missionary. From that moment on, everything he did was rooted in that enlightenment. He went on to preach, teach, and organize the Christian communities and he was repeatedly embroiled in controversies with political and religious authorities. The world we live in today has been shaped by such people who have risen up, at certain moments, to speak to that world, to change its world-view. And thus was born in the small town of Damascus, PA, Damascus Citizens for Sustainability, at a critical moment in time when our beloved River and it's Watershed is threatened by the prospect of gas drilling. While many people have jumped at the opportunity for economic gain, whether driven by need or greed, and while still others wring their hands in dismay, sitting on the sidelines and praying for a miracle, the people of Damascus Citizens have had a vision--they saw our world as it could become: a depleted, industrial wasteland, controlled by the robber-barons of the corporate gas industry. And born from that vision was a focused, passionate, courageous and controversial mission to slay the giant. No wishy-washy statements do they espouse--no "responsible" drilling, no "it's inevitable so lets make the best of it", no "let's wait and see", no "but everybody's doing it so I may as well try to make some money out of it". No compromise. And they are reaching out to everyone in our communities to become empowered to effect change, to put it all on the line to make a difference. Make no mistake, this is not a grassroots organization on the attack - it's members are acting in self-defense, in defense of ALL of us who live here, including those beings who cannot speak for themselves. We need everyone to join us on the the road to Damascus, to become enlightened to the true costs of gas drilling. And then we will all see that the mission is clear - to just say "NO" -- NO drilling in our Watersheds. CITIZEN Alexis de Tocqueville Citizens assemble with the sole goal of declaring that they disapprove of the course of the government. American systems of government are now controlled by global corporate power. We have the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights, and when the French created the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen in August 1789, they aimed to topple the institutions surrounding hereditary monarchy [power] and establish new ones based on the principles of the Enlightenment. http://chnm.gmu.edu/revolution/chap3a.html The Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen brought together two streams of thought: one springing from the Anglo-American tradition of legal and constitutional guarantees of individual liberties, the other from the Enlightenment's belief that reason should guide all human affairs. SUSTAINABILITY Damascus Citizens for Sustainability Because we are looking to the future. It is our right and obligation as citizens to participate in the choices that will effect our future. DCS’s concern is for the health and sustainability of life here for us as people, and for the entire ecosystem we and all those downstream depend on. We have to work together to assure this treasure is safe. Leonardo da Vinci said water is the driving force of all nature. United States Declaration of Independence We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. ... Pennsylvania Constitution Article1, Section 27. Natural Resources and the Public Estate The people have a right to clean air, pure water, and to the preservation of the natural, scenic, historic and esthetic values of the environment. Pennsylvania's public natural resources are the common property of all the people, including generations yet to come. As trustee of these resources, the Commonwealth shall conserve and maintain them for the benefit of all the people. "Be the change that you want to see in the world", Mahatma Ghandi |
DCS • Damascus Citizens for Sustainability, Inc. • P.O. Box 147 • Milanville, PA 18443