I am a radical leftist. The most impressive person I have ever met is Dorothy Day. Living among the desperately poor in 1930s New York City, she joined with communists because they were the only ones addressing the situation. Later she converted to Catholicism, became a pacifist, and opened houses of hospitality where she and her associates lived communally with the poorest around her. She called herself a Christian anarchist. If monarchy is the rule of one, anarchy is the rule of none. It does not seek chaos, but simply a world where everyone is equally free of domination.

I admire the words of Karl Marx who believed in the possibility of a world where an individual sees in others, not the limitation, but “the realization of his own freedom,” — a world that encourages cooperation more than competition. One can admire this without admiring Stalin, Mussolini, or any kind of authoritarian leader.

I am not a woman, but for me the most appealing character in the Genesis story is Eve, who refused male domination and chose knowledge and freedom over the comfort of paradise.

I am not a descendant of slaves or native peoples, but I understand the Black Panther project of taking care of their own neighborhoods by creating feeding programs and refusing to relinquish the right to fight back against authorities bent on domination.

I am not a Palestinian, but I am appalled that the U.S. government, under both Democratic and Republican regimes, have driven dispossession and now genocide.

I am not queer, but I understand the difference between biological sex and the stark binary categorizations of gender that demand all display the most extreme characterizations of “male” and “female.” Can’t a man enjoy knitting or a woman plumbing?

I was born near Niagara Falls. There is a dotted line on maps going down the center of the falls, but when I look across to the other side, despite my appreciation for what is good about the USA, I feel as if I can love that land as much as the one south of it. A radical, by definition, tries to go to the root of things. Attachment to any political entity cannot be the ultimate value.

I am not poor like so many Black sharecroppers and white Appalachians of the 1930s, or the emaciated “Okies” who were lucky enough to make it to California only to discover it was the opposite of the promised land.

I am not a desperate refugee, although my great grandparents fleeing the Irish famine were.

I am not a Jew or a Moslem, but I refuse to consider any group expendable.

I am not a river or a tree or a wild creature, but I realize we are all now washed over and through with the poisons humans have spewed out.

I am a radical leftist who wants to go to the root of things to seek fundamental change.

When you come for those who refuse domination, don’t forget me. I want to stop saying “I” and start saying “we.”

Patrick McGreevy lives in Greenfield and invites comments at pmcgreevy64@gmail.com.