Peace?
"I am not working for world peace, I am working for individual peace all over the world." from "Your loved Ones, Your Self", by Wil Langford
Who the heck doesn't want peace? Well, maybe a couple of international arms dealers, a few neo-cons and that kid that used to pull your hair in third grade. But ask almost anyone else if peace is a good thing, and they'll say it is. So why don't we have peace?
We don't have it in the world. What with Iraq, Lebanon, Israel and the Palestinians, there ain't no peace nowhere, no-time in the Mid-East. Africa is up in arms (thanks largely to the world's biggest arms dealer, the USA, by the way). Russia is rattling its sabers at Europe, because America's "just protecting its borders" from North Korea and Iran by planning to put missiles in Eastern Europe. We're still fighting in Afghanistan and now our gunships are shelling Somalia in an attempt to kill an Al Qaeda warlord that we think is there. Maybe.
For a change of pace from war, there are riots in Germany at the G-8 Summit, where a few malcontents think that the 8 wealthiest countries in the world shouldn't be shaping the future for the poorest countries. What do they want? Socialism? Hey, let those other countries pull themselves up by their bootstraps. No bootstraps, you say? Well, we'll sell them some and in return we'll just take all their resources, especially the oil and minerals.
Even in that bastion of peace and all that's good and patriotic, the US, all is not peaceful. The crime rate is rising and more and more people aren't getting a peaceful night's sleep, because they can't pay their mortgage. Well, they can pay their mortgage. It's just that they can't pay their mortgage, health insurance, car payments, their taxes, childcare, cable bill, Netflix bill, credit card bills, and save for retirement and their kid's college fund on the three jobs they're working. You see them with their calculators out and papers spread all over the table at Starbucks, trying desperately to figure out where to cut corners, as they sip their fourth macho-latte with extra caffeine.
Even my life, which takes place in a part of the country where an international incident is more likely to involve smuggling cigarettes or poaching blueberries than shooting people, is not peaceful at the moment. I am not by nature a worrier. If there's a problem, I think about it and decide if I can do anything about it. If I can, I do it. If I can't, I leave it to resolve itself and get on with my life as best I can. Almost always, that works. Once in a while, it doesn't.
I'm having a really hard time letting the Iraq War resolve itself. It's not that I haven't tried to help that along. I've been active in the peace movement since the 60's, although lately only in the sense that I send letters and emails, call my congress critters and sometimes demonstrate against the war. I'm not on a par with Cindy Sheehan or some of my friends who are Friends and are spending most of their time working to end the war. But I've tried. I've been trying for over four years now and I'm weary and I'm depressed and I'm disheartened.
My brother, Wil, who is my spiritual advisor (not easy when your sister is an atheist, but he does a heck of a job), says that this is the Peace Century. On his blog, Wil's Blog, he writes about how he's received a message from his Loved Ones - who are really part of his Higher Consciousness - that this century will be a century of peace, but maybe not because good things happen to bring it about. Deep woo, I know, but I wouldn't be a bit surprised if he's right.
You don't have to be a spiritualist or psychic to see that this world is headed for trouble. The people of the world, and I include myself in some of this, for the most part, aren't focused on peace. They're focused on getting more stuff, having more fun, proving how tough and "out there" and edgy they are by flipping off people in traffic. They don't know what's going on in Washington, because they're too busy reading about Paris. Hilton, that is.
So many people know the point spread for all the games and the price of every item on the menu of the chains where they (and I) eat out way too often, but the fact that millions of people are living sub-standard lives in Asia, Africa, Mexico and here in the US, is news to them. So is the fact that millions of kids die everyday because their parents can't afford simple things like $3 shots for diarrhea.
And let's not forget that, according to Fearless Leader and his cronies, this is a Christian nation, and Christ, as even atheists know, was the Prince of Peace. (If you don't think this is a Christian nation, just look at any night's TV lineup. From WWE Smackdown wrestling to Faux News to the Sopranos, it's definitely WJWW - What Jesus Would Watch - don't you think?) That's what a good portion of the G-8 world is focused on every night. Call me crazy, but I just can't see O'Reilly, Malkin and Coulter as harbingers of peace.
Then there are people like me who couldn't find anything to watch even when we had over 200 Dish channels, so the three we have now sure aren't gonna make it. So do I spend my time changing the world instead? Nope. When I'm not reading, mostly fiction, I'm wasting way too much time playing games, reading blogs and blogging. Somehow, when I'm doing that, I manage to forget about the rest of the world and what I can do to make it better. It's a knack.
So, that's why I'm weary, disheartened and depressed about the state of peace in the world. I know there are a lot of good people working for peace. I know many of them personally. But what scares me is that some of them are getting a little raggedy around the edges and frazzled at the seams. We've been fighting this fight (pardon the choice of words) since we were teenagers, some of us.
Two thousand years ago, Jesus said he came in peace and look what happened to him. Before him and after him, there were many, many other people who came in peace and went out in flames or on a cross or under a pile of stones thrown by people who weren't focused on peace. Probably just wanted to get back to their bread and circuses.
I could use a little reassurance here, so if you have something optimistic to say about the peace movement or the state of the world, please comment and make my day. It seems to me that if a dyed in the wool atheist like me, and a guy who sees beings of light in clouds, like my brother, can manage to be best friends for over 50 years, then the rest of the world should be able to get along. Right? I hope so. Peace.
Technorati tag:Dona Nobis Pacem
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5 comments:
I think of "peace" in terms of the word "Shalom"--which does not mean the same thing as in English.
The root of the word means "wholeness, completeness"--so it has the sense of the English words "hale, health, weal."
I try to maintain a balance when dealing with the issues of the world. I do what I can--but I am more active on the local level, where one person can actually make a difference. And I look at it as the need for each of us to develop that sense of wholeness and completeness inside ourselves. Filling that hole in ourselves that material culture alone cannot fill.
On the level of politics, I do not expect pacifism or the total absence of war. This is because I cannot control the actions of people out there who do thrive on violence. Perhaps because I look at history differently. I Europe Jews were forced into pacifism because we were not allowed to defend ourselves--couldn't even own a horse or serve in the political assemblies of the day--and so we were helpless before those who wanted us slaughtered.
Since I believe that my life is as valuable as any other, and that I ought to be able to defend it, I cannot be a pacifist.
I guess "shalom" is a dynamic process and can be worked toward at many levels. Working at it at any level--personal, community, ecology, world politics--is a work of Tikkun Olam--the repair of the world. But I also know that it is an ideal and that perfection is probably not possible.
When I get discouraged, I use my motto:
" Rabbi Tarfon used to say: 'The day is short, the work is great, the reward is much, and the master is urgent. Nevertheless, it is not up to us to complete the work, but neither are we free to desist from it." Pirke Avot II 20
I think he means that we cannot expect to perfect the world, but neither should we be discouraged from doing what we can to clean up the place a little bit.
Anyway, this is how I handle it.
This is getting too long for a comment! Sorry.
Don't feel sorry, Elisheva. I love long comments, because I love to hear what other people have to say about what I've posted. I think I inherited the idea that I have a duty to contribute something from my parents. Both of them, though not Jewish, believed in the words of your motto. My mother, who was a rabid Baptist, was always telling me that I had an obligation to give back to the world, solely because I had a working brain and a healthy body. My father, who was an ordained minister and an agnostic, told me that the human race needs all the help it can get to evolve. I guess I took it to heart. However, I'm 56. I'm getting to the point where I'd like to coast for awhile and relax. Call me a wimp, but I'm just not up for marching over and over again while the idjits like Bush and Cheney dupe people into wrong actions like Iraq. I can't understand why so many people are so dimwitted about politics. That's what disheartens me.
Shalom,
Lill
'raggedy around the edges and frazzled at the seams' - would be one version. 'experienced and wise' would be another.
Cheers
Hi, Lill,
Maybe you need to give yourself a break from it. My Bubbie (grandma) used to say that the in-between-causes times are good times to find out where life is leading you next.
Maybe some time singing and playing with your family, time to wander and think will show you where you are needed next.
I was state co-chair of the Green Party of New Mexico when I was diagnosed with breast cancer. That became an in-between time for me. At first I felt guilty because I was not doing anything--this was just following Election 2000. I was very discouraged, as you can imagine. I sought the advice of our rabbi and studied with him a bit, translating psalms from the Hebrew and discussing the meanings. It became an in-between time for me.
I actually began to appreciate the difficult psalms, such as Psalm 90 (Of Moses, Man of G-d). It ends with "Oh, prosper the work of our hands."
Now I am not so involved in politics per se, but I am more involved in talking to people one-on-one, and supporting organizations like Neve Shalom, that bring ordinary people together to dialogue.
So take a break. You never know where that time for YOU will take you.
And remember, in this work of changing the world, you can never finish the task. May the works of your hands prosper.
Thank you, McEwen and Elisheva for your kind words. I think a break is just what I need. I've been slowly disengaging from some parts of my life that I just can't give as much to right now. I didn't know you had cancer, Elisheva, but that kind of experience does make one examine priorities, doesn't it? My mother survived breast cancer and made some major life changes afterward. I feel as if I need to figure out how to focus my energy rather than scatter it. I'm not a very energetic person; I'm more reflective. I'm truly a human being, rather than a human doing. LOL.
Shine On,
Lill
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