STOP THE BOMBING 19th JULY 2014 Conflict is a dreadful thing. It costs lives. Innocent people die because feuding factions are angry with each other and anger leads to blood shed. Even though I am a Buddhist with 30 years practice behind me (and 30 years in front of me, hopefully) I am angry. I take sides. I post stuff about oppressive regimes and I rant and rave about injustice. I try to rationalize things – who did what to who? – why did “they” do that to “them”? I justify my anger by summing up facts from RECENT history and direct it at the perpetrators of the greatest atrocities. I march on a demo feeling righteous - I am on the side of the oppressed - I am unburdening my self of the weight of shame that I carry because my government, that is supposed to represent me, remains silent while international law is broken. For them to speak out would be against their self-interest, against their political career, against their powerful friends. Here I am, ranting again. I can’t help my self but I should get a grip because my anger is a commodity. It’s a commodity that is used (against me and my brothers and sisters from the Muslim, Christian, Jewish, Buddhist, Agnostic communities around the world) to pit us against each other so that the powerful few (very few) can profit. Oppression is not a precursor of righteousness. The abused can become the abusers and continue the cycle of violence. Was that what I was doing yesterday on the march to stop the bombing of Palestine – perpetuating the cycle of hatred? Should I have stayed at home and prayed/chanted for peace in the world, and to temper my own anger, to do my own human revolution and with many others, create some kind of morphic resonance that will miraculously end all conflict without us leaving the house? This is a serious question for me, as someone who believes in the power of Daimoku (chanting) and prayer. Well, I went and I am glad I did. What I saw yesterday was not 100,000 people on the street united in hatred against a particular regime, it was 100,000 human beings – Muslims, Christians. Jews, Buddhists, Agnostics expressing their horror at the pointless loss of life – coming together and interacting on a human level. The speeches were great sure, but what really got me was the friendship, the gesture of recognition and unity when a young woman wearing jilbāb smiled at me as I struggled on my crutches, the disabled woman who, through her own determination, spurred me on to finish the walk when I was about to give up, the great conversations with a new friend – basically the Human Interaction and the friendship which transcended all national and religious boundaries. TRUST THROUGH FRIENDSHIP, PEACE THROUGH TRUST. Jamesx
Posted on: Sun, 20 Jul 2014 17:29:59 +0000
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