My heart goes out to the people who loved the hostages who have been executed. I feel angry on their behalf and I hurt. At first thought, I want to go kill every last bastard who has no regard for human life. Their call to "bliss" is not our call. Our call is a call for mercy yet they force us to beg for it in tears and screaming voices. With every kidnapping, my heart gets darkened by bitterness and loathing. So my heart truly goes out to the families who have suffered the loss of their loved ones.
We are a nation which longs for mercy. We operate as best as we can under the concepts of mercy; even our judicial system does its best to provide this--some say we go overboard. The assassins call is the opposite of mercy. Theirs is a call for "bliss". Go look up their call to bliss. You'll have a better picture. None the less I must ask, no ,scream to Heaven, "Why, oh God, why!!???
Every day in Iraq, no less than 150 civilian natives, fathers and their sons are killed, often by bombs exploding far from their target of choice. It might make the world news in a sentence or two while in coffee shops across America it is said, "Oh well, its war. Shit happens during war." But then, when an assassin lops off of the head of one hostage, it is spoken about for many days all over the world and in great length. So, I ask you all to consider this. Who makes a larger impact of statement?...The allied forces or the insurgents who kill one person at a time?
This isn't about who is right. This is about listening to each other, making the time to understand the customs of each other. If we bothered to know the customs of the people we were bringing democracy to; heads would still be on the shoulders of those who no longer walk amongst us. So do we give up our rights to better understand their passions? No fucking way. We are, inspite of what Bush does in our name, still a nation who believes in mercy. There is no way I'm giving that up. I will however say and do things out of anger until this feeling passes far from my heart. Then ,and only then, when I'm done with my anger, will I show mercy. I'm human after all. So, I'll pen and pray my way to mercy and strive to understand America as we go and try to force democracy on others. I admit I am ashamed and blame myself, not personally, but as an American, for the death of those people, ours and theirs alike. But, I blame the murderers much more. I am all for their swift death. If this makes me an extremist, then so be it. We must find a way to stop the beheadings.
Let us all come to a place of respectful understanding of the cultures we try to bring our democracy to. Could it be that democracy is a gift only to Americans and not meant for the others? Selah.
Write your congress members my friends and foes. Please make your voice heard. That's all for now. I must go pray through my tears. Night-Night.
2 comments:
What if we had a president who knew about fear. What if he knew that our enemies fear in us what we fear in them -- the unknown. As a country based on mercy, we don't understand a country which so brutally kills an innocent individual as a matter of statement, and it strikes fear in us. Perhaps the statement being made in such an act is indeed fear. We know it is extreme religious fundamentalism, but what is the basis of that? Does it simply suggest that "We don't understand what you or your religion is about, so we fear you. Take that! Now, fear us!"
Of course, nobody thinks that way. In the throes of extreme religious fundamentalism, the mantra is indeed an "eye for an eye," or "let's get them because they surely seem they are going to get us." Indeed, I fear it is that simple. And why wouldn't I? Look what our president has gotten us into. He has struck back, hasn't he. "Take that!" he has said. Simple fundamental reasoning, because none of us are buying into that "Freedom is a god given right" crap, and "We're making the world safe for democracy" bullshit. No, he has taken the low road, the path to least resistence, if you ask me. Why would he do this? Hmmmm...which leads me to something entirely worth fearing: Below the radar, beneath the fear, maybe in addition to all this we've actually invaded another country, gone to war, and continue to wage it because it made economic sense, too. We should have more mercy for our comrades. We all deserve better.
Payback. Could be exactly this kind of knee jerk reaction which lead us into this Iraq war in the first place. On some level, was not the country looking for some "payback" for 9-11. And yet those with compassion and, yes, mercy, look to the upcoming election and wonder
What we need is a thinking man, a diplomat, if you will -- a man so inclined who would know that the billions of dollars and the priceless count of human lives could have been better served with an eye toward intelligence, security, fighting the smart fight, and having not only mercy for our enemies, but for our comrades and brothers and sisters as well. A president who is smarter than the enemy, one who knows their game and doesn't try to play it better, but plays it different.
What's at play? Just as the innocent individual who lost his life to the hands of these terrorists feared for this life near the end, so too did we as a nation fear the world before us as we watched those twin towers fall to the ground. Yet ... "we have nothing to fear but fear itself" and "fear is our worst enemy." Some would say the current president knows this (though I would doubt he truly does) as he bases much of his campaign platform on fear and our need to and "move forward". Yes, I have doubts.
Post a Comment