Journeying god, pitch your tent with mine
so that I may not become deterred
by hardship, strangeness, doubt.
Show me the movement I must make
toward a wealth not dependent upon possessions,
toward a wisdom not based upon books,
toward a strength not bolstered by might,
toward a god not confined to heaven.
Help me to find myself as I walk in other’s shoes.
Traditional prayer song from Ghana
translator unknown
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People want to be religious, says scholar Karen Armstrong; we should act to help make religion a force for harmony. She asks the TED community to help her build a Charter for Compassion — to help restore the Golden Rule.
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All tremble at punishment. Life is dear to all. Put yourself in the place of others; kill none nor have another killed. Dhammapada 10.130
Above all, do no harm…
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The Memorial Day 2009 weekend is upon us. And Americans will be remembering all the wrong things. Over 1,147,000 American sons and daughters have fought and died in military actions that can be considered both immoral and unlawful. They were deceived into military service, where politicians used their feelings of patriotism and trust as weapons against them, and their bodies as cannon fodder.
I do not hold the dead entirely at fault. Did they not come from our own homes and schools, where this false sense of patriotism was taught from the cradle onward? We the living are the ones most guilty. We did not teach our children how to discern truth from lies. We failed to teach them to question ALL authority. We neglected to infuse them with a love for the rule of law.
Therefore, here in the Memorial Day weekend of 2009, may we at long last accept the tragic truth that more than a million of our children gave their lives as sacrificial lambs on the blood-soaked altar of the God of the State? May we finally accept that additional hundreds of thousands were maimed and disabled on the same altar? Truly, they did not die to protect the American homeland. They did not die to protect our freedoms. They did not die defending “the Constitution of the United States from all enemies, foreign and domestic”…words found in their Oath of Service.
They died in vain. They died for nothing. That is what we should mourn this weekend.
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This memorial day, recruit peacemakers. Support the troops who go awol. Let us love our neighbors and accept (if we cannot embrace) our differences. We must stop killing each other, ourselves, and the earth. There is nothing noble about war nor warriors and the old men who use them as pawns. Self-aggrandizing battle myths are but pretty lies used to soothe our souls and excuse our barbarity. Reverential monuments to bloodshed are the most craven of images. This memorial day, remember that we are all One. There is no Other. Peace…Rv
