It's been almost two weeks since I've written anything here. I seem to find it impossible to write pithy prose about my small, magnificent, challenging life when we all watched in real-time as Hamas followers performed some of the most heinous acts on innocent humans the world has ever seen. Or maybe it's DT's numbers haven't dropped as more and more indications of what Americans will face if he is elected as the first dictator of the United States of America, which is the platform he is actually running on, have surfaced. Or could it be the map I saw of the increasing land on the coast of my beloved Maine that will be underwater shortly because I can't seem to walk away from oil and other harmful acts to my planet that has no American military to defend it? Why is that, by the way?
I have been in a vacuum for three solid weeks, dealing with the last days of a loved one. In its own way it has kept me insulated from the horrors of Hamas and the shameful way it has been dealt with by Israel. In it's simplest form, two wrongs don't make a right. In it's biblical form, an eye for an eye, but I say onto you turn the other cheek-everyone forgets the turn the other cheek part. They are quick to remember an eye for an eye. I've always had a fascination with the concept of atrocities perpetrated in the name of God. I don't get it.
The Leos in the world, who know that vengeance is never fully achieved until everyone is dead, have always been our greatest assets. Martin Luther King's quote about darkness not being able to dispel darkness. Only the light can dispel darkness. Don't quote me on the quotes. Don't hold me to the grammatical and spelling errors. I'm speaking from my safety of my warm bed in the middle of the night holding a $1200 iPhone. I am feeling the blessings of my life every minute, yet, knowing the bloodshed that it takes to secure that safety. I have no answers, but thank you Christine for always posing the question.
In my heart, I know that violence will never be the winner. I just don't know how to get to a place where there is a winner. Can you imagine what the world would be like if leaders came from a place of grace, dignity, and compassion? Sending love to all who hope for the best while suffering through the worst.
I can imagine the world you describe at the end, if more women were in charge. I could not imagine it with the men that are in charge of peace at this point globally.
I can't help but think that this wouldn't have happened if they were in power. That the entire world was different then. There WAS a sense of some decency... and it's gone. Not sure, but they would not allow this man innocents to be killed...
Although Eisenhower was around during WWII and look what we did in Japan, so who knows???
A carnivore must kill a herbivore or starve. They can't help it. They are programmed that way. Are we humans also programmed to kill, the way Cain killed Abel?
Although the Ten Commandments say, "Thou shalt not kill," the Torah mandates the Israelites to ritually slaughter the Paschal lamb on the evening of Passover. So, just don't kill humans?
The Buddha condemned killing or harming of all living beings, so in Mahayana Buddhism, it is against the first precept to harm, kill, or eat sentient beings as it is the same as harming, killing, or eating the flesh of our own child or mother.
On one level, I agree with that. But I absolutely kill that mosquito feeding on my blood and I do delight in a juicy hamburger. And I do enjoy watching John Wick take out the bad guys.
Perhaps, if you have been raised to understand what decency is, you can ask your heart what to do. And I think the Israelis have asked their hearts and chosen their own families first. I think to them Hamas are the Uruk-hai. It's personal. For Eisenhower and Kennedy, it would not be personal.
I don't believe in a proportional response. If someone bullies you, you beat the crap out of him so that it hurts him more than his attack on you. If you do that, he won't do it again. The only way to deal Hamas is to kill them. Kill them all and then, no more problems with Hamas. Simple
I have been in a vacuum for three solid weeks, dealing with the last days of a loved one. In its own way it has kept me insulated from the horrors of Hamas and the shameful way it has been dealt with by Israel. In it's simplest form, two wrongs don't make a right. In it's biblical form, an eye for an eye, but I say onto you turn the other cheek-everyone forgets the turn the other cheek part. They are quick to remember an eye for an eye. I've always had a fascination with the concept of atrocities perpetrated in the name of God. I don't get it.
The Leos in the world, who know that vengeance is never fully achieved until everyone is dead, have always been our greatest assets. Martin Luther King's quote about darkness not being able to dispel darkness. Only the light can dispel darkness. Don't quote me on the quotes. Don't hold me to the grammatical and spelling errors. I'm speaking from my safety of my warm bed in the middle of the night holding a $1200 iPhone. I am feeling the blessings of my life every minute, yet, knowing the bloodshed that it takes to secure that safety. I have no answers, but thank you Christine for always posing the question.
In my heart, I know that violence will never be the winner. I just don't know how to get to a place where there is a winner. Can you imagine what the world would be like if leaders came from a place of grace, dignity, and compassion? Sending love to all who hope for the best while suffering through the worst.
I can imagine the world you describe at the end, if more women were in charge. I could not imagine it with the men that are in charge of peace at this point globally.
What would Dwight Eisenhower do? What would Jack Kennedy do?
I can't help but think that this wouldn't have happened if they were in power. That the entire world was different then. There WAS a sense of some decency... and it's gone. Not sure, but they would not allow this man innocents to be killed...
Although Eisenhower was around during WWII and look what we did in Japan, so who knows???
A carnivore must kill a herbivore or starve. They can't help it. They are programmed that way. Are we humans also programmed to kill, the way Cain killed Abel?
Although the Ten Commandments say, "Thou shalt not kill," the Torah mandates the Israelites to ritually slaughter the Paschal lamb on the evening of Passover. So, just don't kill humans?
The Buddha condemned killing or harming of all living beings, so in Mahayana Buddhism, it is against the first precept to harm, kill, or eat sentient beings as it is the same as harming, killing, or eating the flesh of our own child or mother.
On one level, I agree with that. But I absolutely kill that mosquito feeding on my blood and I do delight in a juicy hamburger. And I do enjoy watching John Wick take out the bad guys.
Perhaps, if you have been raised to understand what decency is, you can ask your heart what to do. And I think the Israelis have asked their hearts and chosen their own families first. I think to them Hamas are the Uruk-hai. It's personal. For Eisenhower and Kennedy, it would not be personal.
I don't believe in a proportional response. If someone bullies you, you beat the crap out of him so that it hurts him more than his attack on you. If you do that, he won't do it again. The only way to deal Hamas is to kill them. Kill them all and then, no more problems with Hamas. Simple
And the more than 9000 children that have been killed that were not part of Hamas? You’re good with that? I am not.