(click on picture for larger image if you’re having trouble reading it)
- Non-violence is the answer to the crucial political and moral questions of our time; the need for mankind to overcome oppression and violence without resorting to oppression and violence. Mankind must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression, and retaliation. The foundation of such a method is love.
first things first …
This afternoon at just after 4:30pm I strolled out of the library an entirely free woman. As I left I had a little Pink Floyd in my step…
We don’t need no education
We don’t need no thought control
I can’t even describe my joy… it has taken me almost five years to earn a piece of paper that will hang in some dark corner of my future office (if it even makes it on the wall at all). Seriously though – it’s been a wild ride & I am glad to move on to the next stage in life. But in the meantime I’ll be celebrating cuz…
I graduated!
Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy
freedom freedom freedom. Our country and president are obsessed with talking about freedom, but it seems to me that what we actually desire is simply short-lived pleasures. Look at the average debt of Americans and you will find that people value stuff more than anything else – even more than time with each other. Before paychecks are deposited they are already spent. Acquiring the “American dream” requires excessive spending that usually cannot be attained without being imprisoned by the very purchases that required such hard work.
Somehow we’ve all been duped into believing that things matter more than people. Why do parents stand in absurdly long lines just to buy toys that will become obsolete before they even get placed in the trunk? In Sub-Saharan Africa the average annual income is $300 – that’s less than an Xbox 360.
Most people who come into my apartment see a clean and coordinated little space, but as my move-out date encroaches (Saturday), I look around and only see the junk I need to toss or sell.
I’ve decided to get rid of every piece of furniture - including my bed – the only exception is a hopechest given to me by my Dad. I’ve taken bags of clothing and household items to a Catholic charity that freely distributes them to poor families in the community. I figure if everything I own can’t fit in my car, then I don’t need to own it anymore. This is probably the last time in my life when I can do this and not feel the slightest bit of sentimentality for the loss of my property.
And to be honest – I feel surprisingly free.
Lets be honest – none of us really care when others go hungry or else we’d do something about it. Yesterday while I was eating a delicious Quizno’s sandwich people were standing in line for hours hoping to buy up the last of the bread available in Gaza.
The UN reported yesterday that the wheat stock in Gaza is completely gone, and that fruit and vegetable supplies are very low. Still – Israel insists that the the commercial border crossing Al-Mintar must remain closed to imports and exports for “security reasons”.
40% of children in the Gaza Strip (often referred to as the largest prison in the world) are already malnourished…
I love this next quote though – it really shows the heartlessness of the occupation.
Israeli Prime Ministerial advisor Dov Weisglass recently described the Israeli sanctions policy in the wake of the democratic Hamas victory as one in which Palestinians would be put on a diet but not starved to death. “It’s like an appointment with a dietician. The Palestinians will get a lot thinner, but won’t die”.
Meanwhile… Pastor Hagee and his cohorts of Evangelical leaders, who represent as many as 30 million Americans were patting themselves on the back for the creation of their new lobbying group CUFI: Christians United For Israel, which according to Hagee ought to be thought of as the “Christian version of AIPAC”. They want to make sure that Christians everywhere know that if they don’t support Israel they’re going to be cursed… dun dun dun.
Oh – and they’d like to make sure that none of those pesky Palestinians get in the way of their End of Days plans – after all, if Israel agrees to peace and a two-state solution, World War III is only going to be further delayed. And we all know that the sooner that happens the sooner Jesus can ride his cloud back to Earth and all those Jews (& everyone else) can be sent to hell where they belong.
::::sigh:::: Where are the sackcloth and ashes when you really need them?
So I try to be respectful of all beliefs – but I find it particularly difficult to take Scientology very seriously. Maybe it’s because it was developed by a sci-fi writer only 50 years ago – or maybe it’s all the talk of thetan and the whole idea of 
auditing on an e-meter. I dunno… it just seems like an elaborate prank. Like at any time Tom Cruise is going to jump out and say, “We gotcha! You all really thought we believed that stuff huh?”.
I went to a lecture last night where Huston Smith spoke about how the Enlightenment severed the relationship between the physical and the spiritual for many people. That often resulted in the decapitation of the spiritual self from the natural world in order to accommodate the new knowledge humanity gained through the scientific revolution.
He explained how today people have begun to realize the disconnect is unnecessary and in fact, that a reuniting of spiritualism and naturalism is occuring in the Western world. Some might think this is an example of post-modernism, but the crux of the matter is that people are realizing the emptiness that comes when a critical part of the self (the spiritual aspect) is left un-nurtured.
I’m beginning to think that Scientology having a following at all only further proves that people have a deep desire to connect with the Sacred – even it if it involves seemingly bizarre rituals or practices.
Now that I can respect.
I occasionally get to chat with my cousin stationed in Iraq. Despite my pleas he enlisted in the Army last year – with the recruiter’s promise he would not 
be shipped to Iraq. Apparently lying is a good strategy to get people to join the military these days.
Since my cousin is only two years younger than me we grew up playing together; in a lot of ways he was the little brother I didn’t have. But today as we chatted I felt so distant from him. He is just another young guy caught up in this war whose mentality has been changed by it.
When I asked if he has picked up any Arabic in the past few months he responded with: “Helllll no. I am only here to do my job, I am only hoping to take a few [Iraqis] out before I leave”.
I nearly wept. How could he say that? When did his heart turn so cold to other people? He wasn’t always like this, and now I wonder if he’ll ever be the same.
I think being equipped with a gun, and being trained to dehumanize others always results in bad judgment calls. I pray that he doesn’t take someone’s life. And I pray that no one takes his.
