Putting religion and politics aside for just a moment, deep down we all want peace in all its shapes and forms. War on the other hand is all we've had through out our bloody human history.
And I wonder, why? Why does war exist? When it's peace that all of us dream of having. Us --the simple people, the majority. Why do we fight? What can we do to bring peace to our troubled world?
Being cursed with an analytical and logical mind, I started to try and analyze. You know how it goes, givens, findings, requirements, solutions, etc. In short my mind wandered as usual in all the unusual paths.
Is it possible that if we know how and why wars are started, we could stop them? Wishful thinking I know. But logically and theoretically speaking it is a valid assumption. So, what is war? If you want to stop it you need to know what it really is. I'm not talking about dictionary definitions. I'm talking what war REALY is. It's destruction, rights violation, loss of loved ones, money going to waste. This is war.
Economy is the heart of the engine that runs our world, and most wars are fought to control the economy one way or the other. What baffles me (me and my simplistic thinking) if you spend all the money used to fight a war on your own development, you won't need to get it from someone else. I do not want to delve further into politics and other taboo matters that start wars such as, border conflict, chain reactions, religion, because in my opinion they all are just as silly reasons as power and economics.
I just have one question. What gives anyone the right to take a life just because they don't see eye to eye with them?
The interesting thing I have noticed is that all wars were started by one person (Hitler, Saddam, you can fill in the spaces) Why? Truly. Why do we as a human race allow one person to drag us into this? I remember reading once an article by Margaret Mead where she asked the question of whether war was a biological necessity or just a bad invention. She adopts the opinion that it is a bad invention, and I'd like to believe her. But unfortunately as societies not just as nations, I mean on the personal level as well, we just seem to have lost our capacity to tolerate. Violence has become the first resort. We're not blood thirsty creatures, we are not violent by nature, but that's all we see. Sometimes I think that many people do not know any other way to settle differences or conflicts except through violence, and by violence I mean physical, verbal and emotional. And we're not doing anything about unfortunately. So it will never end.
I think I'm right where I started with no answers what so ever. I have more questions though. What are * you* going to do to bring peace to our world next year? I'm not asking for anything major? No Noble prize efforts are required. Just create peace around you. If we each do this, it might spread.
Wishing everybody a peaceful New Year.
All I Really Need To Know
by Robert Fulghum
I Learned In Kindergarten
- an excerpt from the book, All I Really Need To Know I Learned in KindergartenAll I really need to know I learned in kindergarten.
ALL I REALLY NEED TO KNOW about how to live and what to do
and how to be I learned in kindergarten. Wisdom was not
at the top of the graduate-school mountain, but there in the
sandpile at Sunday School. These are the things I learned:
Share everything.
Play fair.
Don't hit people.
Put things back where you found them.
Clean up your own mess.
Don't take things that aren't yours.
Say you're sorry when you hurt somebody.
Wash your hands before you eat.
Flush.
Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you.
Live a balanced life - learn some and think some
and draw and paint and sing and dance and play
and work every day some.
Take a nap every afternoon.
When you go out into the world, watch out for traffic,
hold hands, and stick together.
Be aware of wonder.
Remember the little seed in the styrofoam cup:
The roots go down and the plant goes up and nobody
really knows how or why, but we are all like that.
Goldfish and hamsters and white mice and even
the little seed in the Styrofoam cup - they all die.
So do we.
And then remember the Dick-and-Jane books
and the first word you learned - the biggest
word of all - LOOK.
Everything you need to know is in there somewhere.
The Golden Rule and love and basic sanitation.
Ecology and politics and equality and sane living.
Take any of those items and extrapolate it into
sophisticated adult terms and apply it to your
family life or your work or your government or
your world and it holds true and clear and firm.
Think what a better world it would be if
all - the whole world - had cookies and milk about
three o'clock every afternoon and then lay down with
our blankies for a nap. Or if all governments
had a basic policy to always put thing back where
they found them and to clean up their own mess.
And it is still true, no matter how old you
are - when you go out into the world, it is best
to hold hands and stick together.
© Robert Fulghum, 1990.
Found in Robert Fulghum, All I Really Need To Know I Learned In Kindergarten, Villard Books: New York, 1990, page 6-7.
Wearing my nerves
outside my skin
My severed veins
bleed my senses
Acid tears
behind my eyes
Muted thunder
swallows my words
An inward view
The black hole of me
My Antisoul
Orion's death
From : The Ballad of Reading Gaol
By: Oscar Wilde
Yet each man kills the thing he loves
By each let this be heard,
Some do it with a bitter look,
Some with a flattering word,
The coward does it with a kiss,
The brave man with a sword!
*
Some kill their love when they are young,
And some when they are old;
Some strangle with the hands of Lust,
Some with the hands of Gold:
The kindest use a knife, because
The dead so soon grow cold.
*
Some love too little, some too long,
Some sell, and others buy;
Some do the deed with many tears,
And some without a sigh:
For each man kills the thing he loves,
Have you ever been touched by lightning?
Have you ever seen the plan?
Have you ever been one with the Universe?
Through your veins it ran
You see inside the truth,
but no one else can.
Have you ever been touched by an angel?
Tender, sweet, and surreal…
Or ever been healed by a stranger?
Profound, Mysterious, Unreal…
It shook your world like earthquakes,
but no one seems to feel.
Have you ever been so tired?
Fragile, Weak, and Alone…
You can hear the music,
but you sing to a different tune…
You might not know,
but you're good for me.
You make aware of what I feel.
I thought I had me figured out,
but you're making me rediscover me.
I thought my fears, my past, my ghosts,
are once again haunting me.
It turns out it's only growing pains,
and getting over my insecurities.
You make me strong to embrace hope,
and learn to trust, and to believe.
You might not know,
so, I thought I'd tell you
Hold me tonight
I miss the way you feel
Kiss me tonight
Remind me that it's real
It's been so long
Since your voice
Had echoed in my soul
I miss the way
Your heartbeats shake
The essence of my world
Touch me tonight
Wipe away my tears
Sing to me tonight
Rock my fears to sleep
I don't why
I feel like
We're drifting apart
Maybe it's only
In my head
But there's no light in your stars
Hold me tonight.
Hold me tonight.
Hold me tonight.
I am not sure why I'm writing this? Maybe I am just thinking out loud. Maybe I just want to share some questions that have always puzzled me. They disappear for a while, but I always know that sooner or later they will come up again. Something small, or something big happens and it triggers a series of question and before you know it you are battling with same old familiar windmills. We all have questions like that, right? Or maybe not. Maybe as usual, I am making a fool out of myself. Or Maybe I just want to see my thoughts on paper (e-paper anyway). That is if I can call them thoughts. For all I care, they could be hallucinations, or at best, desperate attempts of a person who is trying to make sense of this crazy world we live in. And maybe, just maybe, the release valve has exploded...:
Maybe …
Maybe…
That's how things have been lately. Nothing is definite or sure, and everything seems vague and uncertain. What has happened? What may come? I have no clue.
Okay, let's get real. I am not really loosing it here. I'm not asking for someone to tell me what the future will bring. I know that's not possible. And after all, it is in our nature, or at least in mine, to accept the vagueness of the future. Not out of understanding or faith, but it's just how it is, whether we like it or not. The problem though, that we don't like to admit that we are helpless where the future is concerned, because it takes a lot to admit helplessness. So, we become very innovative and creative in making up excuses and explanations.
But hey, that's the future we each deal, cope, and adjust to its vagueness as we see fit. Some people make plans and alternate plans, others analyze, scrutinize, evaluate and make conclusions, and some just do not bother with it, they'll take things as they come and deal with them then and there.
But what can really mess up a person is the vagueness of the "past". Their own past, that is. I mean come on, unless you have amnesia, you should know what went on. After all you were there. You were part of it. You lived it, breathed it, and at the time you thought you had a full grasp on it. Otherwise, you wouldn't have done what you had done. You'd think this should be the case. Yeah right! Think again. Because when you least expect it, it hits you. The ultimate shock. The moment you realize that your past is just as vague as your future, and you fail to understand every bit of it. Life, destiny, fate, whatever you want to call it, has just finished the last act of the greatest practical joke of all times. You've been punk'd. And life… Well, it just looks at you laughing it's ass off daring you to do something about it.
And as if all of this is not enough, you do the same damn thing to yourself. This is when all the self delusions start. I'm well, I'm over it, it was a learning experience. You know how that goes, right? It is comforting for a while, but the nagging thought that your past is a mystery to you still lurks over your head like a vulture waiting for the right moment to attack. And when the self delusions reach their peak and you really are convinced that you are doing well. Guess what? This is actually when you are most vulnerable.
See, this false sense of well being makes you brave, and you start wanting to explore the forbidden territory. THE PAST. You feel that now you can understand, and rationalize. You are now a balanced person, and you are armed with logic, and objectivity. But the moment you start, you find out that you have entered into the same vicious cycle (the freakishly fast and haunted merry-go-round) and it gets faster and more violent every time you go through it. Hey, you have completed level one. Welcome to level two, and by the way, you have earned some bonus points for determination. And in the vicious cycle game, it means you've earned more momentum (Torque actually if you want to get technical). Crash and burn baby. And in case you haven't been on this particular ride before, I should tell you that the accompanying soundtrack is not the usual cheery music you're used to hearing at fairs and amusement parks. See, the ride operator is not without a sense of humor, he/she/it likes to play "Another one bites the dust". Loud! And on occasions you might be treated to snippets of "Keep yourself Alive", "Stone Cold Crazy", "The Great Pretender", or even "I'm going slightly mad", but mostly "Another one bites the dust". (Who would've guessed that the ride operator is a Queen's fan).
How much more vague and confusing could things get? When you're the criminal and the victim how can you rationalize?
And whether you bite the dust or advance to the next level, the big question remains "What the hell just happened here?"
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