Peace – Page 7 – The Future is Open

May 15, 2008

Bogey man

Yesterday, President Bush told a reporter that he gave up golf to be in solidarity with the parents of loved ones who had been killed in Iraq. Soldiers, Sailors, Air Force and Marines who’ve been killed in an un-necessary and illegal war can draw solace that Mr. Bush has given up golf. What a guy? Do you think George Bush belongs in the same history books as George Washington, Thomas Jefferson or Abraham Lincoln? Does this poor man get it? What planet is the guy on? Tonight Keith Olberman lit into the President in a tongue lashing without peer. View it here.

Sadly this is too little too late for thousands of Americans and Iraqi people who have been killed by a person who cares little if anything about human life. I have to wonder what if any lessons we as a country have learned from this debacle in Iraq. Have we learned that war only begets war and that only peace can bring an end to terrorism. I wish the president had kept playing golf and given up lying. You want to engender solidarity, call the nation to shared sacrifice. There should be no tax cuts for the wealthy in war time. You want to promote solidarity, how about gas rationing or a call to use alternatives to fossil fuels. How about an end to no bid contracts for your buddies. How about less “bring’em on” speeches and less politicization of opponents of your failed strategy.

You want to show real solidarity with the troops, own up to your mistakes honestly. Admit you were way wrong and ask forgiveness for yourself and your wrong headed strategy. Instead of a presidential library how about taking the money and putting it towards a trust fund to help the widows and children of the four thousand dead military personnel and the countless thousands of wounded from this debacle. How about asking the war profiteers to give back some of the billions of tax payer dollars to establish the beginning of an international aid program. Start playing golf again and while you’re out there invite some of the orphans of Katrina, Afghanistan, Iraq and elsewhere to join you for lunch. Live with the victims of war and you’ll be a little less likely to start another one. Spend some time living with a military family, eat the food they eat, sit up with them while they worry and pray for their loved ones. When you’ve been in their shoes it’ll be a little tougher to start another war.

April 20, 2008

Fr. Pfleger

I never heard of Rev. Michael Pfleger until tonight, but I sure love what he has to say to this pugnacious reporter from one of the major media outlets, who was trying to get this priest to denounce Rev. Wright. This seven minute video clip is worth your time. This man of God deflected the hate and turned the reporters own words on himself.

Fr. Pfleger reminds me of this quote from Oscar Romero.

A church that suffers no persecution but enjoys the privileges and support of the things of the earth – beware! – is not the true church of Jesus Christ. A preaching that does not point out sin is not the preaching of the gospel. A preaching that makes sinners feel good, so that they are secured in their sinful state, betrays the gospel’s call.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F0wvQMqSzTM]

April 13, 2008

Terribly profitable

This week in Congress, General Petraeus, told our representatives that we have to pause on the draw down of our troops in Iraq. Iraq is not really any safer than it was a year ago when we were told that we needed to surge our troops in order to bring stability to the country. I didn’t watch the testimony. I’m sure I would have been sickened by the baloney. I’m a bit cynical after growing up during the Berlin buildup, a draftee during the War in Vietnam. Continue reading “Terribly profitable”

March 30, 2008

A Moment of Peace

As I read the news reports coming out of Iraq this morning I began to wonder what if we hadn’t invaded Iraq and we’d have saved all the good will we used to enjoy in the world. What if we’d spent the money we’ve squandered in Iraq on guns, bombs, and other weapons on education for Iraqis, Iranians, Saudis and others. What if we had those 4,000 men and women back who got killed? What if we had 30,000 others who got horribly maimed? What if we didn’t have 1,000,000 dead Iraqis and millions more displaced by the carnage? What if we really allowed the United Nations to work? What if we put all our weapons in boxes and buried them? What if we turned our seven-hundred-forty or so military bases world wide into care centers for the poor and sick? What if we turned our fleets into hospital ships and care centers for the world’s poor? Can you imagine a different outcome? Can you imagine an end to terrorism?

What if the neo-conservative militarists had been flower children? What if Bush, Cheney and the rest had been pacifists instead of militarists? What if they really believed Christ and really practiced what he lived and taught? Can you imagine a different outcome in Basra and Baghdad? It would be a different world.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bCwhoJ4G1WY]

March 17, 2008

Giving it away

Lord, make me an instrument of Thy peace;
where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
and where there is sadness, joy. O Divine Master,
grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console;
to be understood, as to understand;
to be loved, as to love;
for it is in giving that we receive,
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life.

“It is better to give than to receive..,” but that’s not how most of us live. We live as though it were better to get than to give. I know I’m guilty of it myself. It’s a proven fact though that giving actually results in better health for the giver. Among other things I’m a technology consultant. I recommend solutions for people and businesses. I try to give a lot of what I do to others. I believe that it will come back to me in blessings and it does.

There is an old adage that in order to keep what you have, you have to give it away. It has to do with powerful forces in the universe. Some call it karma. Call it what you will but it works and if you want happiness, then give it away. If you want wealth, give it away. If you want peace, give it. May God, Allah, Yahweh, the Great Spirit, Buddha, Krishna or whomever or whatever you hold sacred move you to give what you have. We need that more than ever right now.

March 14, 2008

War made easy

While the media and the public have been focused on Eliot Spitzer’s disgrace at least eight more American soldiers have been killed in Iraq. That brings the total of American war dead to nearly 4,000. Iraq is not even front page news as we move into the sixth year of the illegal war that has cost this country as estimated 3 billion dollars. The fourth estate has fallen asleep at the switch. They’re more concerned with tabloid journalism stories than about what’s killing America and Americans. Lent is a time of new beginnings. May we have a new beginning that will see our nation rise up and demand an end to war. A new film, War Made Easy is available and here is the trailer.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H5CF5pfVzLI]

February 26, 2008

Peace today

I got this in today’s mail. I thought it was worth posting.[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7FVjfmBTgh8]

February 15, 2008

Counting the cost

I’ve been on the couch most of today. I’ve had a 24 hour virus. Chills, fever and a bit achey. Today was one of those lovely midwinter days where there were only high cirrus clouds and almost unrestricted sun. That’s a real gift in our area. We are one of the grayest areas of the country this time of year. I got in a lot of reading today. I stopped by at PlainFoolish and wandered over to the Quakers Colonel where there is an excellent piece “If George Bush gave the equivalent of Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address.” From there I wandered to Pax-et-Lux and saw a very telling video that’s being circulated by the American Friends Service Committee. I hope you take time to watch it here.[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wnq6cD5jk1Q]

February 9, 2008

Hosea

I will lead you into the desert, and there I will speak to your heart. Hosea 2:14

Campaign 2008 and the news media in general have driven me into the desert. I’m really blessed because the onslaught of media both print, internet and televised has driven me to silence and contemplation. It’s been a gradual thing. At first it began intentionally four or five Lents ago and now it has become a way of life. The desert has been a metaphor for a place of radical truth. I’m grateful the media then for driving me closer and closer to a contemplative life that seeks more and more to live apart from them and their reality. Life can be very beautiful most of the time without the constant harangue.