Let's Rethink This with Better Brains
31 March 2003
I was talking to a friend tonight who was
wondering how to do herself in as things
continue to turn for the worst. She awakens
at night in a cold sweat with guilt and terror.
She feels that she cannot know what is going
on. Paralyzed, she curls into a ball and
wishes for death. I have another friend who
has believed as long as I have known her
that humans are a blight on the planet. She
has spent her life in shame, gardening baby's
tears, trying but never succeeding to look
away from the harm we do, have done, are
doing, will continue to do - unless something
changes.
I am amazed to find that, for the first time
in my life, I trust no news source. I trust
neither BBC nor NPR, and certainly not Fox,
sweeping the ratings as they are with their
you-are-there-and-this-is-better-than-reality-TV
reporting. I absolutely don't know what is
in the minds of our President and his merry
band. The explanatory theories all seem to
break down. Oil companies seem happy to do
business with stable dictators. The Iraqui
people are not, it seems, welcoming their
"liberators" with open arms. Saddam
and Osama seem to be mortal enemies. It is
said that as many as10,000 Muslims and Arabs
have crossed from relatively safe soil to
fight in Iraq against what can only be characterized
as an invasion by the United States.
As a student of Celtic culture, I have stories
which may or may not be believed as one's
narrative intelligence dictates, that once
upon a time, before the coming of the Romans
(do you feel like a Roman just about now?), chieftains
met on the battlefield person to person with
broadswords, and that the community was represented
in their single combat. Would that it were
so today.
It seems that Mr. Bush is a true believer,
but the readings of his inner compass are
inedecipherable. My best friend compares
Mr. Bush to Mr. Truman. A fatal difference
is that Mr. Truman, in the mid-twentieth
century, went after what he saw as a localized
infection and attempted to lance the boil.
Metaphorically speaking, we are way beyond
bacteria and way into virus. The infection
is everywhere, and it is in us as well as
the Islamic Jihad and Al Quaeda. Its name
is Violence.
I teach and know people from all over the
world who want to devote their life energies
to ending the madness had progressively infected
the human race since the beginning of history.
Maybe it was better when we were 99.9% chimp
and not the mere 98.5% that we are today.
But in each of our brains there is at least
an idea of the Good and the possibility of
working toward it. A working definition of
the Good has been muddled by biology, habit,
custom, narrative, and Strongmen throughout
recorded time, and yet the idea persists.
We hang onto it by a gossamer thread of awareness
that apparently exceeds the evolutionary
rating of our brains. Go figure. Maybe this
awareness is magic. Most certainly this awareness
is sacred. This awareness is what has made
us bother to go on, to care for our young,
to feed the hungry and nurse the sick, to
ruminate on world peace, to imagine life
among the stars.
Knowing that we cannot know the answer until
we know the question is a sign of intelligence.
We don't know what is going on in Iraq or
why. Everyone from my dental hygenist to
the grocery store clerk has expressed that
view. But the ability to imagine a world
at peace (John Lennon, you are with us now)
is a mighty thing. How disproportionately
our values are reflected in our Congress!
How ashamed we are in front of the world,
when the voices of our so-called leaders
are mistaken for our own!
I can't tell the military what to do. I can't
tell the government what to do. Certainly,
no one can tell the President what to do;
for if he were listening, he would most certainly
have heard by now that this war is not the
way that We the People want to move toward
the future, published polls notwithstanding.
It depends on how you ask the question.
So here is my question. Do you believe that
humans are capable of resolving differences
and disempowering tyrrany through non-violent
means? And, do you believe it's worth it
to try? If not, then maybe it's a good idea
to woof that lethal cocktail of valium and
whisky right now.
If your answer is yes, then do something
about it. In this moment, it is imperative
that our erstwhile "leaders" be
removed from their posts through our democratic
process. We must exercise those rights guaranteed
by our Constitution to remove a leader who
runs amok. We must listen to the dictates
of our ethical selves right now, to call
a halt to the demented affair in Iraq. Full
stop. I might go on about Palestine or the
undeveloped world or the craziness implicit
in religious fundamentalism or the theory
that maybe we should just make contracts
with dictators and ship them Disney films,
but those are questions that come next. What
comes now is, this has to stop. This. Has.
To. Stop. We the People must make this stop.
Stop, breathe, a little water and food, new
thoughts surging through the infosphere,
and I'm betting that many people in many
places are smart enough to figure out that
elusive third alternative. That is the definition
of Hope.
Impeach George Bush, for acting against the
spirit of Democracy and against the fragile,
hard-built infrastructure of global law and
civility. Impeach George Bush for violating
the spirits of all who fought and died to
define and defend Freedom and Democracy as
we who are patriots have always believe in
it. Impeach George Bush for being dangerously
stupid. This misadventure makes Monica's
blue dress look like something out of a fairy
tale.
We're not done until we're done. Keep faith,
keep working, and stop the bleeding before
you worry about how to heal the wound. Write
to everyone in Congress. Write to the newspaper.
Write in the sky. This is not my war, this
is not my colonial adventure, and I'll be
damned if I'll let my country's name be attached
to it without objection. Let us put democracy
to the test. Let's revoke the license of
the man at the wheel.
Many of my friends fought in Vietnam. My
heart was with them, as it is with those
who fight in Iraq today. Some died. Most
returned to spend their lives in perpetual
struggle against both battle stress and the
horrible sense that no one knew what they
were doing there. Many have lost that fight
as well. May we not do this to yet another
generation. Stop and think. What does it
mean to protect and serve? Surely not this.
Not this. |