Category: nonviolence

Love and peace as a public stand

I’m on the back deck again, the temperature around 60 and the sun in my face. I’ve gotten a little housework done, and the yard work is taunting me as if to say, “You do know the weather is perfect for working outside, should you ever decide to get off your duff?”

Beyond this idyllic scene, gasoline is up to $4.50 a gallon, about $2 more than before the U.S. government started to bomb Iran. I liked it better when the president was bragging about how many wars he had ended. It seems to be inevitable that the weapons industry will eventually get a bug in a president’s ear and convince him to start blowing things up. Once the explosives are deployed, of course, new explosives need to be ordered to replace them; after all, the war racket must be maintained.

I have tried to keep politics out of my blog, but “Love God and love your neighbor” has become a radical political statement these days. I still believe we are born with certain rights — rights that are certain — beginning with the rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. My personal pursuit of happiness led me to love God and love my neighbors, and judging from the anger, hatred, violence and viciousness rampant in our public discourse these days, I have to believe I have been more successful than a lot of people in securing a modicum of happiness.

Chaos agents across the land are trying to drive wedges between neighbors, and they have had more success than I care to admit. I’ve said before that my top expectations from politicos are promoting freedom and peace, and that no one in the ruling class cares about such things — they are too busy stirring up hatred and fomenting civil unrest. But we need not heed the chaos agents, not when such a better path is open before us.

It’s spring planting season, and we need plowshares more than we need swords if we’re to eat next winter. I refuse to hate my neighbors, a group of people that includes even you who insist I should be seething with hate.

At least that’s how I see life on a sunny day on the back porch in early May. The cardinals, goldfinches and blackbirds are chirping agreement.

Hate, bait and switch

Melania Trump on Monday gave Jimmy Kimmel another temporary bump in his feeble ratings by calling on ABC to do something about its late-night hate fest. Kimmel fantasized about the death of Donald Trump again, and Melania took the bait.

I see and hear so many horrible comments out there, on anti-social media, on mainstream media, walking down the street. Kimmel’s supposed jokes are some of the most horrible. I remember when he was funny, 20 or 30 years ago, and it’s sad to see this unpleasant and hateful shadow of his old self. 

But the proper reaction to bad television is the same as it always has been — I change the channel. In a world of ratings and analytics, it is actually true that if you ignore it, it will eventually go away.

I can’t blame the First Lady for being upset, but all she accomplished was to make Kimmel feel relevant again. And truth be told, her husband is not exactly a role model for proper etiquette.

I try, when I see or hear something I would love to respond to with equal venom, to say to myself, “Love God and love your neighbor, and we are all neighbors.” Some days I have to say it several times, but it bears repeating. In fact, it stands up to frequent repetition.

Renewal and revival

May I interest you in a little dystopia? Big Brother is watching you. War is peace. Ignorance is strength. Freedom is slavery.

Oh, but the sun is shining and the mayflowers have emerged after their long rest. Who can look up into all that blue and scream that the sky is falling? I cannot. I refuse to see any darkness on the horizon. A month ago this green grass was brown and gray, and we couldn’t go outside without layers. Dystopia, shmystopia.

There is music everywhere, pulsing rhythms on a cosmic scale, gentle birdsong, and no, this world is not going off the rails.

That guy you’re telling me to hate? Those people you want me to despise? I don’t see them. What I see are people who want a better world — is that a bad thing? They’re trying to give their kids more than they had growing up, trying to leave the world in better shape than they found it, just like you, just like me. Oh my goodness, the problem is that they’re in that other political party? Are you serious?

That man who just died, what did he sing again? “There ain’t no good guys, there ain’t no bad guys, there’s only you and me, and we just disagree.” You don’t see eye to eye on everything — that makes you and him human, not evil. Good grief.

I dreamed we all were all right — what a lovely dream it was. I dreamed a man who was more than just a man said we should love our neighbors, and on this little speck of dust in an infinite universe, everyone we meet is a neighbor — so I love you, man. That doesn’t seem to be such a hard thing to do when you look at it that way. 

And if you can’t love somebody because they’re not like you, you’re in deep trouble, buddy, because no two of us are alike. Everyone you meet is different from everyone else, so you can either love them or live a very lonely existence.

Oh, but he’s wrong about so much stuff? That’s OK. When I said it’s not about good guys and bad guys, I didn’t say somebody can’t be wrong or think stupid things. 

This may come as a shock, but some of the stuff the other party talks about is right, and some of the stuff your party talks about is wrong. That doesn’t make them evil; they just see things differently.

Why are we even talking about this? Haven’t you noticed what a beautiful day this is?

And, by the way, war is war. Peace is peace. Ignorance is ignorance. Strength is strength. Freedom is freedom. And slavery is slavery, even when nobody’s watching.