Orientation, frequencies we attune to
flow through so powerfully, at times, overwhelmingly so
I hear watch and feel myself,
reflecting the world in the personal pronoun.
Hearing others grieve in anger and pain,
I feel so ashamed and guilty,
that i am no better, arrogance
is the most painful teacher,
merciless in it's punishment
of the guilty, I remember what
Peace is found in crying joy,
with humility and in exhaustion,
surrender.
~
Friday, January 23, 2009
Friday, January 16, 2009
Curent Events
Police officer killings continue, somehow we see this separate from other killings, going on every day, around the world, often funded by American tax dollars whether through covert or overt programs and the ongoing support and subsidy of arms makers. Is the Israeli response to the Palestinians different? Here we have a overwhelming use of force to subdue and destroy a relatively minor threat regardless of the long term ramifacations.
While it is easy to judge execution killings of handcuffed citizens by police officers, such as the recent killing of Oscar Grant in a Bart station. It is far more difficult to accept the ambiguity of more deaths, such as that of Daniel Fredrickson In San Anselmo, or the killing yesterday in Aurora Washington, of Joseph Bernerd Hradec, a knife wielding suspect resisting arrest; one simple fact seems to be consistently downplayed.
Moral or Societal values are the issue here, and training in general, can be re-visioned to reflect the possible shifting of values from “safety” “security” to life, peace or enjoyment of what we have. Human unwillingness to practice acceptance of insanity in the name and pursuit of a free and open society is a terrible mistake. Sadly we are as a race, insane, if you argue with that, well, I guess you are happy with the world, the environment, poverty, illness and senseless death, as long as they happen to people different than you.
Terrorism, violent crime and murder kill less people than peanut allergies, drunk driving and disease, yet we so humanly mis-place our attention on the few, rather than the many. The media and advertisers play a crucial role in the focus of attention of our culture.
While most of us can see that disease and poverty are the biggest killers and destroyers of human happiness, we ignore doing much about them when we set our economic priorities.
“We” as a culture and a country are the most violent as far as I know, American make, sell, distribute and profit from more weapons of personal and mass destruction, not to mention economic hit-men that force millions into poverty all to profit a few. This is a collective karmic debt we are incurring. It’s ironic to reflect that we are far more concerned with an economic deficit rather than an ethical or karmic one.
When will we begin to ask ourselves, not who is to blame for a death, but how can we work to avoid it in the future. We have the opportunity for growth and change, something that death is calling for. Are we so deaf, so damaged, that we as human being can no longer respond from the heart to tragedy?
What is not clear and what is not addressed is the amount of non violent training and non lethal subjugation of individuals by police, governments and familiys. We train them to kill and then assume no responsibility as a culture for the situation we trained them to act in. Matter of fact we seem to enjoy in taking positions around killing which is defined as wrongful death.
If we trained officers in unarmed combat against knife wielding opponents and unarmed citizens at a rate of four times the time they are trained using guns, we might have less civilian deaths. We might have less violence in general from police services, and yes, we might have a few more police injuries. I don’t think it’s unreasonable to ask public servants to put their lives ahead of those they serve, that is the entire principle of service.
If you don’t believe that your community, and humanity, yours and others, is more valuable than “your” personal life, you cannot honestly serve in the military, civic or any other community role. Our unwillingness to honestly discuss and examine the role and purpose of service to one another is a fundamental shortcoming of our culture. And I agree that perhaps if we live and support a zeitgeist that puts profits ahead of human happiness and the environment, perhaps, we have made a mistake, and none of us is innocent.
I would hope that the desire to be a police officer lies less with power or pay and more with the desire to be of service to the community and humanity as a whole. When we encourage young aggressive people to become police officers without a sustained and committed training to non-violence we are exacerbating the violence we wish to limit.
The burden of taking a life is one I do not enjoy bearing, but every day, as an citizen of the United States of America, I accept that my government is constantly seeking and finding people to murder in the name of business interests obfuscated as national security.
We find it easier to kill mentally ill people rather than spend the resources to care for them. We then find it enjoyable to argue about the actions that are taken on our behalf, by a system that is driven by fear and profit. The silver lining inside the recent economic downturn is that we may have some time and opportunity to reconsider our priorities, and our values. When we stop and ask ourselves what purpose is served, what God is accepting the sacrifices, all the blood we spill every day, all the lives gone in a moment, only then can we take another step and ask is the pursuit of profit over the health of our neighbors, our community and our environment really such a good idea?
While it is easy to judge execution killings of handcuffed citizens by police officers, such as the recent killing of Oscar Grant in a Bart station. It is far more difficult to accept the ambiguity of more deaths, such as that of Daniel Fredrickson In San Anselmo, or the killing yesterday in Aurora Washington, of Joseph Bernerd Hradec, a knife wielding suspect resisting arrest; one simple fact seems to be consistently downplayed.
Moral or Societal values are the issue here, and training in general, can be re-visioned to reflect the possible shifting of values from “safety” “security” to life, peace or enjoyment of what we have. Human unwillingness to practice acceptance of insanity in the name and pursuit of a free and open society is a terrible mistake. Sadly we are as a race, insane, if you argue with that, well, I guess you are happy with the world, the environment, poverty, illness and senseless death, as long as they happen to people different than you.
Terrorism, violent crime and murder kill less people than peanut allergies, drunk driving and disease, yet we so humanly mis-place our attention on the few, rather than the many. The media and advertisers play a crucial role in the focus of attention of our culture.
While most of us can see that disease and poverty are the biggest killers and destroyers of human happiness, we ignore doing much about them when we set our economic priorities.
“We” as a culture and a country are the most violent as far as I know, American make, sell, distribute and profit from more weapons of personal and mass destruction, not to mention economic hit-men that force millions into poverty all to profit a few. This is a collective karmic debt we are incurring. It’s ironic to reflect that we are far more concerned with an economic deficit rather than an ethical or karmic one.
When will we begin to ask ourselves, not who is to blame for a death, but how can we work to avoid it in the future. We have the opportunity for growth and change, something that death is calling for. Are we so deaf, so damaged, that we as human being can no longer respond from the heart to tragedy?
What is not clear and what is not addressed is the amount of non violent training and non lethal subjugation of individuals by police, governments and familiys. We train them to kill and then assume no responsibility as a culture for the situation we trained them to act in. Matter of fact we seem to enjoy in taking positions around killing which is defined as wrongful death.
If we trained officers in unarmed combat against knife wielding opponents and unarmed citizens at a rate of four times the time they are trained using guns, we might have less civilian deaths. We might have less violence in general from police services, and yes, we might have a few more police injuries. I don’t think it’s unreasonable to ask public servants to put their lives ahead of those they serve, that is the entire principle of service.
If you don’t believe that your community, and humanity, yours and others, is more valuable than “your” personal life, you cannot honestly serve in the military, civic or any other community role. Our unwillingness to honestly discuss and examine the role and purpose of service to one another is a fundamental shortcoming of our culture. And I agree that perhaps if we live and support a zeitgeist that puts profits ahead of human happiness and the environment, perhaps, we have made a mistake, and none of us is innocent.
I would hope that the desire to be a police officer lies less with power or pay and more with the desire to be of service to the community and humanity as a whole. When we encourage young aggressive people to become police officers without a sustained and committed training to non-violence we are exacerbating the violence we wish to limit.
The burden of taking a life is one I do not enjoy bearing, but every day, as an citizen of the United States of America, I accept that my government is constantly seeking and finding people to murder in the name of business interests obfuscated as national security.
We find it easier to kill mentally ill people rather than spend the resources to care for them. We then find it enjoyable to argue about the actions that are taken on our behalf, by a system that is driven by fear and profit. The silver lining inside the recent economic downturn is that we may have some time and opportunity to reconsider our priorities, and our values. When we stop and ask ourselves what purpose is served, what God is accepting the sacrifices, all the blood we spill every day, all the lives gone in a moment, only then can we take another step and ask is the pursuit of profit over the health of our neighbors, our community and our environment really such a good idea?
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