No Moratorium on the Sermon on the Mount
"Remember that the possession of a healthy, free and unoppressed mind can be ours if we are willing to observe the necessary discipline... The golden rule to keep unswervingly, unflinchingly, is to never grow slack. Whatever the form of discipline you adopt as your own, let it be as beautifully balanced, as poised, as the supple body of a ballerina...
"To disarm -- not only our bodies by refusing to kill, or make killing instruments in munitions factories -- but also to disarm our minds of anger, pride, envy, hate and malice...
"Sometime in the cold light before dawn, in an unexpected moment of solitude, we suddenly find ourselves facing stark reality -- our future, the world's future, war, pain, hunger.
"We feel almost intimidated as we consider the condition of men and things. 'One half the world is sick, fat with excess. The other half, like that poor beggar past us even now, who thanked us for a crust with tears.' The issue becomes clear and urgent:
"Are we going to spend our lives struggling and fighting for a place in the fat half? Or shall we tilt against the old spectres of war and inequality, unmasking them, stripping them of their glamour, revealing them as old fashioned imposters and tyrants we can no longer tolerate in a world that might be full of common sense, plenty and goodwill?"
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"Are we going to spend
Submitted on December 26th, 2007 by arpidoodle"Are we going to spend our lives struggling and fighting for a place in the fat half? Or shall we tilt against the old spectres of war and inequality, unmasking them, stripping them of their glamour, revealing them as old fashioned imposters and tyrants we can no longer tolerate in a world that might be full of common sense, plenty and goodwill?"
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The war against global problems, - poverty, tyranny and ignorance, - while ongoing, is just now being presented in global format.
The longest wait in the world is the time between the call for help ... and its' arrival.
According to local and provincial new coverage I have saved six lives.
I can tell you about them. They were the six longest waits in the world.
And now there is what, - six billion, or a hundred million, or five hundred thousand that need saving?
I think WE could do it, and relatively easily if they were victims of natural disasters, but those in need of help are too often victims of intentional violence.
Deliberate atrocities against humanity by humans for personal gain.
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It's like we're looking for a sign, a lasting mark or signal - to indicate success or arrival - but peace doesn't leave a mark - or scar -
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How smart are we?
The alternative to needless death is not hiding from it, it is providing positive death. That's reality. That's not a cop out.
Martyrdom for Allah is as much a cop out as being crucified, immolated, or, in Saddam's case, hung.
How many accept this crap? Lots. Way too many. That's part of the problem.
Where our lives end is what it's all about and it's the last thing people consider because they don't see the an overwhelming positive in it.
So, they let despots play with the most important part of their lives - their mortality, and they think - this is great! let's all be idiots because we incapable of the type of reasoning needed to bring happiness to ourselves and others.
Well, it's there. A happy ending. It's there for the taking.
I thought I was leaving mainstream (NI4D) by posting dollar values.
I will add to this post today.
to quote a reaching 'star'
Submitted on December 16th, 2007 by arpidoodle... the future will belong to those who reach forward and embrace it - not to those to try to keep it at bay ...
When you bomb a country
Submitted on December 29th, 2007 by arpidoodleWhen you bomb a country ruled by a tyrant, you kill the victims of the tyrant.
(jfl)
When we do not determine how we will live, others make that choice for us.
We are not in Iraq to kill Iraqis for their possessions, we are there to kill ourselves for their possessions.
When we do not determine how we will live, others make that choice for us.
How we live and die must be a conscious decision.
If we don't do it - we don't deserve it.
The keys to the universe are within our reach, yet we decide killing women, children, old men, and ourselves is the prudent course?
Human beings - unchallenged in the known universe - masters of the universe - allow despots to control us so?
Doesn't seem like there is a whole lot of decision making going on at all.
It's almost like we're afraid to say - there's more to life than Brittany's underpants.
Let's fly the underpants in Iraq - let's make it the worldwide banner - because it is, if you stop and think about it. Why look at the universe and say there is something out there when we have Brittany's undies to lead us?
Maybe Carl Sagan's "Cosmos" could help answer that, but, there is a lot more to the universe than that.
There was a theory that there are microcosmic universes, and macrocosmic universes, and that this one is a link, the path waiting to be discovered.
But all I see is Brittany's underpants.
Lord help me George - what should I do? -