The man wrapped in the flag said:
"Vote for me because I believe in traditional values."
The woman in rags said:
"My husband was killed in the war."
The man wrapped in the flag said:
"Vote for me because I believe in traditional values."
The woman in rags said:
"I have no home."
The man wrapped in the flag said:
"Vote for me because I believe in traditional values."
The woman in rags said:
"I have no job."
The man wrapped in the flag said:
Vote for me because I believe in traditional values.'
The woman in rags said:
"My children are hungry but I cannot afford food."
The man wrapped in the flag said:
"Vote for me because I believe in traditional values."
The woman in rags said:
"My children are sick but I cannot afford a doctor."
The man wrapped in the flag said:
"Vote for me because I believe in traditional values."
The woman in rags asked:
"What if I don't share your values?"
The man wrapped in the flag said:
"Then you have no value."
Monday, March 14, 2011
Saturday, March 12, 2011
Resistance is Christ Like
Satan tempted Christ three times in the wilderness. First he challenged Jesus to turn stones to bread in order to satisfy his hunger. Second he took Christ to the top of a temple tower and challenged him to leap so that angles would break his fall. Third he took Jesus to a mountain top where they surveyed all the great Kingdoms of the world and offered them to him if he would worship and venerate Satan. In these temptations we find a metaphor for our relationship with creation.
Temptation I: Turn stones to bread.
In our extraction/exploitation economy we have reached the point where we have harvested the “low hanging fruit” in terms of natural resources. This is especially true of fossil fuels. We have gotten everything that is easy and we are now forced to resort to more radical techniques in order to extract enough supply to meet demand. Some of these techniques are truly mind boggling in their brutality to the environment. In short, environmentally speaking, we are now trying to get blood from a turnip, or turn stones to bread.
In the North Eastern United States they have resorted to “fracking” to extract natural gas from rock. Water and chemicals are injected under high pressure into subterranean rock formations, literally pulverizing them in order to free the gas. The extent of the damage caused by this procedure is unknown but many experts see dire threats to ground water and wells with contamination. This process goes on nearly unchecked by cash strapped local governments seduced by the revenue produced. It seems we have sold ourselves for manna from below.
In the great northern forests of Canada, petroleum is extracted from tar sands. This is done by clear cutting the forest then injecting superheated steam into the earth that literally melts the oil and forces it to the surface. What is leftover is nothing short of an environmental apocalypse; A land naked and poisoned.
In Appalachia, coal is mined with a technique known as “mountain top removal”. This is done by literally bulldozing an entire mountain top into the valley below. In the process, streams and forests are obliterated and all manner of harmful by products and metals are released into the watershed. What is left is an ugly and scarred wasteland that is of no use to anybody. People both indigenous and non-indigenous who have made their way on fishing and tourism for generations are suddenly left without livelihood. The process is highly automated so that very few locals are employed in the extraction.
In the bible, Jesus resisted this temptation and said that man does not live by bread alone. Obviously, our culture is imperfect and falls short of the glory of God. We rose to Satan’s bait and have severely wounded God’s gift of nature in the process and, as is always the case when one cavorts with the Devil, the end result is tragic: the loss of beautiful and valuable natural resources as well as the displacement of a great many people.
Temptation II: Satan challenges Jesus to throw himself from the tower.
Creation is the Temple of the Lord.
As a son of the American West, I have walked the meadows and forests of the High Sierra. I have scrambled among the great rocks of the South Western deserts. I have meditated with the old and venerable Redwoods of California’s North Coast. In all of these places I have been awestruck by the powerful presence of the creator.
When Satan challenged Christ to leap from the tower so that Angles may break his fall, Christ replied “Thou shalt not put the lord your God to the test.
When we so brazenly and arrogantly rape and pillage the temple of the Lord, are we not truly testing the Lords patience? We rely on the earth for sustenance, water and the air we breathe. How long can the planet possibly support us under the weight of such abuse? For every tree felled and every river fouled, we put God to the test. How much can the temple withstand before it collapses completely. Every eco-system, every species represents a brick in the structure. Every time we lose one or the other, a brick is removed. At what point will we remove one brick too many and bring the whole structure down around our ears. With every crime we commit against the environment we tempt fate, and faith.
Temptation III: Satan promised all the great kingdoms if Jesus would worship him.
When Satan offered magnificent kingdoms to Jesus if he would prostrate himself and worship him Jesus replied: “The Lord your God shall you worship and him alone shall you serve”
The industrial extraction/exploitation economy offers us many material temptations. We are promised happiness and fulfillment through material things in a continual barrage of marketing and advertising through every medium imaginable. It has become almost a heroic struggle to remember God at all. The saddest part is this it is a promise that Satan cannot keep. The more we get the more we want and the emptier we feel. We become so embroiled in the pursuit of career and wealth, the kingdoms promised by Satan, that we forget our neighbors, our families and our communities. Riches become the object of our worship and our planet suffers for it. We destroy the environment, exploit our brothers and sisters and even distort the word of God to justify our behavior. Again we fall short of Christ’s example. We have not told Satan to be gone, but have invited him into our hearts by buying into the corporate illusion of “prosperity”. The lust for riches has embroiled us in war, steeped us in greed and has taken us further and further from the kingdom of heaven. This lust has imperiled our very existence on earth with the threat of environmental collapse and nuclear war.
Whether you call it temptations of Satan or just the dark side of human nature, the danger exists. If we don’t start acting for the common good with an eye to the future, we are in great danger. The time has come to start acting out of love for the planet and the human family. We must conduct ourselves with an eye to the future and an orientation of sustainability. We must endeavor to be Christ like.
This is also posted at www.jesusradicals.com
Temptation I: Turn stones to bread.
In our extraction/exploitation economy we have reached the point where we have harvested the “low hanging fruit” in terms of natural resources. This is especially true of fossil fuels. We have gotten everything that is easy and we are now forced to resort to more radical techniques in order to extract enough supply to meet demand. Some of these techniques are truly mind boggling in their brutality to the environment. In short, environmentally speaking, we are now trying to get blood from a turnip, or turn stones to bread.
In the North Eastern United States they have resorted to “fracking” to extract natural gas from rock. Water and chemicals are injected under high pressure into subterranean rock formations, literally pulverizing them in order to free the gas. The extent of the damage caused by this procedure is unknown but many experts see dire threats to ground water and wells with contamination. This process goes on nearly unchecked by cash strapped local governments seduced by the revenue produced. It seems we have sold ourselves for manna from below.
In the great northern forests of Canada, petroleum is extracted from tar sands. This is done by clear cutting the forest then injecting superheated steam into the earth that literally melts the oil and forces it to the surface. What is leftover is nothing short of an environmental apocalypse; A land naked and poisoned.
In Appalachia, coal is mined with a technique known as “mountain top removal”. This is done by literally bulldozing an entire mountain top into the valley below. In the process, streams and forests are obliterated and all manner of harmful by products and metals are released into the watershed. What is left is an ugly and scarred wasteland that is of no use to anybody. People both indigenous and non-indigenous who have made their way on fishing and tourism for generations are suddenly left without livelihood. The process is highly automated so that very few locals are employed in the extraction.
In the bible, Jesus resisted this temptation and said that man does not live by bread alone. Obviously, our culture is imperfect and falls short of the glory of God. We rose to Satan’s bait and have severely wounded God’s gift of nature in the process and, as is always the case when one cavorts with the Devil, the end result is tragic: the loss of beautiful and valuable natural resources as well as the displacement of a great many people.
Temptation II: Satan challenges Jesus to throw himself from the tower.
Creation is the Temple of the Lord.
As a son of the American West, I have walked the meadows and forests of the High Sierra. I have scrambled among the great rocks of the South Western deserts. I have meditated with the old and venerable Redwoods of California’s North Coast. In all of these places I have been awestruck by the powerful presence of the creator.
When Satan challenged Christ to leap from the tower so that Angles may break his fall, Christ replied “Thou shalt not put the lord your God to the test.
When we so brazenly and arrogantly rape and pillage the temple of the Lord, are we not truly testing the Lords patience? We rely on the earth for sustenance, water and the air we breathe. How long can the planet possibly support us under the weight of such abuse? For every tree felled and every river fouled, we put God to the test. How much can the temple withstand before it collapses completely. Every eco-system, every species represents a brick in the structure. Every time we lose one or the other, a brick is removed. At what point will we remove one brick too many and bring the whole structure down around our ears. With every crime we commit against the environment we tempt fate, and faith.
Temptation III: Satan promised all the great kingdoms if Jesus would worship him.
When Satan offered magnificent kingdoms to Jesus if he would prostrate himself and worship him Jesus replied: “The Lord your God shall you worship and him alone shall you serve”
The industrial extraction/exploitation economy offers us many material temptations. We are promised happiness and fulfillment through material things in a continual barrage of marketing and advertising through every medium imaginable. It has become almost a heroic struggle to remember God at all. The saddest part is this it is a promise that Satan cannot keep. The more we get the more we want and the emptier we feel. We become so embroiled in the pursuit of career and wealth, the kingdoms promised by Satan, that we forget our neighbors, our families and our communities. Riches become the object of our worship and our planet suffers for it. We destroy the environment, exploit our brothers and sisters and even distort the word of God to justify our behavior. Again we fall short of Christ’s example. We have not told Satan to be gone, but have invited him into our hearts by buying into the corporate illusion of “prosperity”. The lust for riches has embroiled us in war, steeped us in greed and has taken us further and further from the kingdom of heaven. This lust has imperiled our very existence on earth with the threat of environmental collapse and nuclear war.
Whether you call it temptations of Satan or just the dark side of human nature, the danger exists. If we don’t start acting for the common good with an eye to the future, we are in great danger. The time has come to start acting out of love for the planet and the human family. We must conduct ourselves with an eye to the future and an orientation of sustainability. We must endeavor to be Christ like.
This is also posted at www.jesusradicals.com
Sunday, March 6, 2011
The Theft of War
It's been a week of gentle reminders of just how much I detest war. Firstly, we had a very heartfelt session in the Viet Nam Vets support group that I help facilitate at the VA. They are such tough, brave guys yet they are still in so much pain even these many years after they came home. They are hurt and isolated and it breaks my heart. Thank God they have each other to help with the healing because nobody really understands what they are feeling that wasn't there. They are good people that were forced to do some bad things and because they are good people they hurt because of it.
Another reminder was an article in National Catholic Reporter about women who serve in combat. They come home physically and spiritually maimed as well. War doesn't end for the soldiers just because they leave the battle field. They bleed for years right to the end of their days.
We love to glorify war in this country. We cheer and pontificate about our "cherished way of life" and "democracy" and "Freedom" and all manner of other high sounding hyperbole in order to keep the guilt of causing so much carnage at bay. I really wonder if the wars we fight are really about any of those things. It's a tough pill to swallow when you consider that no matter what the justification for war, somebody always gets rich off the bloodshed. Patriotism is easy when you are lining your pockets and you don't have to fight. Our gated communities and country clubs are full of fat cats getting huge paydays while are kids bleed and lose limbs.
War is the most theft driven process in the human experience. Firstly, look at the military lexicon. The objective of most tactical actions is to "take" something, It might be a town or a hill or a valley. Once taken then the objective is to "deprive". That is to say, deprive the enemy of said town, hill or valley. Consider the common law definition of theft: The taking of the goods of another with intent to permanently deprive.
Then there is the looting. No army in the history of the world refrained from rewarding itself for victory with an orgy of theft, among other things, at the expense of the vanquished. Crops, cattle, household goods, artifacts, possession is determined by the sword. The victorious swords get the spoils. Only war makes this twisted moral lapse lawful and acceptable.
Then of course, there is the taking of life, No human life is spared, men women and children. Today, it is noncombatants that now make up the bulk of wars casualties. Villages are destroyed and civilians killed indiscriminately either by suicide bombers or air strikes or a thousand other instruments of destruction.
There is also the theft of national treasure. No process more efficiently siphons money from public coffers into private bank accounts like war. Oceans of tax payer dollars go to arms manufacturers and support service corporations at a rate that boggles the mind. At no time in our history has war been more privatized then it is today. Food service, transport, security and all manner of other services are being farmed out, at considerable cost, to private companies. These companies are reaping huge profits and the citizenry is footing the bill. Do you really think that it is an accident that this war has gone on for nearly ten years? It certainly is not. US business knows a good thing when they see it and they will keep it going as long as they possibly can. After all. it's not their blood being spilled.
Lastly, there is the theft of our morals. war is glorified, fears are played upon and children are taught from a very young age that to serve the nation as a soldier is glorious. Killing and maiming becomes okay if it is in the name of "National Security" or our precious "way of life". Hate also becomes a virtue, words like "Kraut" and "Jap" evolved into "Gook" then "Towelhead" or "Hadji". Hate is a vital ingredient of war. As soon as a people stop hating "the enemy" then the jig is up. Peace ensues and the corporate gravy train comes to a screeching halt. No more profits for stockholders and politicians lose a golden opportunity to be "heroes". After all, how can you be a "hero" if there is no "enemy" and it is a lot easier to sell military hardware in a shooting war then in peace. In peace time, the people have a nasty habit of thinking of their own communities instead of killing people they don't know.
The time has come to stop this. War is unsustainable militarily, economically and morally. We need to reevaluate what the threats realistically are and examine alternatives in dealing with them besides the deployment of troops. War is the killer of cultures and civilizations and ours is in danger.
This is also posted at www.jesusradicals.com
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Peace Within
In creation I find love. From green rolling hills to deep dark forests there is love. I walk lightly through the fields with each step being an act of appreciation for the gift of God that is bestowed on all who walk here. What a wonderful gift each life is. What wonderful company are our fellow creatures. What a blessing it is to be given the opportunity to love. On every street corner, at every bus stop and train station. In cafes and restaurants or just walking down the sidewalk. We can love at every turn. Why would we choose not to? Why would we choose violence and fear. Why would we waste precious energy on rage and hatred? It is an affront to our loving God that we throw the gift of love into the gutter and spit on it. It's a blasphemy to produce weapons of war instead of places of healing and learning. It is a sin to make our lakes and oceans sewers of fetid waste instead of the cradle of life and the sustainer of us all that they were meant to be. Tears come to my eyes when I imagine the pain we put our earthly mother through but the tears are sweet, born of love.
I have no enemies. Granted, there may be misguided people that consider me their enemy, but that is their burden, not mine. Each day I pray that my spirit will not be weighed down with hate, only lifted by love. In my love, I find my peace and I will not surrender that. In the end, our inner peace is all we have. It cannot be taken, only given. It is only they who have lost their peace that seek to destroy it in others. It is them who are tormented and I try with all my might to feel compassion for them for it is they who need it most but appreciate it least. This is the greatest burden of compassion, to love those who only hate.
I have no enemies. Granted, there may be misguided people that consider me their enemy, but that is their burden, not mine. Each day I pray that my spirit will not be weighed down with hate, only lifted by love. In my love, I find my peace and I will not surrender that. In the end, our inner peace is all we have. It cannot be taken, only given. It is only they who have lost their peace that seek to destroy it in others. It is them who are tormented and I try with all my might to feel compassion for them for it is they who need it most but appreciate it least. This is the greatest burden of compassion, to love those who only hate.
Saturday, February 5, 2011
With the love of God
In the heavens of my mind
Flight
Thoughts so beautiful
Serene within
Peace Heart
Flight
Pastoral bliss
Creations joy
Flight
All is one
Mind unfettered
Spirit soars
Flight
So many stars
Blades of grass
Flight
Tenor birds
Soprano thunder
Rhythmic rain
Flight
My love is endless
My joy not bound
Flight
Earths heart mine
Rivers, oceans, tides
Shifting plates
Flight
I am all
One with one
Flight
Gods touch fills
All my being
Communion of galaxies
Flight
In the heavens of my mind
Flight
Thoughts so beautiful
Serene within
Peace Heart
Flight
Pastoral bliss
Creations joy
Flight
All is one
Mind unfettered
Spirit soars
Flight
So many stars
Blades of grass
Flight
Tenor birds
Soprano thunder
Rhythmic rain
Flight
My love is endless
My joy not bound
Flight
Earths heart mine
Rivers, oceans, tides
Shifting plates
Flight
I am all
One with one
Flight
Gods touch fills
All my being
Communion of galaxies
Flight
Sunday, December 12, 2010
Blessings
In gratitude and celebration I share the day that our Lord has so graciously bestowed upon us.
I revel in the love and friendship
of the great earthly family that I am privileged to share existence with
I'm fortified by the cold winter air
I am enraptured by the soaring beauty of green rolling hills.
I am enthralled by a chipmunk making his way across a fence
or the song of birds
and the cooing of doves
and the gentle light of a loved one on my mind
the wind is a violin
and the song of winged ones a piano
laughter is an oboe
the heartfelt tears of grief are chimes
how sacred is life
and what privilege it is to be granted it
To live is a sacred dance
and to know God is it's greatest joy
I revel in the love and friendship
of the great earthly family that I am privileged to share existence with
I'm fortified by the cold winter air
I am enraptured by the soaring beauty of green rolling hills.
I am enthralled by a chipmunk making his way across a fence
or the song of birds
and the cooing of doves
and the gentle light of a loved one on my mind
the wind is a violin
and the song of winged ones a piano
laughter is an oboe
the heartfelt tears of grief are chimes
how sacred is life
and what privilege it is to be granted it
To live is a sacred dance
and to know God is it's greatest joy
Friday, November 26, 2010
War Without Pain
Traditionally, it has been my belief that an all volunteer, or professional, military is a good thing. I believed it was a form of kidnapping to take a young person and forcibly interrupt their lives by mandatory military service. After all, if a person is not inclined to be a soldier, then they shouldn't be forced to serve. I am now having second thoughts.
Our nation finds itself embroiled in the longest war it has ever fought and nobody seems inclined to end it. Is it possible that war has become too easy for us? As a people have we become detached from the horror of the wars we fight? We take comfort in the fact that everybody maimed and killed in overseas military operations made a conscious choice to go. As a people our conscience is clear. War has become tolerable and accepted. The pain has been removed and all that's left is the glory. We cheer, we pay tribute, we pontificate but, with the exception of a few volunteer soldiers, we don't fight. We don't share the burdens. We have become little more then spectators, watching the sanitized version of the war given to us by main stream media and not having to tolerate any of the hardship.
Unfortunately, war still costs. Spend a few minutes at a VA hospital and you can really get a feel for the cost of war. Amputations, traumatic brain injury and PTSD are just a few of the life long disability soldiers suffer. Flag draped coffins return home from Asia and the Middle East in a staedy stream. The numbers of civilian dead continue to climb. Suicide bombings, drone strikes, stray bullets and out and out massacres have killed hundreds of thousands in this conflict. Families are torn apart, economies destroyed, mass displacement of populations, crops ruined, rampant starvation and disease, as well as repression and corruption that seems to be the brother and sister of all wars.
If one is not moved by human tragedy then there is always the expense. Since 2001, as a nation, we have spent in excess of one trillion dollars on this war.. California's share of that is $140 billion. The San Francisco Bay Area (my home) has paid $38 billion of that(cost of war.org). For that same money we could have built 2714 hospitals (Reed Construction Data) or provided a years education for 572 thousand kids (CA Dept of Ed). Then there are fire stations, police officers, drug treatment programs, public transportation and all manner of vital public services that are neglected for this war. The next time you step over a homeless peson, muttering to himself in the gutter, remember that it is probable that he is an untreated psychotic with nowhere to go for help. Our public mental health system has been dismantled in the name of cost cutting, yet "defense" budgets continue to increase.
Of course, war brings economic benefits. War contractors, weapons manufacturers and government vendors reap huge profits. War is one of the most efficient means of moving money (our money) from the public sector to the private. Instead of badly needed public utilities and services, these funds wind up lining the pockets of the corporate elite. Government, at every level, abdicates it's responsibility to administer public funds for the public good. Instaed, they siphon it into the coffers of the weathy. Martin Luther King once said that every bomb that explodes in South East Asia also explodes on the streets of the inner city. That is true now as it ever was, only the location of the war has changed.
The sting of war has been removed and we are separated from it. It is fought in far away places, generally by people we don't know so it becomes acceptable. We can talk about sacrifice and service to country but very few of us are actually sacrificing or serving. Since there is no pain, then there is no motivation to end it.
Perhaps if we returned to conscription and a wider cross section of the population was forced to share the pain, then maybe, as a nation, we would not be so quick to go to war and tolerate endless conflict for the sake of national security concerns that are dubious at best. Maybe there would be motivation to find peaceful means of business and policy. Maybe if we all had to share the pain, we would go to greater lengths to prevent it. We have learned to take war lightly and it is far too horrible to do that.
Our nation finds itself embroiled in the longest war it has ever fought and nobody seems inclined to end it. Is it possible that war has become too easy for us? As a people have we become detached from the horror of the wars we fight? We take comfort in the fact that everybody maimed and killed in overseas military operations made a conscious choice to go. As a people our conscience is clear. War has become tolerable and accepted. The pain has been removed and all that's left is the glory. We cheer, we pay tribute, we pontificate but, with the exception of a few volunteer soldiers, we don't fight. We don't share the burdens. We have become little more then spectators, watching the sanitized version of the war given to us by main stream media and not having to tolerate any of the hardship.
Unfortunately, war still costs. Spend a few minutes at a VA hospital and you can really get a feel for the cost of war. Amputations, traumatic brain injury and PTSD are just a few of the life long disability soldiers suffer. Flag draped coffins return home from Asia and the Middle East in a staedy stream. The numbers of civilian dead continue to climb. Suicide bombings, drone strikes, stray bullets and out and out massacres have killed hundreds of thousands in this conflict. Families are torn apart, economies destroyed, mass displacement of populations, crops ruined, rampant starvation and disease, as well as repression and corruption that seems to be the brother and sister of all wars.
If one is not moved by human tragedy then there is always the expense. Since 2001, as a nation, we have spent in excess of one trillion dollars on this war.. California's share of that is $140 billion. The San Francisco Bay Area (my home) has paid $38 billion of that(cost of war.org). For that same money we could have built 2714 hospitals (Reed Construction Data) or provided a years education for 572 thousand kids (CA Dept of Ed). Then there are fire stations, police officers, drug treatment programs, public transportation and all manner of vital public services that are neglected for this war. The next time you step over a homeless peson, muttering to himself in the gutter, remember that it is probable that he is an untreated psychotic with nowhere to go for help. Our public mental health system has been dismantled in the name of cost cutting, yet "defense" budgets continue to increase.
Of course, war brings economic benefits. War contractors, weapons manufacturers and government vendors reap huge profits. War is one of the most efficient means of moving money (our money) from the public sector to the private. Instead of badly needed public utilities and services, these funds wind up lining the pockets of the corporate elite. Government, at every level, abdicates it's responsibility to administer public funds for the public good. Instaed, they siphon it into the coffers of the weathy. Martin Luther King once said that every bomb that explodes in South East Asia also explodes on the streets of the inner city. That is true now as it ever was, only the location of the war has changed.
The sting of war has been removed and we are separated from it. It is fought in far away places, generally by people we don't know so it becomes acceptable. We can talk about sacrifice and service to country but very few of us are actually sacrificing or serving. Since there is no pain, then there is no motivation to end it.
Perhaps if we returned to conscription and a wider cross section of the population was forced to share the pain, then maybe, as a nation, we would not be so quick to go to war and tolerate endless conflict for the sake of national security concerns that are dubious at best. Maybe there would be motivation to find peaceful means of business and policy. Maybe if we all had to share the pain, we would go to greater lengths to prevent it. We have learned to take war lightly and it is far too horrible to do that.
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