The Insanity of War

Once again there is nothing new to report. Dominant cultures act out of dominance and humanity is forsaken.

It’s said the Nazis learned the ways of legalizing the mistreatment of human beings from their study of the United States government and military’s treatment of indigenous people.

Accounts of forced displacement and ethnic cleansing are rampant in our history. From the moment colonizers landed on these shores, Native people were systematically removed by ignorance or by plan.

In 1830, Andrew Jackson’s Indian Removal Act forced the relocation of 60,000 Cherokees and other tribes. Known as the Trail of Tears the presidential orders were brutally carried out by the United States military.

And there are still those among us who glamorize the legendary Kit Carson whose scorched earth policy on the Dine or Navajo people were followed by numerous and deadly, violent forced removals. This ethnic cleansing or genocide was driven by ignorance, greed and racism and gave way to the Navajo Long Walk.

Sounds all too familiar, doesn’t it?

Land acquisition, resource plundering and cultural assimilation are the root of dominant culture and continue throughout the world.

Intentional and willful killing, displacement of innocents, destruction of non-military homes and other civilian enclaves such as hospitals, all fall within the realm of war crimes as ratified in the Geneva Conventions of 1949.

The retaliation of the Israeli government to the terrorist attack by Hamas has resulted in widespread war crimes from both sides. President Biden’s continued support in word and in financial aid to Israel constitutes an extension of those war crimes – and by default on all of us as citizens.

Isn’t it time we emerge from the insanity of war?

The signing of the Geneva Conventions of 1949 which established laws regarding war crimes.

Maybe it’s time we make war a crime…

Give Peace A Chance

There’s a story about a person who placed a stick on the ground and asked, “How do you make this stick smaller without touching it?” People took some time to think about it, and then one person jumped up, ran outside, came back and placed a bigger stick next to the now, smaller one.

In this time of reckoning, we grapple with the slaughter of innocents on both sides and the horrible reality that the vicious cycle of violence is something we have grown to accept. We can no longer allow the status quo of power and might to be victor. It’s time we lay a bigger stick.

And what can possibly be the bigger stick? It’s surely not more arms and more killing. It can only be through compassion and kindness that the gross wounds of humankind can begin to heal. It can only be with a relentless force of love and peace that we can stop the cycle of pain among the brotherhood of humanity.

It will only be with the keen awareness and understanding that we are here to help one another, not get in each other’s way. This can happen when we receive and rejoice in our diversity and see it as the strength that in fact it is.

Acknowledging that peace is not only possible but that it is also a sacred right. It is something available to us, nestled within us and available to manifest around us. We must dare to allow our greater aspirations not be diminished by what has been. We are no longer asking to “Give Peace a Chance”. We’re demanding it.

Ceasefire Now.

If you have not yet signed onto a petition for a ceasefire in Gaza, do it now. Every voice counts.

Demand a ceasefire by all parties to end civilian suffering

https://actionnetwork.org/letters/tell-congress-ceasefire-now?source=IG_ceasefire

Laying a bigger stick is a story I heard from Prem Rawat and it continues to guide me.

Life Offers More Than This

We continue to allow the slaughter of innocent Palestinians. Our government supports the Israeli military’s unchecked retaliation for the October 7th massacre of Israeli lives.

We continue to confuse anti-war sentiments with anti-Semitism.

We continue to confuse the government of Israel with all Jewish people.

We continue to confuse the militaristic Hamas with all Palestinians.

These confusions allow us to ignore the genocidal intent of the Israeli government, and the unlawful actions of the Israeli military. These confusions allow us to ignore the brutality of Hamas and the repercussions it has caused.

They ensure that United States citizens remain distracted and unable to unanimously call for ceasefire, which is the only humane solution at this time.

People who seek peaceful resolution understand that the violence perpetrated by Hamas was horrific and inhuman, as are the actions of the Israeli military.

We recognize that anti-Semitism should not be tolerated, nor should Islamophobia.

People who seek peace are not intimidated, nor distracted by the propaganda from either side.

People who ask the United States government to stop funding the Israeli military are attempting to change the paradigm of a government that has supported military violence against innocent people throughout our history.

If you’re still on the fence about the slaughter of innocents, you’re misled from your humanity and away from the possibility of peace.

Life offers more than this to all of us.

Don’t ask me to turn my eyes or to bury my head in the sand. I can appreciate existence and feel the futility of ignorance. I’m not afraid of this duality.

The Dangerous Game of Retaliation

It’s said, no two things can occupy the same space at the same time. However, this understanding does not apply when the two things are in total opposition and yet both are equally true.

It’s possible to hold the awareness that the Hamas brutal attacks on Israeli settlers and the indiscriminate and unrelenting bombing of Palestinians by the Israeli military are equally barbaric.

Both are true.

This dangerous game of retaliation that has claimed the lives of over 6500 Palestinians including 2700 children does not exist in a vacuum. Israel’s refusal to allow sufficient aid to reach those in need is not going unnoticed. UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres is correctly calling for a humanitarian ceasefire.

The reality is that this has happened far too many times in our collective history. This over powering of captive people, this theft of land, and this total inability to seek peaceful resolution has all been done before. And there are countless peoples throughout the world who reckon with the generational traumas of inhuman colonizing.

What we all know is this: Violence begets violence and defiance and resistance are the outcome of reckless power and inhumanity. It’s a cycle that we can no longer afford to give way to.

There are those speaking up for a new approach. Polls indicate two-thirds of United States voters are calling for a ceasefire and thirteen members of Congress introduced a resolution calling for ceasefire “to save Palestinian and Israeli lives”.

More voices are needed. Yes, two horrible things can both be true. But more powerful than these two truths is the greater reality that all human beings want peace. It’s time we work for it.

Let Hearts Lead

Let your heart lead. This is not a time to choose sides. This is the time to choose being human. Hamas, or whoever ignited this fuse, acted outside of their humanity when they brutally attacked Israeli civilians. What the Israeli government and military are doing is also acting outside of their humanity.

Today we listen to the blame and denials of who caused hundreds of children to be killed by a rocket blast to a hospital. More time is spent on the blame game than on the rescue. That is outside of our humanity.

President Biden’s calculated error was to whole-heartedly support Israel without noting the consequences from such an unequivocal stand. Seeing the inhuman disregard for life by the Israeli government, the administration has attempted to interrupt the mistake, with little success. Mainstream media is happy to fuel the fire with slanted journalism and our citizenry is complicit in ignorance. But we can change this.

The families of those held hostage are wondering why ceasefire and negotiations are not front and center to recover their loved ones.

We have too quickly pledged our allegiance. The allegiance should be to our humanity, not to a side. The consequences will continue to spiral, until we once and for all end the disregard of human life. And we can do this.

Our government is playing a very dangerous game. Whether politics, or greed, religious dogma or sheer ignorance are driving the bus, we are heading for another horrible nightmare.

Have we not learned from the lies that led us into the Iraq war? Have we not witnessed the folly of avenging violence with more violence?

There is only one side to take. It’s the human side. Help end the madness. Not prolong it.

I am not sure the source of this photo. but if you cannot appreciate the innocence in it, please reconsider what matters most in Life. We are here but for such a short time and we leave this bit of heaven to those who come after us. Think. And act with Love. The choice is always ours.

One Day. Take a listen.

Our Choice

Innocents are dying and humanity keeps revealing the horrific side of our nature. We shake our heads and mutter silent prayers for the killing to end, while others of us pray that the other side may be annihilated.

It is an old and bitter story that repeats again and again. Humanity boasts of great accomplishments and colonizers race to conquer space yet human kind has not found a way to live and let live.

What is it in our nature that finds it easy to take sides? What kind of ignorance do we harbor? What kind of hatred feeds us?

Why is the voice of peace, that so many cherish, compliant to the voices of war? Are the distractions so great that we cannot take a moment from our busy and entertaining lives to declare an end to the inhumanity?

You see it is true; whatever happens to one happens to all. We may not feel it; we may be able to ignore it, but the disregard for life eats away at us. Our inability to stand firmly in the river of peace that surely is available to all of us continues to allow ignorance to win.

Many will say, “War is inevitable”. But I say, “What is inevitable is our capitulation, not war”. War can be stopped if we find the passion to do so. War will be stopped when we unify behind passion for living and when we understand the precious gift that every life holds, that every breath promises.

No, we are in the thick of it now. Endless wars and the acceptance of genocide are about as low as we can go.

People say, “God save us”. And God responds, “Save yourselves. You’ve been given everything you need.”

And the choice, as always, is ours.

What If

You’ve all heard that sheep are timid followers and to be called a Black Sheep is not an endearing term. So what must it be like to be identified as a Black Sheep all your life then one day you find yourself in a culture that honors Black Sheep? You’re told another story. Black Sheep are leaders. They are courageous, curious and the first to face danger. Would you be like, “No you’re wrong, Black Sheep are misfits. They are unwelcomed and mistreated because they are different.”

That would probably go through your head, but then you might think, “Wow, maybe this Black Sheep thing isn’t all bad. Maybe my culture got it wrong.”

And you flash back to the time you got a lump of coal for Christmas and your father jumped in to protect you and said something like, “Stop it. This is a load of crap.” And you got a glimpse that the load was a lot bigger and smellier than you ever dared to think.

If you’re fortunate the unraveling begins and you start to question the things that you have been told and taught and with good reason.

Much of the foundation that we build our lives around is more sand castle than rock. When the tide rises, we either cling tightly to the beliefs we were born into or we learn the life saving gift of letting go.

I suppose it doesn’t matter much in the scheme of life whether you cling to your beliefs or find reason to question them. But when we look at the greater puzzle we must reckon with the reality that *“no man is an island” and what you do and say does impact another, either to benefit or to harm.

As our society continues to follow beliefs of dominion and superiority and drives us with cookie cutter sameness, perhaps its time to champion our diversity as the wonder that it is.

***********

Each week I write and record a two minute piece for WDRT Community Radio. It can be found on Soundcloud and I bring it here to my blog. But here you get extra information and sometimes the back story. The sheep in the photo is Cupcake and she is almost four months old. Yesterday I watched her take on our dog Chester after he chased her lamb friend Cookie…as he turned away from her “face down”, she promptly butted him, and I remembered the audacity of being a Black Sheep…

No Man is an Island – John Dunne

No man is an island,
Entire of itself,
Every man is a piece of the continent,
A part of the main.
If a clod be washed away by the sea,
Europe is the less.
As well as if a promontory were.
As well as if a manor of thy friend’s
Or of thine own were:
Any man’s death diminishes me,
Because I am involved in mankind,
And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls;
It tolls for thee.

Rights of Nature

Some say we’re on a learning curve. When it comes to the environment, I’d call it an unlearning curve.

Led by unscrupulous ambition for money and an insatiable devouring of energy, we – the people of the world – are finding ourselves reeling from natural disasters.

Voices of marginalized and front line people are going unnoticed as profiteers of oil and other extractions continue to tear up the earth and reduce ecosystems to wastelands. Waterways are polluted at an alarming rate. Crop failures are leading countless people into hunger and starvation. And all the while leadership turns a blind eye to the ignorance that has brought us to this moment.

There are beliefs that underpin our ignorance. Beliefs like dominion over the earth, beliefs that tout the wealthiest as god’s chosen and relegate the vast majority of the world to do their bidding. Beliefs that say the earth and all her resources are here for the taking with no recognition of those who will come after. We don’t worry about those coming after, because we have tidy beliefs that say it’s all going to end anyway.

In the meantime we’re allowing this most beautiful creation to be destroyed. And make no mistake, we are allowing it.

But there are drops of sanity emerging throughout the earth, beautiful jewels of wisdom and action. I offer tremendous gratitude to the indigenous among us who have not forsaken their traditional ways and have held fast to their recognition of our interconnectedness with the earth and one another. And I offer encouragement to those trying hard to unlearn the ignorance we were born into and are creating new ways of being and co-creation. Let the unlearning begin!

Please sign this petition from Rights of Nature Wisconsin, Wisdom, and Menikanaehkem:

Wisconsin Elected Officials: Adopt Rights of Nature Laws Today

Today, we face global environmental crises – including soaring extinction rates and accelerating climate change. This has happened despite thousands of environmental laws. What those laws have in common is that they regulate the exploitation of nature – treating nature as existing for human use. It’s time for that to change – for our laws to recognize nature — the waters, plants, animals and ecosystems we live among — as a living being with legal rights.

We call upon our elected representatives at the state and local level to adopt rights of nature laws – as communities across the U.S. have, as countries including Ecuador and Panama have, and as many indigenous nations have done – to secure the right of nature to exist, flourish, and be restored.

Sign here https://secure.everyaction.com/DQmEhEf3pE2eFAMwsuwQIw2

for more Center for Environmental Rights

Peace Day. Every Day.

I was invited to speak at a celebration honoring the International Day of Peace. Here is an excerpt:

Since 1981, when the United Nations declared Sept 21 as the International Day of Peace, people from around the world have gathered to lift up, unite around, and sometimes, demand peace.

On these celebratory days, people have been asked to consider aspects of peace: ending racism, ending poverty, forgiveness, dignity for all, uniting for peace, ceasefires and more… yet peace has eluded us.

Or has it? People often say, “I love the peacefulness of nature”. They might even say, “I find myself there”. There are places, books, works of art and many beautiful things that touch us. One friend told me she had an experience of peace as she touched the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem. She went on to say that that one moment of peace satisfied her for a lifetime. This is not true for me. I find myself needing to feel peace every day.

So we are unique as we meander through life and there are triggers that help us touch the feeling of peace, but I would say to you, peace is not inherent in that place or object or even person that touches us, peace is something that lies within each and every one of us. It stands on its own merit. It resides within and within is where we feel it.

And I would suggest to you that that is precisely why international or world peace has eluded us. Simply put, we are looking for peace in the wrong place. We put a tremendous amount of energy to try to change the outside, without first becoming cognoscente of the power we already have.

We all know and love the saying “peace begins with me”. But do we believe it?

Have we tapped the peace within us, have we consecrated it? Or, have we understood that it consecrates us? Consecrates us…transfers the power of the sacred to us.

Have we understood and accepted the sacred nature of peace? Do we recognize peace as the most powerful tool in our arsenal against ignorance and hatred?

These are important questions.

One of my favorite quotes is by Audre Lorde, and I am paraphrasing here, “ You can’t dismantle the master’s house, using the master’s tools.”* We cannot and should not fight fire with fire. If we are to have a legacy of this day and of our lives, why could it not be that we have put down the master’s tools of battle, of anger, of hatred, of ignorance and have instead reached for the greatest tools we have.

It is time we stop giving lip service to peace. Peace does not need us to champion it. Peace needs to be felt and from that feeling, purposeful action can and will arise.

If we have not yet recognized this fundamental point, we need to begin. And today is the best day to take stock of our most valuable gift. Peace. Call upon it.

We need to stop acting like peace is something elusive and we must allow it to be tangible and real in our lives.

This year the theme for the International Peace Day is “Actions Towards Peace”. It is directed to each individual, not to a government or any other agency. The request is that we all become Peacemakers.

So now the questions before us are: What are we doing to initiate peace?

And more importantly will we take the time to know what peace truly is?

Doubt is a horrible human disease. It causes us to falter when there is no need to falter. It robs of us life’s sweetness. It is said, no two things can occupy the same space at the same time. Let this be the time that we remove the doubt and replace it with knowing. Let us all begin that journey. Let us all know peace.

Thank you to Unity of Appleton for the opportunity to speak.

Full quote of Audre Lorde: “For the master’s tools will never dismantle the master’s house. They may allow us to temporarily beat him at his own game, but they will never enable us to bring about genuine change. Racism and homophobia are real conditions of all our lives in this place and time. I urge each one of us here to reach down into that deep place of knowledge inside herself and touch that terror and loathing of any difference that lives here. See whose face it wears. Then the personal as the political can begin to illuminate all our choices.”

Here’s to Human Dignity

On Monday, we drove to Madison for Laborfest. It was a celebration of workers rights and a call for workers’ justice. Though the temperatures were in the nineties, the place was bustling with unions, students and organizations all championing labor, all trying to impress upon us the very real need to respect and give dignity to those who are the ones keeping it all going.

I enjoyed seeing old friends, all activists striving for a better day.

And I appreciated meeting new friends, most young and passionate. It reminded me of younger years as I challenged our government’s choice to war with Vietnam and as I allowed myself to question our role in the overthrow of Salvador Allende. Signing up for socialist information made a lot of sense. Still does if you need a dose of new possibilities.

I grew up in a union enclave. My father and uncles worked union jobs and we lived in the midst of steel mills, glass, paint and lumber factories. Much of that came tumbling down in the late 70’s when the mills left the area for cheaper labor abroad. A lot more changes followed. The playgrounds, swimming pool and other amenities available to blue-collar families disappeared.

The camaraderie that had been forged in our little neighborhoods began to shift as fear of other and “Keeping up with the Joneses” took on whole new meanings.

It’s not a new story. It’s boringly old. The rich get richer and the poor are told they are poor because they are lazy, or because that’s the way God planned it. There’s nothing new here.

But being with earnest people who know better days are still before us, and that better ways are still possible stirred my thinking and fueled my hope.

Here’s to the rise of human dignity. And to all who champion it!

Wisconsin Network for Peace and Justice

Family Farm Defenders

Worker Justice Wisconsin