A Singular Choice

The victors of war are those who manufacture war machines, those with financial gain from doing so and those who will rebuild cities after the dust settles. Arbitrary boundaries are established to benefit profiteers. And those boundaries will change with the will of the powerful who are never quite satisfied with what they have. The earth becomes a pawn in humankind’s reckless extraction and human beings are sacrificed at the altar of greed.

The cycle of violence is encouraged. Our need to belong is manipulated into what we have termed “nationalism”. Those without deep roots in their humanity succumb to the acts of brutality that nationalistic thinking allows. The genocides that we are witnessing in Ukraine, in Mali, in Yemen, in Somalia…and so many more, are not new. Our inability to stop them is also not new.

We need to come back. As individuals, we need to discover and replenish our love of life and of living. We need to feel our humanity, not simply talk of it. It’s not impossible. But it requires that we become abolitionists.

Abolition is defined as the action or act of abolishing a system, practice, or institution. To end our addiction to the violence of war is an act of abolition.

It is a defiant and determined act to think and live differently than we have been taught.

We have been taught to take sides. We have been taught there are winners and losers. We have been taught consumption and competition and we have been indoctrinated into systems where violence is the default.

Yet we will always have the singular choice to say, “Unhand me, I chose peace. I belong to the human family. The earth is my home, and its inhabitants are my relatives.” 

We have choice. We need will.

In light of all the lies that are told, for more on genocides past and present: https://www.genocidewatch.com

The photo is a Peace Lily (Spathiphyllum sp.) Mokke is the photographer, licensed under Creative Commons share alike

Being Queer

Besides the slap, the Oscars gave us the first openly Queer Latino Actor of color to win. This sent many of older generations scrambling to understand how the word Queer got injected into the Oscars. After all isn’t “Queer” a pejorative? A word not mentioned in polite company and only spoken in hushed voices behind peoples’ backs or screamed accusingly to make a point. 

Yes, until the 80’s the association of the word queer was meant to do harm. I remember being called queer and homosexual for the first time when I was barely a teen. When I looked up the word “homosexual”, I learned it was considered a disease. 

It wasn’t until 1973 that homosexuality was delisted as a disease, by that time I was graduating high school and the damage was done. When you’re different you learn very quickly that consequences are dire and unrelenting, especially in small towns in this Puritanical country.

So most young people escaped to the cities, hoping to find some semblance of community, of family, of welcome. There they were often met with police who targeted cross-dressing and drag with violence and arrest. If you’re ready for a bit of Queer history, I recommend reading about the 1969 Stonewall Riots. Often considered a turning point in human liberation, those “queers” demanded dignity and respect.

The 80’s brought a whole new relationship to the word Queer as people of color and transgender people reclaimed the word as a source of strength. Indigenous people shared their understanding of multiple genders, and the nature of Two-Spirit. 

The binary illusion is cracking. Patriarchy and Christianity are forced to self-examine. Times are tough on them.

I say evolution is a good thing. As someone who is comfortable with gender fluidity, I proudly welcome the word Queer. 

“To Know the Pain of Too Much Tenderness”*

They say when a sheep goes down they are usually gone in a couple of days. That has not been my experience. My ewes are over ten years old now and I am letting them live out their lives on the farm. I have found that sheep, as with many ruminant animals, enjoy the company of their offspring and stay close together throughout their lives, if given the chance.

So it has been with Madonna and her lamb, MissTery who was born on the hillside one sunny spring day twelve years ago. The two were inseparable. So when Madonna, so named because of her singing voice, went down early in the winter, we made an area exclusively for them. 

Through the bitter cold, they shared the space and hay and corn. Both ate ravenously. And while I knew Madonna’s legs would never hold her upright again, I made a promise to care for her to the end. Warm water with a bit of molasses was a special treat on frigid days. It took two of us to move her to cleaner hay and then as she grew lighter, only one. 

Apparently she was waiting for spring to take her leave, confident that her offspring could carry on without her. I marveled at the wonder of being able to witness their closeness to one another. And I was grateful for my own compassion that grew as the days wore on. Tenderness and kindness are incredible human gifts and like all living things they grow stronger with use and care.

We always have a choice. What we will do in times of hardship. What we will do for others in need. We are being driven to be kind and to help one another, if we so choose. Choose love.

*The title of this piece comes from a line in Kahlil Gibran’s “On Love” from The Prophet

The Irony of Evil

Of all that I am and of all that I ever will be I am forever grateful to be a human being first and foremost. Living in a time strife with division, brutality and war, it may seem frivolous to call upon that which we all share in common – our humanity. But I have found no other way to navigate these times. 

There are people obsessed with evil. They see it lurking everywhere and in their paranoia, they go to great lengths to protect themselves from it. Gun culture, military might, and quest for power are not signs of strength, they are signs of weakness. 

The irony of evil is that we seldom see the seeds of it within our self. We’re always sure of its existence outside of us. All those people selling security systems love us for this.

And in this quest to be impervious to harm, we shield away our compassion. In this urgent need to be top dog we miss the tenderness of our humanity. We reject empathy and our hearts harden with uncertainty. In this bowing to fear, we give away the only power that can in fact help us – and that is love.

It is the love of country and countrymen that will let Ukraine survive and thrive again, not fear or hatred. It is the love of peace that will call upon the Wisdom of Solomon to find a way out of this insanity. 

For all that I have seen and all that I know, I will never give up on us. For as mighty is the seed of evil, the seed of love is as powerful, it simply needs our willingness to try and our conviction to overcome.

We have deferred to ignorance for too long.  Let’s give Peace a chance.

What Price, Peace?

“Hesitate and you’re lost”. Those were the words my father used when he taught me to drive. He was addressing the doubt that traps us if we’re not present in the moment.

And what a moment we’re in. We were warned to move out of fossil fuels since the 70’s, but we hesitated. Now we’re engaged in a contest of wills that has placed oil and gas as the battering rams of war.  As the number one producer in the world, the United States can stop accepting Russian oil, but European allies are stepping back and admitting they are in fact dependent on Russia for their energy. And while the Republicans grew the financial aid package to Ukraine from $10 billion as suggested by the White House to nearly $14 billion, they’re quick to condemn the president for raising gasoline prices – which in fact, he cannot do.

I’d like to see the breakdown of military versus humanitarian aid – and see who will be the victors in this capitalist venture. 

So much for the unity required to stop Putin’s death march. The truth is we’re compromised. We’re paralyzed by the fear of our precious lives being economically altered and crushed by the realization that just saying “peace” is not enough to make it so. 

Once again whether by our government or that of another conquering empire, innocent lives are crushed. The tear in human consciousness is again ripped open. And whether we admit it or not, we are altered by the suffering being inflicted on Ukrainian people. We haven’t learned we’re all one. We haven’t learned this is still within our grasp to change.

Peace is possible, but because we have hesitated for so long to nurture and support it, it will come with a price. A price we must all shoulder: pacifists, war mongers, lovers and haters…the price is wanting peace more than anything else. It is a price we can all pay.

We must.

A sign reading “glory for Ukraine” at a rally to support Ukraine at Washington Square Park, in New York City. February 27, 2022

When Madmen Lead

Putin, end this nightmare. For the past week, the so-called “military exercise” has shown it is nothing of the sort. It is a march of destruction and death. There is no propaganda that can excuse the inhumanity that has become the fate of the people of Ukraine.

With diplomacy stalled or forgotten, and international sanctions weighing down upon the people of Russia, one could hope that the insanity would end. But we have seen this before. History has shown us far too many leaders willing to self-destruct – and take countless innocents with them.

We have seen the madmen lead and we have seen human beings follow. We have normalized this behavior while we pray for peace. We pray for peace, but we do not insist on peace. We want war to end, but we continue to allow militarism to dominate us. 

Make no mistake, I believe Putin is wrong and I am not sure sanctions will stop him. I weep for the people who are becoming refugees and for those who are being killed. I fear for the Russian people as the economic squeeze tightens as well as the persecution they will face as they dissent. And I am convinced that the financial shock waves will surely hit Europe and the rest of the world, intensifying conflicts everywhere.

It seems humanity has reached its midnight hour. We can no longer hide behind despotic leadership and claim innocence. We must become thinking people who are not willing to sacrifice our humanity for the empire. 

When I heard Trump call Putin’s aggression “genius” and heard no cries of fowl from his party, I was not surprised. Trump is not a friend of peace. Trump is a friend of greed and power. And his followers are devotees of the same.

Peace in Ukraine

I’m not an apologist for the United States government, nor am I an apologist for Putin. I am a human being and I fear for the people of Ukraine as they await their fate. 

I wrote these words a few short hours before Putin unleashed a full-scale land, sea and air invasion on Ukraine. 

The conflict began in 2014 with thousands of civilians killed and nearly one and a half million forced to leave their homes. Peace building then took second stage as weaponry poured into the region from the United States and the EU. NATO failed to grasp the urgency of diplomacy and no one believed Putin would launch such an inhuman assault. 

Putin boldly lied referring to this new build up of nearly 200,000 troops on the Ukrainian border as a military exercise. And NATO, with the United States in the lead, miscalculated their ability to reel Putin in by sanctions, while arming the Ukrainians.

The people of the world are led by thinking that is steeped in power and financed by the military industrial complex. All sides weigh the financial risks and the political capital as they make their moves – using the same tactics and the same lies we have followed for decades. And it is women and children who pay the greatest price while profiteers gain.

It’s time we change course. We must become pro-peace. Our strategies must be life affirming. We must take the position that we are all human beings deserving the right to live in safety, with shelter, clean food and water and given the “elbow room” to be the unique individuals that we are. Our choices must be pro-human and pro-earth. 

Peace is our only way forward. Each individual must assess the value of peace. Each must make way for it.  May it prevail. May the Russian people demand it from their leader. May we all demand it.

map of Ukraine under attack – By Homoatrox – Own work, CC0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=115503967

We Don’t Need No Haters*

I’m not a football fan. I respect the athleticism, but there are more negatives around the professional sport than I can tolerate, like the over $5 billion dollar SOFI stadium in LA. 

SOFI is a student loan company. There’s something about putting that name on a stadium when scores of people are struggling to repay student debt that screams “out of touch”.

And then there was the nod finally given to Hip-Hop at this year’s Super Bowl. Since 2017 R&B / Hip-Hop has been dominant on billboard charts, but the NFL wasn’t ready to add more controversy to the storm already brewing until now.

I watched to see how the super star ensemble would handle the moment. I wasn’t let down. It was an energizing performance by all. I confess I need to read lyrics to catch some of the words, but the passion and the insights are well worth the time. 

Mary J. Blige sang her hit from twenty years ago (Family Affair) and if you missed the line “We don’t need no haters” then you missed the point. Artists of every generation have been the ones to chronicle the suffering of people and call out  – in their own way – hope and triumph. This is what the half time show gave us, if we could hear it.

Fifteen time Grammy winner, Eminem knelt for almost a minute during his song, “Lose Yourself”. It’s still a hot debate whether Eminem’s replay of Kaepernick’s protest against racism and police brutality was ok’d by the NFL ahead of time or censored and ignored. Either way, it was a telling moment and as I watched the replay of the half time performances, I found myself hoping he took the knee as an “ask” of forgiveness for white inhumanity through the years

  • “We Don’t Need No Haters” – from Mary J. Blige’s “Family Affair”.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., center, leads a group of civil rights workers and Selma black people in prayer on Feb. 1, 1965 in Selma, Alabama after they were arrested on charges of parading without a permit. More than 250 persons were arrested as they marched to the Dallas County courthouse as part of a voter registration drive. (AP Photo/BH)

Freedom

“It is hard for the old slaveholding spirit to die, but die it must.” — Sojourner Truth

As we witness the violence of racism creep steadily into our school boards, our libraries and into the discourse of our legislators, it’s important to galvanize behind ideals that are more powerful and more compelling. 

I’ve never been interested in fighting ignorance; I think it’s far better to light a way out of it.  And over the past few weeks I have found solace and kinship in the movement known as Abolition.

Building upon the efforts of Frederick Douglas, Sojourner Truth, Harriet Tubman and many more, the Abolitionist movement of today speaks to the heart of humankind. Like its forbearers it is unapologetic in its declaration for freedom and courageous in its truth-telling.

And despite the hardships and the cruelty that has been the legacy of colonialism and capitalism to all marginalized people, Abolition is a Phoenix and it’s on the rise.

Abolitionism today calls for creativity as we emerge from the darkness of separation. And perhaps in the most dignified of ways it calls for the celebration of humanity and insists on the importance of joy.

You will find Abolitionists in our schools, creating safe environments for all children. You will find them in the fight to replace penal punishment with compassion. 

You will find them resurrecting communities through mutual aid and harm reduction.

You will not find them in discussions on reform. You see, Abolitionists understand the phrase “None of us are free until we are all free”*, and reform is an illusive coward that allows racism, sexism, and other unnatural qualities to continue.

So, if you are looking for a bit of fresh air, I suggest you get to know the Abolitionists of our time. Dr. Bettina Love’s book, “We Want To Do More Than Survive” is a good starting point. 

  • This quote is attributed to Emma Lazarus, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and Maya Angelou and perhaps others. It is a common understanding of compassionate human hearts.

The Bridge

I am of the era when the public school system was held in esteem and communities worked hard to ensure that all children were given a fair chance. I had the good fortune to grow up in a diverse community and while I will not pretend that racism did not exist, I can assure you it was held in check.

It was held in check by human beings who took on the responsibility to teach and to administer guidance, and strengthened by a community that refused to allow bigotry to rule. We enjoyed the company of people whose faith dictated the possibility of goodwill towards all.

I grew up as the war in Vietnam was coming to its bitter end.  A time before flower power, peace and love became mocked ideals. To me the dissenters of war were no less patriotic than the ones who fought. I still hold this as true.

When I was young to be a Christian meant to love your neighbor as yourself, and service to humankind was a worthy aspiration. I wasn’t taught the prosperity gospel. Worshiping the almighty dollar had nothing to do with “In God We Trust”. Somewhere over the past decades our greed has taken a devilish turn.

I have had the good fortune to travel the world and this is what I know: we are more similar than not. We have the same needs and the same hopes. Our needs are basic: food, shelter, clean air, clean water, mutual respect and a little bit of elbow room to celebrate our uniqueness. Our hopes can be distilled to one: the desire for peace.

It’s time to rediscover our humanity and to fight to preserve it. That will be the bridge over the chasm of indifference and hatred that we have allowed. 

**The photo is the bridge near the home of my childhood in western Pennsylvania.