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Sunday, August 06, 2006
The Hard Places
My Jewish friend/brother aches because of the killing on both sides, but he remains staunch in believing that Israel has a right to exist as a country.
A Muslim friend/brother prays for Hezbollah's victory.
I just pray that we will all learn to get along. What if everyone won? What if people put down their arms and worked together for the good of the whole?
When I mourned the deaths of the 30+ Lebanese children, my Jewish friend came back with the question of why I am not as sad for the Israeli dead. (The answer is that I am a mother, and it just happened to hit me particularly hard when I read about so many children killed. I am sad for all of the strife and pain. It is everywhere, every day.)
In the book, I Am That; Talks with Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj, Maharaj says, "Killing hurts the killer, not the killed." Thinking on this, I think about the fact that we all die. People have died for centuries (as Ram Dass says, "Dying is completely safe."), so I wonder what is so special about being the one killed? Why do we mourn deaths so? We do miss the deceased, so maybe we only grieve for OUR loss. Yes, people deeply mourn the "early" death of a child, because that child didn't get to live a long, full life. But I look at this world and see that even though there is much beauty, it is also a very hard and cruel place. Many of our elders wonder why their tired bodies are still keeping them here. Is living a long life all that it is cracked up to be? To paraphrase Stephen Levine, what is wrong with being able to skip a few grades?
But going back to the quote, "Killing hurts the killer, not the killed.", I realize that the beings who have already passed from this earth are all okay. No matter what your belief system, those beings are gone from this life. But the killer left behind still carries the damage of the hate that caused their actions - a damage to their soul. The intention behind killing is a poison that permeates not only the killer, but also society. Poison causes the killing and killing leaves a toxic residue.
I truly believe that many individuals who kill, as well as a society that is ill due to a murderous mentality, can heal. But we don't heal through war.
In a couple of days, when the number of U.S. soldiers who have died in Iraq hits 2600 (today the number is 2588), I will fast again for 36 hours as a contemplation of all of the killing that is going on in our world. This time, I won't fast in honor of those who have died. I will fast in order to slow myself down and explore the pain of the killer. I want to heal my hard places. And I will examine the blood on my own hands - no, I'm not a scary murderer ;-) . We have all killed - how do we decide which life is sacred?
A Muslim friend/brother prays for Hezbollah's victory.
I just pray that we will all learn to get along. What if everyone won? What if people put down their arms and worked together for the good of the whole?
When I mourned the deaths of the 30+ Lebanese children, my Jewish friend came back with the question of why I am not as sad for the Israeli dead. (The answer is that I am a mother, and it just happened to hit me particularly hard when I read about so many children killed. I am sad for all of the strife and pain. It is everywhere, every day.)
In the book, I Am That; Talks with Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj, Maharaj says, "Killing hurts the killer, not the killed." Thinking on this, I think about the fact that we all die. People have died for centuries (as Ram Dass says, "Dying is completely safe."), so I wonder what is so special about being the one killed? Why do we mourn deaths so? We do miss the deceased, so maybe we only grieve for OUR loss. Yes, people deeply mourn the "early" death of a child, because that child didn't get to live a long, full life. But I look at this world and see that even though there is much beauty, it is also a very hard and cruel place. Many of our elders wonder why their tired bodies are still keeping them here. Is living a long life all that it is cracked up to be? To paraphrase Stephen Levine, what is wrong with being able to skip a few grades?
But going back to the quote, "Killing hurts the killer, not the killed.", I realize that the beings who have already passed from this earth are all okay. No matter what your belief system, those beings are gone from this life. But the killer left behind still carries the damage of the hate that caused their actions - a damage to their soul. The intention behind killing is a poison that permeates not only the killer, but also society. Poison causes the killing and killing leaves a toxic residue.
I truly believe that many individuals who kill, as well as a society that is ill due to a murderous mentality, can heal. But we don't heal through war.
In a couple of days, when the number of U.S. soldiers who have died in Iraq hits 2600 (today the number is 2588), I will fast again for 36 hours as a contemplation of all of the killing that is going on in our world. This time, I won't fast in honor of those who have died. I will fast in order to slow myself down and explore the pain of the killer. I want to heal my hard places. And I will examine the blood on my own hands - no, I'm not a scary murderer ;-) . We have all killed - how do we decide which life is sacred?
posted by Carol at 12:31 PM
4 Comments:
I completely agree with you on this.
As to why you weren't as sad for the Israeli deaths, we can blame the media for choosing which deaths to tell us about as well.
I also mourn deaths because of the possible suffering the person had to go through. We don't know how long it took each child to die, and what kind of unbearable agony they went through to leave this world. And war is no reason, for children especially, to die.
Paul,
You are right. The media manipulates us through what they choose to tell us and how they choose to tell it.
And children suffer and die because of the "grown-ups'" lack of ability to solve problems nonviolently.
Life is hard enough, why do we add these complications to the mix?
Thanks for writing. I enjoy writing, and conversations can be even more fun!
Carol,
Thanks for sharing your passion. And for asking the hard questions. So true, and so profound: the great harm people do to themselves in destroying others. They destroy themselves as well.
God grant us his peace (us, inclusive of all). Amen.
Thanks for visiting my blog! Your simple, beautiful prayer says it all.
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