The Hate and Love Lessons of the 911 Tragedy
by Michael Tivana - Back to Tribal Messenger

see this related arcticle on the International Criminal Court

Well that was interesting, I am ready to face the world now that I have seen the 911 anniversary show. Will this be a one-time event or will it aire every six months?

I thought it was really well-done; gripping, astounding and surreal. The live footage of being at the World Trade Center while the people were jumping out the window to escape the flames, seeing the heroism of the firefighters and the emotions of the people involved was amazing. However, the fact that the documentary was prefaced by The Homeland Security chief telling us that they were helping us with our fear left me with a bad feeling in my gut. Is this catastrophe only the beginning?

What the WTC tragedy and the anthrax ordeal have done to the human psyche is these events have skewed our thinking to accept new realities. The events have penetrated the human consciousness and have allowed our acceptance of more horrible things such as WAR! the breakdown of the treaties that keep the world from blowing itself up (the abolition of the ABM Treaty), and the acceptance of first strike nuclear usage of nuclear weapons.

My heart goes out to all the men and women involved in the 911 tragedy and to all the heart that has poured out since. This is the real value of the tragedies, as we act as real human beings and discover our truest selves. Many people have found themselves since 911 and have begun to live their lives according to what is most righteous and most important to them. This is good.

A big problem arises when politicians appear at the beginning of the presentation of this sensitive real human drama and play on our fears. The Homeland Security leader names the fears ie: bio-terrorism, terrorist attacks, weapons of mass destruction in a calm manner, then assures us that his department is doing everything possible to keep us safe. Have a nice show. That is all that had to be done to skew all the thoughts of a nation toward revenge and away from any other solution to terrorism including forgiveness.

President Bush gave a 911 six month anniversary speech by urging nations with militants linked to al Qaeda to help "remove the terrorist parasites" and warning that Yemen was in danger of becoming another Afghanistan. What does this mean?

It means an expansion of the war. This is a war that is not well defined, that has murky enemies and has a vague end point. A war that sees the US taking advantage of being an unchallenged super-power and spreading a military dominance that enforces the creation and subjugation of a peasant class to work like slaves and live in poverty. This is proven to be the case for some 50 years of world history as the US has militarily toppled 29 democracies around the world since WWII and at times ruled the peoples with a dictatorial iron thumb ie: Pinochet, Samosa, Marcos, The Shah of Iran, Thiem, Sukarno and on and on. When will this end? It will end when the people within the empire have had enough and reach out and claim their power and become responsible world citizens.

When Bush accuses a nation of harboring people that may have harmed the US is palpable for most and a genuine way to rid the world of the 'Bad Guys'. This simplistic view of the world would be alright if it were the truth. The US government would have us believe that we are the good guys and we have fought a clean war with surprisingly few mishaps. The reports from the field tell us otherwise. Why bomb the red cross building twice, the UN building, the TV and radio stations, mosques, remote villages? How dumb are those smart bombs? How dumb are the American people?

On this anniversary of the 911 tragedy, Americans have a choice; either become the bigger country and learn to forgive our transgressors as suggested in the Lord's Prayer or we can take out revenge on our US government supported enemies (as admitted by the CIA) while using fear as the excuse and the mechanism to get permission from the public. Acting out of fear has never been an emotion to use to gain fruitful results. To be responding out of love, compassion and forgiveness are the most powerful, most difficult emotions to exercise, yet grant the most rewarding results.

Each citizen must make this decision for themselves. Do I hate my enemies or love them? Do I become the bigger person and forgive my trespassers? Or do I seek revenge, wage war and risk the safety of my family and way of life. The opportunity is here to exercise acts that will enrich your soul or drain your spirit.

Understand that something has to be done. Idleness is not an option, complacency and apathy enable people to be complicit to death and destruction. The US must deal with its enemies, Satyagraha is the answer. Satyagraha is the active force of love and was mastered by Ghandi and was the driving force in Martin Luther King's message. Dr. King was determined to use Satyagraha as his main instrument of promoting social change. Satyagraha is affirmative NonViolent action in resistance to evil. Ghandi used Satyagraha the day he marched with the miners in So. Africa. On their way to town they encountered the cavalry. The marchers layed down in an act of satyagraha and the force of their determined conviction to the truth repelled the haorses.

Examples of Satyagraha are everywhere in today's world ie; the International Solidarity Movement is placing humans in between Israeli soldiers and Palestinians, and the result is Israeli soldiers refusing to kill Palestinians. US war veterans becoming peacekeepers in war zones in the world, UN and Red Cross workers risking their lives to provide aid to the victims of war, and to reporters going to places of war and reporting the truth first hand. These are the modern warriors, they are the heroes and we need millions more. As absurd as it may sound, perhaps some day we will send in the massage therapists and not the marines.

These are historical times, lets not make them hysterical. Support the separation of fear and government!

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