Dear Friends & Neighbors;
The staccato rhythm of my keyboard has been silent for some weeks now. I needed a time out to reflect upon my intention and actions in the face of grave current events. There a times I find a ray of hope and promise shining through the storm clouds of our inhumanity. More often then naught however I found myself engulfed in a quagmire of dogma, one up man ship and/or flag waving of one right opinion. As I read thousands of emails and articles. Perhaps this is a necessary part of the process?
This is an auspicious hour of history; an opportunity to awaken to the realization that the inextinguishable rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness are a basic human right. At present not a single government, social system or theocratic system exists in practice to support these rights for all of humankind. A basic belief that there are the ‘have’s and the have nots’ exists within our collective consciousness. Each of today’s government and social system’s are in practice rooted on a basic cornerstone of privilege and power; thereby inherently perpetuating social models, solutions, crisis creation, crisis intervention from that perspective.
Our hearts are still disconnected from our minds. A willingness to risk one’s privilege; or to rise above one’s oppression to a level of understanding and empathy is lacking across the spectrum of ideologies on the forefront of our global theater. I think this is true because the vast majority of the ‘peacemakers’ intellectually want a better a world; yet we have not internalized it within ourselves. We are not willing to for go privilege for the sake of those outside of our ‘privileged identity’.
We have asked ourselves ‘What Can We Do for Peace’; but the essential question is “What Will I Give For Peace”; remains unasked; unanswered.
“Verily ALLAH, will not change a condition of people,
except that which they will change within their own souls.”
The Qur’an 8:53
As we continue to discourse, and by Divine Grace move forward in our efforts, I am reminding myself and all others who deem themselves people of good will to consider the following:
· Why do I want peace?
· Who will benefit from the peace?
· What will I give for the peace?
This may seem simplistic and to some perhaps obvious; but we need to ask ourselves have we thoroughly looked at the cause of peace outside of its’ historical and socio-political context? Have we reviewed our intention and actions through a thoroughly evaluated personal context? Our actions in the absence of such personal evaluation are disingenuous. History is no more them the sum totals of our personal context and subsequent actions to the ever unfolding course of circumstances and events. The essential question is; what will we give for peace?
As for myself:
· Why:
1. I want peace because I believe that all of
humanity needs are already provided for. That is the assumption of privilege or
the desire to be privileged based on a pre-conceived notion or identity that
creates the imbalance of influence and the sharing of
resources.
2. I wish for all Israeli citizens to live safe and free from the criminal horror and abhorrent acts of terror and murder (See: Suicide Bombings ).
3. I wish for Palestinian an end to
the suffering from Israeli government’s campaign of terror and
murder.
4. I wish the same for the people of Iraq,
Gujarat and countless other places on this small blue planet.
5. I wish this because I would like my children
and your children and all our grandchildren to live in a world better than the
one we have created for ourselves.
6. I want peace because I can not assume privilege in this world based on my religion, complexion or ethnicity, tribe or nationality.
7. All of my identity is second to the common
humanity that we all share.
· Who:
1. Everyone would benefit from the
peace.
2. A peace not imposed by might and slaughter;
but one brought about true belief in peace, reconciliation and the relinquishing
of privilege.
· What:
1. I
will give
what is necessary,
2. My time my talents my
resources.
3. I will sacrifice comfort and
convenience.
When each ‘peacemaker’ has soul searched and tapped the well-spring of willingness that leads to a commitment of sacrifice for the sake of the whole, then and only then will we truly discover what we can do for peace. Peace will be allusive for decades to come until our hearts are united in the sincerity to establish the inextinguishable rights of humanity for all of humanity is foremost in our hearts.
Now, perhaps one might say well this is a bit altruistic; but I do not believe anyone can truly commit to peace conditionally; or at least not a lasting peace. The cycle of conquest and violence has no end if peace is negotiated with only the consideration being the equity in distribution of ‘the spoils of war’. ‘To the victor goes the spoils’, so the only aim of the defeated must be to become the victor; and thus the cycle continues.
In the hearts of mankind; in the hearts of the ‘peacemakers’ a desire of privilege still exists. Jerusalem, has fallen and been rebuilt many times for this very reason. It is symbolic of our ineptness in foregoing privilege for the sake of justice. The wrongs of history can not be righted. They will be endlessly repeated until the disease of privilege of one over the other no longer flourishes in the collective heart of the ‘peacemakers’.
This is an auspicious hour in history; one where altruism and idealism will flourish for the whole, or the whole succumb to the mundane pleasure of triumph for some and the misery of defeat for others. The cycle will continue, humanity will be faced with this same challenge and most of us would have already met our earthly demise and faced the “TRUE REALITY”.
My thoughts, respectfully your; ma salaama,
PS: Final thoughts in the words of others…
"The peace makers shall be called the children of God."
-
Bible
"Never criticize a man until you've walked a mile in
his moccasins."
- Native American Proverb
"The best way to
destroy an enemy is make him a friend."
- Abraham
Lincoln
"It's lack of
faith that makes people afraid of meeting challenges."
- Muhammad
Ali
"When you're finished changing, you're finished."
-
Benjamin Franklin
"Everything changes, nothing remains
without change."
- Buddha
"It is not the strongest of the
species that survive, nor the most intelligent,
but the one most
responsive to change."
- Charles Darwin