"The country does need politicians." - 'Advice to Constructive Workers' (G.), Biharni Komi Agman, pp. 346-7 (from The Essential Writings of Mahatma Gandhi edited by Raghavan Iyer)
I vote. I think it is a citizen's duty to vote.
Many in my country who voted for Barack Obama have been disappointed. I am not one of those. I voted for Obama and he is exactly what I expected, a politician. I hoped he would be something different, but I did not expect it, and so I am not disappointed.
Rarely in history has voting changed anything. And when voting has changed things, more often than not, it has been a change for the worse.
Sounds cynical, I know, and perhaps it is, but reliance on someone else to change things, rather than being the change I want to see, doesn't seem sensible.
I was familiar with civil disobedience and non-cooperation from the civil rights protests in my country in the sixties, but it was Gandhi's ideas about the Constructive Programme that struck me as truly revolutionary. It is the part of Gandhi's vision that my country does not really know or understand, and for me it is what can make real change a reality, right here and right now.
07 April 2011
04 April 2011
Weapon of Massive Consumption*
I am a 'victim' of American culture. Okay, 'victim' is not the right word. Mass consumer would be more accurate.
If you peruse previous blog posts you will find quotes from, besides Gandhi, Will Rogers and Sheryl Crow and who knows who else.
I love old movies, Theodora goes Wild, The Awful Truth, everything by the Marx Brothers, and new movies, Little Miss Sunshine, Despicable Me. My iTunes playlist has the lastest songs, Hayes Carll - KMAG YOYO, Arcade Fire - Ready to Start, Baaba Maal - International and classics from the 30's and 40's, Helen Kane - I Wanna be Loved by You, Judy Garland - The Boy Next Door. I've watched television since it was invented. At fourteen my best friend and I found, in a neighbors trash, three years worth of Playboy Magazines which we divided evenly and I kept under my mattress for years. I have been an admire of the female form ever since. I've studied Aristophanes and Dostoyevsky and Edgar Rice Burroughs and George Bernard Shaw and Samuel Beckett. I collected comedy records, Nichols and May, Bill Cosby, George Carlin. And all this stuff and much more filters into my thoughts, speech, actions, and writings. And I am proud of that. And many, many of these things inspire, excite, and energize me.
I love good food and I love cooking good food from all over the world, India, Mexico, Iraq, Italy, South Africa. My wife feels loved when I provide delicious meals for our family. I get joy from providing hospitality for friends and strangers. Breaking bread with friends, family, and strangers is a spiritual experience.
My spirituality is a mish-mash, part Native American, part Christian, part Buddhist, part Jewish, part stuff that I've decided to believe entirely on my own. (The missing matter in the universe is comprised of Angels.)
Would Gandhi approve? No.
But I don't apologize for any of this.
I believe that God, the Great Father, the Creator, a power greater than myself, put me on this earth, here and now, because he wants my help to change the world for the better. Well, 'me' is all these things and more.
And the people, children, that I was put here to help don't want some ascetic who knows nothing of the world. They want people who can help them understand where they are, where they came from, what's going on around them, and the problems that they have to overcome.
And I believe in non-violence. Without reservation.
God uses me as I am.
*from the song The Fear by Lily Allen.
If you peruse previous blog posts you will find quotes from, besides Gandhi, Will Rogers and Sheryl Crow and who knows who else.
I love old movies, Theodora goes Wild, The Awful Truth, everything by the Marx Brothers, and new movies, Little Miss Sunshine, Despicable Me. My iTunes playlist has the lastest songs, Hayes Carll - KMAG YOYO, Arcade Fire - Ready to Start, Baaba Maal - International and classics from the 30's and 40's, Helen Kane - I Wanna be Loved by You, Judy Garland - The Boy Next Door. I've watched television since it was invented. At fourteen my best friend and I found, in a neighbors trash, three years worth of Playboy Magazines which we divided evenly and I kept under my mattress for years. I have been an admire of the female form ever since. I've studied Aristophanes and Dostoyevsky and Edgar Rice Burroughs and George Bernard Shaw and Samuel Beckett. I collected comedy records, Nichols and May, Bill Cosby, George Carlin. And all this stuff and much more filters into my thoughts, speech, actions, and writings. And I am proud of that. And many, many of these things inspire, excite, and energize me.
I love good food and I love cooking good food from all over the world, India, Mexico, Iraq, Italy, South Africa. My wife feels loved when I provide delicious meals for our family. I get joy from providing hospitality for friends and strangers. Breaking bread with friends, family, and strangers is a spiritual experience.
My spirituality is a mish-mash, part Native American, part Christian, part Buddhist, part Jewish, part stuff that I've decided to believe entirely on my own. (The missing matter in the universe is comprised of Angels.)
Would Gandhi approve? No.
But I don't apologize for any of this.
I believe that God, the Great Father, the Creator, a power greater than myself, put me on this earth, here and now, because he wants my help to change the world for the better. Well, 'me' is all these things and more.
And the people, children, that I was put here to help don't want some ascetic who knows nothing of the world. They want people who can help them understand where they are, where they came from, what's going on around them, and the problems that they have to overcome.
And I believe in non-violence. Without reservation.
God uses me as I am.
*from the song The Fear by Lily Allen.
02 April 2011
Lock and Load
"We forget the principle of non-violence, which is the essence of all religions. The doctrine of arms stands for irreligion." -'Satyagraha - Not Passive Resistance' (H.), Ramchandra Varma, Mahatma Gandhi, about 2 September 1917 (from The Essential Writings of Mahatma Gandhi edited by Raghavan Iyer)
I am no saint. I grew up playing Cowboys and Indians (the Native American kind) with plastic guns. I owned plastic armies of men and tanks. I have played video games where gun mayhem was the chief objective.
As a boy, I went to a summer camp with a shooting range. I enjoyed target shooting and was pretty good at it. My father hunted game birds with a shotgun and bought me a gun and took me on a number of hunting outings. I never shot anything, although, I would have if the opportunity had ever arisen. In the Air Force, I was trained to shoot an M-16 rifle. I was a very good shot and received a Marksman's ribbon.
I am not squeamish about guns, although, I don't own any. And while I cannot conceive of any reason why someone would feel they needed to own a gun, I have no desire to tell someone that they cannot own a gun.
A new law was recently passed in one state (Iowa) of the United States. The law makes it permissible to carry a gun out in the open. In fact, in the United States, only seven states do not permit some level of 'open carry.' In twelve states, there is no licensing or permit needed to carry a gun in the open. The only restriction are to criminals and the mentally ill. Many Americans think this makes them safer.
We have a saying in this country, "Guns don't kill people, people kill people." This is certainly true, however, guns make it much, much, much easier. An impulsive act, a fit of anger, a strange thought, a slight misjudgment, can lead almost instantly to someone's death if a gun is strapped to a hip or on the seat of a car.
Yes, people can be stabbed with a knife, but this act has to be up close and personal. It takes time to stab someone. Even in a crowd. Not so a gun.
Bang, bang, bang. Three dead. One second.
Hope there were no innocent bystanders.
I just can't see Jesus "packin' heat."
I am no saint. I grew up playing Cowboys and Indians (the Native American kind) with plastic guns. I owned plastic armies of men and tanks. I have played video games where gun mayhem was the chief objective.
As a boy, I went to a summer camp with a shooting range. I enjoyed target shooting and was pretty good at it. My father hunted game birds with a shotgun and bought me a gun and took me on a number of hunting outings. I never shot anything, although, I would have if the opportunity had ever arisen. In the Air Force, I was trained to shoot an M-16 rifle. I was a very good shot and received a Marksman's ribbon.
I am not squeamish about guns, although, I don't own any. And while I cannot conceive of any reason why someone would feel they needed to own a gun, I have no desire to tell someone that they cannot own a gun.
A new law was recently passed in one state (Iowa) of the United States. The law makes it permissible to carry a gun out in the open. In fact, in the United States, only seven states do not permit some level of 'open carry.' In twelve states, there is no licensing or permit needed to carry a gun in the open. The only restriction are to criminals and the mentally ill. Many Americans think this makes them safer.
We have a saying in this country, "Guns don't kill people, people kill people." This is certainly true, however, guns make it much, much, much easier. An impulsive act, a fit of anger, a strange thought, a slight misjudgment, can lead almost instantly to someone's death if a gun is strapped to a hip or on the seat of a car.
Yes, people can be stabbed with a knife, but this act has to be up close and personal. It takes time to stab someone. Even in a crowd. Not so a gun.
Bang, bang, bang. Three dead. One second.
Hope there were no innocent bystanders.
I just can't see Jesus "packin' heat."
01 April 2011
Children - The Number One Threat to National Security
"Its use (Passive Resistance*), therefore, is, I think, indisputable, and it is a force which, if it became universal, would revolutionize social ideals and do away with despotisms and the ever-growing militarism under which the nations of the West are groaning and are being almost crushed to death, and which fairly promises to overwhelm even the nations of the East." -'Theory and Practice of Passive Resistance,' Indian Opinion, Golden Number, 1 Dec. 1914 (from The Essential Writings of Mahatma Gandhi edited by Raghavan Iyer)
As I watch my country try to balance it's budget by slashing money for children, the poor, and the sick, and I hear almost no voices talking about reducing the number of soldiers, guns, bombs, and weapons of mass destruction, I can only hang my head in shame. The richest nation in the world can keep enough nuclear weapons to destroy the world several times over, can develop the most high-tech weaponry for the slaughter of other human beings, can fight three wars, but won't take care of it's own neglected, abused, and orphaned children.
And the irony is, that even if they cut every dollar for every child in this country, we would still have a massive debt because of the money we spend on military weapons to abuse, orphan, or kill other people's children.
Apparently the politicians in this country consider children to be the biggest threat to our nation's security.
This is not higher mathematics. You don't have to be a rocket scientist or a brain surgeon to figure this stuff out.
The truth is that the politicians in this country are liars and we want to be lied to. If we didn't want that, we would stop voting for these people. And it's not one party or the other. Both parties are in this together.
The Policy of the United States of America: Neglect, Abuse, Orphan, and Kill Children - ours, other peoples, doesn't matter.
Neglect, Abuse, Orphan, and Kill Children.
*Gandhi explained earlier in the quoted article that the term 'Passive Resistance' was really a misnomer for what he called satyagraha, Truth-Force and what Tolstoy called Soul-Force or Love-Force.
As I watch my country try to balance it's budget by slashing money for children, the poor, and the sick, and I hear almost no voices talking about reducing the number of soldiers, guns, bombs, and weapons of mass destruction, I can only hang my head in shame. The richest nation in the world can keep enough nuclear weapons to destroy the world several times over, can develop the most high-tech weaponry for the slaughter of other human beings, can fight three wars, but won't take care of it's own neglected, abused, and orphaned children.
And the irony is, that even if they cut every dollar for every child in this country, we would still have a massive debt because of the money we spend on military weapons to abuse, orphan, or kill other people's children.
Apparently the politicians in this country consider children to be the biggest threat to our nation's security.
This is not higher mathematics. You don't have to be a rocket scientist or a brain surgeon to figure this stuff out.
The truth is that the politicians in this country are liars and we want to be lied to. If we didn't want that, we would stop voting for these people. And it's not one party or the other. Both parties are in this together.
The Policy of the United States of America: Neglect, Abuse, Orphan, and Kill Children - ours, other peoples, doesn't matter.
Neglect, Abuse, Orphan, and Kill Children.
*Gandhi explained earlier in the quoted article that the term 'Passive Resistance' was really a misnomer for what he called satyagraha, Truth-Force and what Tolstoy called Soul-Force or Love-Force.
29 March 2011
Last year we said, 'Things can't go on like this', and they didn't, they got worse.
"Politics, divorced of religion, have absolutely no meaning."- Speech on 'Ashram Vows' at the YMCA, Madras, Indian Review, February 1916, The Hindu, 16 Feb. 1916 (from The Essential Writings of Mahatma Gandhi edited by Raghavan Iyer)
By nature, I am not a political animal. The arcane and convoluted workings of my government, even my local city government, much less the national government, seem contradictory, hypocritical, self-serving, and tedious, not to mention ineffective, if not outright damaging, and meaningless.
My country has never lived up to its ideals and often is engaged in action that is directly and demonstrably against what we say we believe and this has been true since our founding. Genocide, slavery, persecution, and theft mark my nation's heritage, mocking the pretty words of our Declaration of Independence and our Constitution.
As I read Gandhi's words and consider my country's history of the 'separation of church and state' and the recent struggles in my country and around the world with conservative/fundamentalist religious radicals, I find myself frustrated. The elements in America that wish to bring 'religion' back into politics are largely intolerant and would love to impose a form of Christian 'Sharia Law.' The separation of church and state is one of the bulwarks against this.
But the immorality, the unethical behavior, the evil that my government and its representatives, secular or religious, conservative or liberal, Republican or Democrat, perpetrate on their own people and the people of the world is wrong.
Too many people like me, see the problems and we tsk-tsk or we sit on our hands or we turn our heads away.
It's easier than screaming in rage or crying.
Got to be a better way.
Title from a quote by Will Rogers
By nature, I am not a political animal. The arcane and convoluted workings of my government, even my local city government, much less the national government, seem contradictory, hypocritical, self-serving, and tedious, not to mention ineffective, if not outright damaging, and meaningless.
My country has never lived up to its ideals and often is engaged in action that is directly and demonstrably against what we say we believe and this has been true since our founding. Genocide, slavery, persecution, and theft mark my nation's heritage, mocking the pretty words of our Declaration of Independence and our Constitution.
As I read Gandhi's words and consider my country's history of the 'separation of church and state' and the recent struggles in my country and around the world with conservative/fundamentalist religious radicals, I find myself frustrated. The elements in America that wish to bring 'religion' back into politics are largely intolerant and would love to impose a form of Christian 'Sharia Law.' The separation of church and state is one of the bulwarks against this.
But the immorality, the unethical behavior, the evil that my government and its representatives, secular or religious, conservative or liberal, Republican or Democrat, perpetrate on their own people and the people of the world is wrong.
Too many people like me, see the problems and we tsk-tsk or we sit on our hands or we turn our heads away.
It's easier than screaming in rage or crying.
Got to be a better way.
Title from a quote by Will Rogers
28 March 2011
Neighbors as Ourselves
"In this Ashram, we make it a rule that we must say 'No' when we mean 'No', regardless of consequences." - Speech on 'Ashram Vows' at the YMCA, Madras, Indian Review, February 1916, The Hindu, 16 Feb. 1916 (from The Essential Writings of Mahatma Gandhi edited by Raghavan Iyer)
My efforts at lobbying in support of the abused, neglected, and orphaned children in the state of Texas continued this morning.
After my disappointing and disheartening trip to the State Capitol last week, to talk to my local representative about the upcoming budget for these children, I wrote an email to the representative describing my position and my experience in her office. A return email from a staffer requested my telephone number so that she could speak with me about my experience and about the representatives support for the children of the state. I sent my number, but included that there was no need to call. That I did in fact understand what role the representative played in writing budgets and that the representative could still count on my support (which she can. Her opponents have made this state last among states in spending for children.)
She called this morning. I was polite. I was understanding. I was respectful. I'm afraid that what I was not was truthful. I'm afraid I let politeness smother the truth as I understand it.
What my representative agreed to in the budget will be a greater hardship for the children already suffering trauma.
I know that there are people in the world who would see the 'hardship' of my state as a huge step forward for their children. Their children lack food and clean water and shelter. Their lives are torn apart by disease and war.
I cannot reconcile these two worlds. I wish I could.
What I can do is speak for those being injured in my neighborhood.
But I must learn to lovingly speak the harsh truth and not hide the truth behind a curtain of politeness.
My efforts at lobbying in support of the abused, neglected, and orphaned children in the state of Texas continued this morning.
After my disappointing and disheartening trip to the State Capitol last week, to talk to my local representative about the upcoming budget for these children, I wrote an email to the representative describing my position and my experience in her office. A return email from a staffer requested my telephone number so that she could speak with me about my experience and about the representatives support for the children of the state. I sent my number, but included that there was no need to call. That I did in fact understand what role the representative played in writing budgets and that the representative could still count on my support (which she can. Her opponents have made this state last among states in spending for children.)
She called this morning. I was polite. I was understanding. I was respectful. I'm afraid that what I was not was truthful. I'm afraid I let politeness smother the truth as I understand it.
What my representative agreed to in the budget will be a greater hardship for the children already suffering trauma.
I know that there are people in the world who would see the 'hardship' of my state as a huge step forward for their children. Their children lack food and clean water and shelter. Their lives are torn apart by disease and war.
I cannot reconcile these two worlds. I wish I could.
What I can do is speak for those being injured in my neighborhood.
But I must learn to lovingly speak the harsh truth and not hide the truth behind a curtain of politeness.
26 March 2011
"The End of the World as We Know It"
"I hold that he who invented the atom bomb has committed the gravest sin in the world of science. The only weapon that can save the world is non-violence. Considering the trend of the world, I might appear a fool to everyone; but I do not feel sorry for it. I rather consider it a great blessing that God did not make me capable of inventing the atom bomb." - Talk with Englishmen (G.), Biharni Komi Agman, pp. 253-4 (from The Essential Writings of Mahatma Gandhi edited by Raghavan Iyer)
I am not capable of inventing the atom bomb. I am, however, capable of loading an atom bomb on an airplane, strapping in the pilots, starting the engines, and taxiing the plane out of the bunker it was stored in, and I have done just that.
The birth of my biological daughter and son were paid for because I could do that. My home loan was cheaper and my loan was guaranteed because I could do that. My health insurance is paid for because I could do that. I can be buried in a hero's grave because I did that.
I have practiced the end of the world, many, many times.
At the time, I thought my motives were good. I was not a patriot protecting my country, I was a husband supporting his family.
I didn't think I had any other options at the time, and I am not ashamed that I made that choice.
But the sin is a heavy weight.
A heavy weight that has opened my eyes to what I believe to be the true path; non-violence.
I am not capable of inventing the atom bomb. I am, however, capable of loading an atom bomb on an airplane, strapping in the pilots, starting the engines, and taxiing the plane out of the bunker it was stored in, and I have done just that.
The birth of my biological daughter and son were paid for because I could do that. My home loan was cheaper and my loan was guaranteed because I could do that. My health insurance is paid for because I could do that. I can be buried in a hero's grave because I did that.
I have practiced the end of the world, many, many times.
At the time, I thought my motives were good. I was not a patriot protecting my country, I was a husband supporting his family.
I didn't think I had any other options at the time, and I am not ashamed that I made that choice.
But the sin is a heavy weight.
A heavy weight that has opened my eyes to what I believe to be the true path; non-violence.
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