What if they had a
war, and nobody came? Does anyone remember that slogan from the 60’s? And
if you do, how many thought (or still might), that it could actually come
to be a reality!
Now, fast-forward to the dawn-in-progress of The New Millennium.
Here we wait - we the countless - with baited breath and anxious hearts,
just a few short years after the celebration of a ‘new age’, as ‘adversary’
confronts ‘adversary’. The challenge is looking like a No-Win situation
regardless of how the chips OR rhetoric may fall, nor knowing certainly
enough who the challenger actually is. But it’s definitely beginning to
look mighty clear! And this is not the first time the world might be plunged
into darkness… though it could potentially be the last. Yet one challenger
will not drop the gauntlet, seek alternatives, nor give up “The Quest”…
as it is called. If not stopped, he in his ivory tower will direct the
same blind path that all other fools have… leading countless sheep to the
slaughter, if not all. He lends the same timeless echo to an acronym to
“W.A.R.” - We’re ALWAYS Right!. And so, be it a miracle, or a secular example
of true human enlightenment, it has come to pass that the majority of this
beleaguered planet has quietly stated, “No Thank You, we don’t wish to
participate.”…
Me, I don’t know about war. Truly I don’t. How could I
when I’ve never been myself, yet I hear about it and see it all the time,
in other places, other lands. I truly only know about the battles I’ve
fought in my own life, costing me some, but with my dignity and integrity
remaining intact. That, and no one died. But… I know of others who ‘attended’
about 60 years ago…
In my own wee microcosm, I’ve listened for and ‘heard’
the unmentioned as well as the Unmentionable. I’ve seen and endured part
of that unspeakable, bitter legacy. The soldier who was trained for Indifference,
Bloodlust and blind loyalty, could by chance one day yet return to his
family, but must then assume a ‘nurturing’ role. He has seen, been part
of, and survived Heironymus Bosch’s own worst epitome of Hell and Madness.
But it was not a painting - it was real. And he knows he was a pawn. And
he was not the only one. He also knows that he cannot give power to the
words he may not speak as A Man. He keeps it inside, yet this Cancer of
The Soul will grant him no peace, and in every thought, and gesture, this
poison cannot help but seep out to those that he loves - yet he cannot
love them the same as he once did. How can Life be Sacred when he was given
license to obliterate it so freely? How can a Man be free when that ‘choice’
is so often and so callously assumed or designated by others…
This man was my father. However, he is also EVERY man
and young boy that has ever been conscripted - or “Convinced”…
I’ve also witnessed the glorious and miraculous triumph
of The Spirit, and Love, yet the cost was truly immeasurable, dearer than
I can possibly imagine! For the Yesteryear Stories and memories I’ve listened
to are still as real as this very day. The Unspeakable has been spoken
of - by my mother - and has indeed broken the chains that bind, yet even
in release, some wounds do not heal completely. It is only to make peace
with them, and to pass on a lesson. Therein lies the triumph! That she
speaks even while she must endure those ‘living memories’ gives witness
to the true glory of our Humanity. She is every soul that has ever looked
for another answer other than Bitterness, Revenge, and being resigned to
a fate NO soul should endure without compassion and relief.
Now…what might be the point of this, my own “rhetoric
and diatribe”. Who am I to be listened to, knowing “so little”? These ‘scenarios’
are happening all around us! I suppose the point is that we all have some
very dire and trying choices to make. You gotta dig deep! I sense that
many of us have already actually made them, but have yet to find our own
voice…
To discover, and use it…is a ‘Universal’ Aspect of Being.
THAT is Freedom… and according to today’s apparent world consensus, it
may well finally be a touchstone within our grasp…
This week’s poetry section, since I fear I’ve already
done enough ‘fomenting’, is freely given to one (among countless others)
who knew first hand, so much more than I…
~ Peace will not come out of a clash of arms, but out
of justice lived and done by unarmed nations in the face of odds.
~ Democracy and violence can ill go together. Evolution
of democracy is not possible if we are not prepared to hear the other side.
~ A coward is incapable of exhibiting love; it is the
prerogative of the brave.
~ Non-cooperation with evil is a sacred duty.
~ Hatred ever kills, love never dies; such is the vast
difference between the two. What is retained by love is retained for all
time. What is obtained by hatred proves a burden in reality - for it increases
hatred.
~ You assist an evil system most effectively by obeying
orders and decrees. An evil system never deserves such allegiance. Allegiance
to it means partaking of the evil. A good person will resist an evil with
his or her own soul.
~ What kind of victory is it when someone is left defeated?
~ It may be long before the law of love will be recognized
in international affairs. The machinery’s of government stand between and
hide the hearts of one people from those of another.
~ You must be the change you wish to see in the world.
~ When I despair, I remember that all through history
the ways of truth and love have always won. There have been tyrants, and
murderers, and for a while they can seem invincible, but in the end they
always fall. Think of it - Always.
~ Mahatma
Ghandi ~
