SCN: Fwd: On behalf of all who died today (fwd)

[Irene Mogol]

Vengence is not the answer.
Irene


On Wed, 12 Sep 2001, David Barts wrote:

> Forwarded from a friend.  I'm not a complete pacifist who believes in
> turning the other cheek, but still I see a lot in this I agree with,
> especially given the current mood in favor of retaliation (as opposed
> to defensive and preventative measures, which would have to include a
> good deal of asking unpleasant "why would someone feel motivated to do
> this?" type questions) I sense in the nation.
> 
> > Date: Wed, 12 Sep 2001 02:56:26 -0600
> > To: (Recipient list suppressed)
> > From: Damian Nash <damian at lasal.net>
> > Subject: On behalf of all who died today
> > 
> > Dear friends:
> > 
> > On behalf of all who died today
> > I would like to make a difference:
> > I want to make the world a better place
> > For their loved ones and their children.
> > 
> > Tonight we lie restless in our beds
> > Our hearts and souls ache
> > As they try to stretch around
> > The incomprehensibly huge tragedy
> > That just crashed down on all of us
> > Delivered in passenger jets.
> > 
> > All of us are driven to know "why?"
> > Watching news reports, scanning Internet headlines
> > Looking for any clue that will make sense
> > Out of something so senseless
> > That will satisfy a deep, disturbing yearning
> > And fill a numb, empty place in our minds
> > Where the Trade Towers used to stand.
> > 
> > Here is one little part of the answer,
> > Please hear it, add to it, pass it along.
> > 
> > I send this with the kind of compassion
> > That appears briefly after a tragedy
> > As we all work together, as we give blood, food
> > Whatever we can offer
> > For others we have never met.
> > 
> > I mail this to you with the hope
> > That you will make something with these words
> > For the children and the loved ones
> > Of all the beautiful human beings
> > That perished today in the rubble and the flames.
> > 
> > As we sit in front of our television screens
> > Or newspapers, radio, the internet
> > Numbed, sickened, enraged, grieving
> > We have every reason as a nation
> > To strike back
> > To find those responsible,
> > To punish and destroy.
> > 
> > No one in the world would blame the United States
> > For avenging such a heinous act:
> > It is our right to revenge
> > And we certainly have the power.
> > The world is waiting and watching for our response.
> > We are the most powerful nation on earth
> > We are about to set an example
> > Of international relations in the new millenium.
> > 
> > In this moment
> > We face an opportunity
> > As never before in history
> > To change the way of the world
> > And put an end to this kind of tragedy
> > Forever.
> > 
> > To do this we must all open our eyes together
> > We must wake up from the nightmare
> > And bravely face our true enemy
> > The Beast who wants us to keep sleeping.
> > 
> > Our enemy is not a millionaire oil tycoon
> > A military dictator,  a country, a religion, an ideology
> > Or this month's political scapegoat.
> > 
> > Our true enemy is the Cycle of Pain and Suffering
> > And all of us in America
> > Are facing the enemy today
> > In a way we have never faced it before.
> > 
> > Many of us are eager to avenge our suffering
> > By inflicting more pain on anyone presumed guilty
> > By feeding the flames, following carnage with carnage
> > Taking an eye for an eye, a head for a head.
> > 
> > In this way we win a battle and lose a war
> > While the true enemy of humanity,
> > The Beast that feeds on our pain and suffering,
> > Grows larger and stronger.
> > 
> > The people who carried out this incomprehensible act of
> > terrorism
> > Must have already endured a level of suffering incomprehensible
> > to us
> > A kind of pain that twisted the humanity out of their souls
> > And left them unable to resist a hideous, twisted plot.
> > 
> > Suffering loves to create more Suffering
> > And these men wanted us to glimpse the hell they lived in
> > In their neighborhoods, in their countries,
> > In the privacy of their tortured souls and minds.
> > So they passed the Beast from their shoulders to ours
> > By sacrificing their lives
> > And the lives of our loved ones
> > 
> > If we decide to hit the suffering back into their court
> > Do we win a battle and lose the war?
> > 
> > By temporarily satisfying our need for vengeance
> > By dealing out our own version of justice
> > Do we really restore the balance or just push the pendulum
> > harder?
> > Do we improve the world for our children?
> > Or do we put them in line for the next retaliation?
> > The next escalation?
> > The next, larger, more hideous act of terrorism?
> > Do we expose those we love to the risk of something even worse?
> > 
> > When I look for any kind of solution, the only way I can see
> > That we can ever be truly victorious over terrorism
> > Is to discover and destroy the sources of terrorism:
> > Poverty, ignorance, oppression, injustice, disease and the
> > absence of hope.
> > Let us work together to destroy its roots everywhere on the
> > planet.
> > Starting in our own backyards.
> > 
> > On behalf of all who died today
> > So that they will not die in vain
> > I ask my friends and the leaders of the US
> > To ask a deeper kind of "why?"
> > To move beyond the posture of victim and outraged reaction
> > To adopt a conscious response that will banish this kind of
> > horror
> >  From the face of the planet
> > Forever.
> > 
> > Instead of asking "why?" to satisfy our hunger for answers
> > Let us ask that same question to mend what is broken in the
> > world.
> > Instead of asking "who were these men?" to scapegoat and punish
> > Let us ask that same question to learn about the
> > incomprehensible pain that 
> > destroyed them.
> > Instead of looking for causes that we ultimately can't control
> > and must fear
> > Let us look for the ways we contribute to the Cycle of Pain and
> > Suffering
> > And have the courage to change what we can.
> > 
> > Why did these men blaming the US for their suffering?
> > Why did they target these buildings?  What did they hope to
> > accomplish?
> > Were they attempting to ease their own suffering, or the
> > suffering of others
> > By taking such extreme, merciless methods?
> > Are they all completely insane,
> > or is there some morsel of truth that gave birth to their
> > insane plot?
> > 
> > Only by asking these questions
> > And facing the answers with strength and humility
> > Can we ever escape the nightmare of suffering
> > That has haunted human history.
> > 
> > By seeing how our way of life promotes suffering elsewhere on
> > the planet
> > And by choosing to act differently for our sake and theirs --
> > This is the way we can make sure that the children of these
> > terrorists
> > Are freed from the nightmarish kind of world that produced
> > their parents
> > And that drove them to such unthinkable levels of desperation.
> > 
> > When that happens,
> > When the US stands humbly among the other nations of the world
> > Committed to making life better for everyone, everywhere,
> > Using our freedom, knowledge and power for everyone's benefit,
> > Only then can the war on terrorism be won.
> > 
> > If we ever to evolve as a human race
> > We must learn to see our only real war as the war on suffering
> > And realize it can never be won with bombs, guns
> > Tighter security measures or hijacked airplanes --
> > With violence and a tighter fist suffering can only be
> > perpetuated.
> > 
> > The only way to win this war,
> > The only way to stop the madness,
> > Is by listening, truly listening to others,
> > And especially those we see as enemies,
> > Asking how we are contributing to their suffering
> > And doing whatever we can do to alleviate each other's pain.
> > 
> > To win this war
> > Individuals must choose to fight suffering, not other people --
> > And so must and nations and corporations.
> > 
> > On behalf of all who died today
> > I would like to make a difference:
> > I want to make the world a better place
> > For their loved ones and their children.
> > 
> > ----------------------------------------------
> > 
> > Please forward this message to all you love
> > (Amend it as you feel compelled)
> > And do whatever you can do, today
> > To ease the suffering on this planet
> > For yourself and everyone around you.
> > 
> 
> 
> 
> =====
> Please visit my website!
> 
> http://www.geocities.com/kayoss00/
> 
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> -- 
>          David W. Barts (davidb at scn.org) / http://www.scn.org/~davidb
>       "Rats and roaches live by competition under the laws of supply and
>      demand; it is the privilege of human beings to live under the laws of
>                      justice and mercy." -- Wendell Berry
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