It's hard to believe that it's been nearly two years since I last posted anything. I could say it's because I didn't have anything to post - which is partly true - but really, I always have something to say. I'd just convinced myself no one cared enough to read it, so why bother?
Well, that stops here.
Life is funny. It's not until something like the bombings at the Boston Marathon happens that most of us really give a thought to how fragile our existence really is. And yet, millions of people the world over live with the constant threat of violence - in war-torn countries, in regions of geopolitical unrest, hell, just in neighborhoods where the crime rate outnumbers the good guys - so why is it that we're constantly surprised by "higher-profile" events like the Marathon?
Our capacity for doing harm to one another continuously shocks me. I have trouble squashing ants in the bathroom; it's inconceivable to me how someone could deliberately plan an action designed to cause harm - even death - to other humans. It's comfortable to think that actions like the Marathon bombing are carried out by inhuman monsters; by people so brainwashed by evil that they're unrecognizable to us. But is that really true?
Over 200 years ago, when America fought for its independence from Britain, America was roundly criticized for not adhering to the "conventions of military engagement." Our forces were so outmanned and outgunned that our strategists resorted to what amounted to guerilla warfare - sneak attacks, ambushes, suicide missions - in order to emerge victorious. If Britain had won, do you think the original colonists would have been called "terrorists" by the history books? Although, the argument must be made that at least the American forces concentrated on military targets - unlike today's terrorists - but is any loss of life ever truly justified?
An extreme example, I grant you - but sadly, today's world is full of less extreme examples, if you care to illustrate the point in more subtly varying shades of grey. Darfur. Somalia. The West Bank.
This is not an apologist post on behalf of the misguided souls who cause this harm. I'm not looking to justify or rationalize the suicide bombers, radicals, or jihadists.
All I'm asking for is that we remember that we are all human. We are all connected. Causing harm to any living soul brings harm to ourselves.
When we are hurt, we can - and should - stand up and defend ourselves. But there's a world of difference between defending oneself from attack and picking fights with half the planet.
If there is one thing that I have learned in my life, it is that we have a very long way to go in our quest for peace, for evolution and advancement. We are still so focused on 'an eye for an eye' that we have lost sight of the fact that when we descend to revenge and hatred, we become the very thing we claim to be fighting against. We have been hurt, and so we lash out blindly at those who hurt us, hurting other innocent people in the process... which creates more hurt, angry people, lashing out in all directions... and the cycle continues.
An eye for an eye, until everyone is blind.
The child left orphaned today by a stray missile could well become tomorrow's suicide bomber. The husband left widowed and childless could turn his grief to rage in the span of heartbeats. These are not inhuman monsters. These are people, like you and I, who have been convinced - through pain, through grief, through religious fervour, through mental imbalance, through any number of channels - that the only path left to them is death and destruction. That the only choices involve how much damage to inflict, and whether they expect to live through it.
In that context, it becomes a little easier to imagine how someone could decide to hijack a jetliner, or build an IED out of a Crockpot. It gets no easier to understand - but then, emotions aren't logical. They can't ever truly be understood, only experienced. They are visceral, chimeric; they overwhelm reason.
I scan the world news each day and weep for the innocent lives lost. I pray, every day, for a future where such carnage is inconceivable. That we will choose to reach out with a healing touch, rather than an angry fist. That we will inspire kindness and compassion, instead of revenge and hatred.
Dare to imagine this world with me.
You may say I'm a dreamer,
but I'm not the only one.
I hope one day you'll join us,
and the world will live as one.
~~ John Lennon, 1971
Monday, April 29, 2013
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