Warriors

I wonder at the universal acceptance of war memorials. We honor those who kill with impunity in the name of nationalism. Americans are hardly entitled to honor its soldiers as defenders. American soldiers, from its very inception, have been commissioned for aggressive acquisition of land and power. The first American army was commissioned to take the thirteen British colonies from the British Empire. It was not a defensive struggle. In fact, it was a struggle initiated by the colonists, who did not want to meet their fiduciary obligations to their country, England. The War of 1812 was indeed defensive, but it was defensive against the claims of the English resulting from the revolution. The bombing of Hawaii, an American colonized territory, by the Japanese marginally qualifies the American intervention in World War II as defensive. The Civil War was just that. It was not a war of aggression against "America". The current war in Iraq is a war of aggression and colonization. Warriors who defend the innocent with their lives may well be seen as heroes. Warriors who kill and maim the innocent in the name of some vague ideal which covers materialistic motives of the wealthy are hardly heroes. Killing is inhuman, from the perspective of the 'higher nature' of man. It is unjustifiable altogether in Buddhist thought. In my practice, I wrestle with my own tendency to anger, violence and hatred. This is indeed a war within myself. Perhaps we should strive to win these individual wars, billions of them on this planet. Then, and only then, will there be world peace.

Redemption

The truly stupid cannot be redeemed. Intelligence and information redeem the human mind and spirit from its greatest disease and greatest evil, stupidity. I was reminded of this today when I heard interviews of members of a fanatical Christian sect in Colorado. It seems their shepherd, a Svengali named Haggard, was buying drugs from and having sex with a gay male prostitute, while preaching intolerance to ignorant bigots on the weekends. It was, after all, a good living. He even got invited to help President Bush with his own stellar ministry of hate and destruction. The interviewed members of Haggard's church (money machine) refused to believe that the story was true, even after the lying Haggard went from an outright denial to gradual revelations of his guilt of the charges. I'm sure it will get even more entertaining. It's a basic 'my-shit-doesn't-stink' story. Glass houses abound out there, especially in Middle America. So do stone throwers. And, apparently, so do Tina queens. Redemption from stupidity begins with the acknowledgement of it. Unfortunately, it takes quite an education to learn just how stupid you are. Perhaps today even you would agree, Mr. Haggard.

Elections

Yes, it's payback time here in America. The cycle of human folly. They have destroyed a country, thrown it into civil war, to satisfy our rage over 9-11. Now the masses are bored with Iraq. The media too, it seems. Perhaps the two are the same. So, with the mentality of 'Monday-Night Football', the Middle Americans may actually vote to the left. They weren't motivated by the potential gutting of Social Security. They weren't motivated by the Medicare drug plan to help the upper middle class (Republican base). They weren't even motivated by illegal immigration. IF America were truly a democracy, we would all have a big, red VOTE button on our computer keyboards and on our digital-TV remote controls. Could Middle Americans handle that responsibility? Perhaps not. Politics are a true test of my resolve to maintain my practice.