Shekhar: I concur with your anger toward our collective "desensitization" and apathy regarding "serious violence." I would "sense" that the one(s) on the receiving end of the violence would most definitely classify the experience as serious!

Your post brings me back to the saying: Kill a few people and you are called a murderer, kill a million people and you are called a conqueror.

The reason the incidents in Gaza weren't considered serious is because of the daily body count coming out of Iraq???

The greater swells of violence and tragedy, like the numbers killed in African conflicts, or the worldwide daily deaths from starvation and sickness, are sooo...overwhelming to conceive of that it is more palatable for the "consumer audiences of the world" to be spoon-fed the appearance of deep social concern by focusing intensely on dramatic sagas like the passing of Pope John Paul, or Natalee Holloway, or Terri Schiavo. In no way are my comments meant to dimisish the significance of the lives affected by the issues surrounding these names--but....why are they more important than the women you described--being massacred!

Why is it an "acceptable accident" for a young man to be innocently gunned down by London police because of the frenzied paranoia and pressure on them to find a "suicide bomber lurking 'in front' of every 'backpack' worn?"

How do we control people--keep them in perpetual fear. Even the US terror-level assessments have lost their meanings because of the fight/flight button being overused--so new and greater forms of imposing perpetual fear have to be concocted.

Your post does cause me to hold onto the notion that in Gaza--what was different this time--was the soldiers serving the "eviction notices" reflected so much more compassion--like the "tears" of Ariel Sharon.

It was nice to at least witness a human side to this "historic peace event."

Now if GWB would just learn to go, not so much to see or talk to, but....just go "listen" to Cindy Sheheen and "see what it is 'she' might have to say--and feel it--for all the world to witness. He doesn't even have to say anything--just hug the woman!!!!! Dave

For what it's worth... I heard a very similar thing on a tv news channel earlier and was shocked. But... when they replayed the item later, I realized they were saying that there wasn't any serious violence in "Gaza". However, there was violence in the "West Bank". In other words, they were making the distinction between two different places because you would have expected a lot of violence in Gaza specifically. The wording is, however, awkward.

I don't now what the NYT meant by this but if they did mean that this brutal killing of 4 Palestinians wasn't violent, then that is repulsive.

I cannot bear what I see,
as I look into the mirror.
When I look at myself,
all I want to do is cry.
I thought I had found peace,
but I am once again reminded of war.
God will not let me run,
nor hide from my face.

... I quit watching TV almost 4 years ago ....

Yes, I agree with your anger.

I think for us here...people don't live in constent danger of random killings. And when it does heaven forbid it must have been an act of evil. Or that person/persons must be possessed.

Just like the school shooting in Northern Minnesota last winter. Who would have expected a shootout in the great woods of Minnesota. Minnesota is considered God's country! And a child no less! It must have been evil doing... (Bush's words)

And usually during the investigations they find out the person who committed act was really acting out his frustrations. Just like the Minnesota boy, turns out he was being picked on at school. He had a troubled childhood, and it's scary to think millions of people out there have had bad childhoods. Are million people out there actively going to explode. Well...I guess maybe that's what is happening! The war...the bombers...all this hostile aggression and violence.

In "Tuesday's With Morrie", by Mitch Albom, Morrie says "People need love in their lives, especially when their a child". He talked about how his mother passed away in his book, when he was boy. His father didn't know how to give him what he needed most. And that was love! He went on to explain the reason he advocates love so much is because of his step-mother; she was able to give him plenty of it. He claims if he never had received it he would have been a different person. And nobody would have been able to read a little book called "Tuesday's With Morrie. A very touching book I recommend it! It teaches you about living and loving.

I liked your little poem, Char!

I too feel like you. With so much going on these days, and the junk that is on TV. I haven't any desire to buy a television, and when I lived out in the boone-docks I couldn't get reception and I thought I am not paying for cable. Not going to spend my money on junk! And now that i am in town I know i'd get reception, but I have no desire to buy a tv. Sometimes I'm tempted but I figure i really have no motive....

My neighbor felt sorry for me and left me her old set when she moved out, but I mean it's really old. It's the dial kind... I turn it on and all I can see is a white line. Ha! It has a great sound though, i will say!

I was bored one time and I turned it on. I couldn't see anything, but I could hear. I was so grossed out about the converstations that I turned it off. I think I was eating at that time, and it was a cop show. They were talking about dissecting a dead body that had been decomposed for several days. Ya! That's whats on TV! And that is all that is ever on anymore, besides somebody eating maggots or rotton duck eggs for a million dollars. YUCK!

I just turn on the radio and listen to music, and I get my news that way.

ANTS ………

My house has been overcome by ants within these last two weeks, as patience ran out the door slapping my face in the process. Several options presented themselves to me, as I decided to take the easy way out verses the right way. Instead of asking the ants to leave, as that was what I wanted and then waiting for a response and/or compliance to my request, I started killing the ones in my path. I justified myself in many ways …. So now, I war with the ants every day versus the peace that I could have had if I had loved them as myself. Why can I not live with the ants?

HaHaHa! Funny as that that was, it's a very good analogy.

But i have to say I think ants are easier to view that way as supposed to bats. You know my bat problem from the Chopra discussion board, I'm sure.... For the life of me I could not hurt them. Thank God it was one bat at a time periodicly, but I didn't want to tell the landlady because then she'd call the terminator and that would be the end of the bat and its friends. This one time i was bathing in bubbles, and I was all relaxed and daydreaming. And all of a sudden this bat turpedoed into my water. I screamed and got out of there as fast as I could. My heartbeat was beating a mile a minute! But then I was afraid it would drown. Did you know bats can swim? Ya it was swimming better than I can!! Anyway, I went and got a container with a lid and scooped the little creature up and took him or her (I think it was a her)outside and released it. It felt good! I felt like I was it's hero! :) But ahhh....still they give me the creeps! Why I don't know??? I mean they are kind-of cute!

Amanda

you may be the first person in the world to ever see a bat swim.

:)

Damn it, Shekhar, now you've made me cry, thinking about those women who were murdered outside of Dehli.

I don't think most of us could handle focusing on all the suffering at once, and so we choose what to look at and what to turn away from. The most tragic part of that is that by not looking at the whole picture - by not seeing the "us" - we buy into the belief in an "us" vs "them" world.

So do we want to honor the BIG "us"... or do we keep clinging to the smaller versions of "us" and keep fighting for them at the expense of the whole?
I don't have any answers, but
I think we need to all become much stronger, much more real, much more willing to let go of whatever it is that we cling to...

I don't watch the news. I think it's obscene how political groups and the media manipulate the news for personal gain and profit.

Amanda, I liked your bat story. It made me smile. So here I was smiling and then crying about the women killed in India. I suppose that was quite awhile ago and yet those 4 Palestinians were just killed yesterday and I didn't cry for them. Somehow I could more easily relate to those women.

Love, Kristin

Shekhar, shock, guilt and anger are normal when we suddenly see how destructive our behaviour has been. Every one of us has to go through this process of becoming aware of what we're doing. And I congratulate you for channeling your anger into creative projects that help others become aware, too.

What I'd like to say is that after the initial shock and anger, we have to realize that there's work to do, inside ourselves. Khrishnamurti once said that as long as there is any trace of violence in ourselves, pointing a finger at someone else is hypocrisy. So it's normal to be angry, but it's not normal to hold on to anger. Creativity and solutions come even more abundantly and powerfully from peace than from anger.

Again, thank you for deep, introspect blogs.

Interesting to read the responses to this post - very soothing psychological Negotiator line to an adversary - 'I understand your anger ...but.. the world needs love'

The truth is there is a huge deep seated hypocrisy and the first step towards any understanding is for Americans to undertstand that , at least on a private blog speak level .

'Yes we do think as long as NO AMERICAN LIVES were lost it wasn't really serious - let the world kill each other and we ,as the most economically powerful country , reserve the right to make our money off these conflicts '

Everyone knows this is what industrial America does , and fine this is Darwin's world after all , but must we be subjected to sanctimonious drivel as well ?

Sonya

Aurora,
You said: "Creativity and solutions come even more abundantly and powerfully from peace than from anger."
I agree.

I've been observing lately my tendency to get carried away with my anger. It's mainly just myself that I'm harming, but there is a way in which I don't always let go (let the feelings go) that keeps those sensations inside my body - and then if I find a story to attach them to -voila! I can get very stirred up.
But I feel so much more productive when I come from a place of peace. What creates that peace for me more than anything else is remembering who I am. Not losing my identity as the Self.

I've also observed that when I feel guilty - that is a poor motivator for change for me. And even moreso, I sometimes take that guilt and project it onto others and then want to lash out at them. It's a strange way of trying to rid my own self of what I cannot or do not want to accept. That's what I learned from my outburst regarding my stepfather and "what if..." on Gothams post. It was my own guilt that perhaps I had made a terrible mistake or been foolish in writing the letter that created the most rage within me. It was my own self that I thought I could not forgive in my "what if" scenario.

And then last night after I posted here I realized that I had done that a bit here too - my anger at political organizations and the media in general being stirred up. Why should I be angry at them? I know, they could do better - bla, bla, bla. But who am I here to transform?

Thanks for the conversation. Today I'm going to BREATHE....

My friends son is about 6. Driving home yesterday with his mother he says to her: "Ah, another satisfying day!" When I remember who I am, I feel that same way!

Love, Kristin

Hi Shekhar,
Thanks for the observation and comment. I believe that this saying of Mother Theresa sums it all.
"You see, in the final analysis, it is between you and God. It was never between you and them anyway". I love the way she sees things through.

In light & Love
Sharon

Yeah that's what I have encountered when I express that same anger. And it's always "the other side" telling me I should get over it instead of being understanding. Funny thing is how "they" always are the ones that are so angry and I am the one laughing. Why do I laugh? Oh because it is just all so empowering and promising.
Generations of inflicted pain and loss should take generations to get over. 1947? Is that even one generation to date?

There is a story in the beginning of that movie "Little Buddha" starting Keanu Reeves.
There was a priest who sacrificed goats in a certain ceremony ever so often. One day as he was about to chop this goat the goat began to laugh.
"Why do you laugh?" asked the priest.
"Oh I too was a priest many lifetimes ago sacrificing goats in my prayers." said the goat.
"What happened?" the priest asks.
The goat replied "I had to be born as a goat 500 times and now finally I will get the life of a human again". The priest dropped to his knees and begged the goat for forgiveness. He promised from that day forward to be the keeper of all goats.

When I heard this story I wondered if my personal theory on some of the suffereing in the world could be true. That those suffering in Africa and India are the British soldiers or likewise that caused so much pain, and now are being born over and over and suffering. Of course I do not believe this is reason to let it continue. We can stop the cycle with compassion.

Hello Shekhar,

Maybe a little aside the point you are making but I have to say that as far as the Isralie-Palestinian conflict goes the Palestinians have done more to oppress themselves than the Isralies ever could. This does not mean the Irsalies are blameless in the oppression of innocent people.I know in my own life I have had serious conflicts with others and that if I wanted peace I was going to have to chose peace and that ment I was going to have to give up somethings or some positions. I had to be willing to lose to win. I experienced losses but I won peace. People cling to their ignorance as if it were gold even though it gets them nowhere.

Hello Shekhar,

Reading a post that I have written on the blog is very humbling when I see all my errors in print....spelling..Ugh! So...So....Humble.. puts the "know it all" in me in her place...Peace to everyone..

My heart and soul is devoted to helping people with housing. Gaza is no different. Although it is seemingly far away it isn't, it's here it's now. The people are in my heart because their struggle is my internal struggle. The universe is ONE although fragmented.

I received a call delivering a message to me from a Real Estate Broker one hour away from Gaza. The people in Gaza were offered compensation to move. Similar to eminent domain only a lot better depending on one's perception; about 3 times what their property is worth in order to insure safety due to the turmoil.

Many feel that there is no price that can be paid to remove one from their homestead. Others have had a change in perception and are not attached to a homestead on Gaza, but rather have detached from the illusion, and have therefore found their homestead within the core of who they are and are ready to transcend to a different geographic location.

The pain I sense is not in the political, emotional, or economic factors but rather the disability and unwillingness when one does not have a change in perception, and when one chooses pain, and doesn't have the knowing that they no longer have to choose pain.

I send light to end the unrest.

Holly Lee
San Luis Obispo, California - N.America

I have already expressed my opinions in other posts on this site and only wish to reinforce that regardless of the faith or culture - hopefully we can look past these barriers and work towards peace for global humanity. Whether it is Isrealis in Gaza or Iraqi's or Americans - death and turmoil by violence hurts all of us . . . praying for peaceful solutions . . . Laila

Char - I had fleas last summer - the same as your ants. Boric Acid will make them go away.

Swimming with bats. That is so funny. Was it a little Russian bat?

Shekar - I think (hope) that the downplay in the event in the news is simply a way of trying to keep the situation from becoming another 'conflict'. In today's paper there were reports of acid and paint throwing.

Hi Amanda. Thanks for the compliment on one of my poems. Hey, I liked your bat story ... it was cute! When my landlord asked a month ago, if I wanted the inside and outside of the house sprayed as his daughter next door, I said no.

Thanks for the advice Pam. Hey, after I wrote that ant piece the ants in my kitchen went away, but I stopped killing them too ... I think I ate one :D ... I know they will come back, as always, so I can play again.

Shekhar,

You must have read the NYT article in a hurry. Read the first line of your quote again. What it says is that there was no serious violence in Gaza, however there was violence on the West Bank where 4 Palestinians were killed. The NYT is not referring to the 4 Palestinan deaths as "no serious violence in Gaza" simply because they did not occur in Gaza but on the West Bank.

hi Shekhar,

i know and respect your intellect,but one thing is there that everybody is materalistic but his or her materialism varies from person to person, someone who has got money he is seeking some other goals and some who has no money(say a poor man in india)for him basic food three times a day is materialism,so if a person has 3-4 houses and he is rich then it will become easy to loose something and if a person has only one home then loosing its possesion is like loosing a mother
so only comman man who looses something very dear to him can feel what he has lost but a man very rich(politicians of any country)cannot feel anything because they are the epitome of materialsim

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Hey Shekhar,

Take care before making anti semitic comments, you may lose your job in Hollowood as Movie director because you must be knowing most of big hollywood studios are very sensitive about comments on Middle East..Just kidding..I agree with you on this matter....

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