This Week’s Word & Thought: Freedom

I was torn between “freedom” and “violence” due to all that is going on around us.  The conflict of freedom through peace versus the need to react to the violence being perpetrated on those who could not stop it.  The death of a young woman peacefully protesting or the mob beating of a young man by a group of cowardly thugs.  Take your pick, both have me seething.  I struggle with my reactions to this incomprehensible behavior.  I simply. Do. Not. Understand.

However, I cannot give up on my beliefs that to create a better world for those I love and our obligation to do so for future generations requires that be done through peace and love.  Violence and hate simply do not work.  Never have and NEVER will.

I have been reading a lot from those who inspire me most for their courage of peaceful resistance and commitment to peace.  It includes Dr. King, Aung San Suu Kyi, Nelson Mandela, Mahatma Gandhi, Mother Teresa, Einstein, and Socrates just to name a few.  The truly remembered great humans in history are those who focused on peace.  Who understood to truly have freedom you must achieve it through peaceful methods.

To have freedom also means to peacefully fight to end poverty, to stop inequality at all levels and to stifle hatred and bigotry.  Believing in a perfect utopian world is simply not realistic.  Sadly, and inexplicably, there will always be those who hate.  My Mom, when I first came out to her, told me she was afraid for me, but told me, “Well I guess there are people who hate you because you have blond hair.  Some people just want to hate.”  Yes, and sadly, some people do simply want to hate.  I don’t get it, but that is just the way it is.

We, however, must fight this “normalization of hate” with every peaceful breath we have.  Stuff it back down where those who wallow in it realize that good and decent human beings do not stand for this bullshit!

But, NEVER with violence.  Please.

If you participate in counter rallies to all the hate filled events planned around our nation this weekend or in the near future, do so with love and peace.  I leave you with a quote to ponder.

“What has violence ever accomplished? What has it ever created? No martyr's cause has ever been stilled by an assassin's bullet. No wrongs have ever been righted by riots and civil disorders. A sniper is only a coward, not a hero; and an uncontrolled or uncontrollable mob is only the voice of madness, not the voice of the people.” – Robert Kennedy

Namaste,

Tom

This Week’s Word & Thought: Indifference

My apologies for slacking off on my writings, but sometimes I find myself worried that I am becoming indifferent to what seems like overwhelming world issues.  In between the daily routine of commuting and work, which both can be tiring, there are the stresses of finance, getting older, health, and the fears of intolerance at top of mind.  It seems very difficult at times to focus on the issues of our country, the world, or humanity in general.  I needed a little respite from it and thus my writings, which are my outlet of expression for my thoughts.

What do I focus on?  Is it the unbelievable situation we find ourselves in as Americans with the current very frightening administration?  Or should it be the bigotry, hatred and anger the previous has unleashed?  Should it be on climate change and the record heatwaves, typhoons, hurricanes, wildfires, or melting ice shelves and glaciers?

Perhaps it should be on the multiple places in the world that appear to be on the edge of war?  Like Venezuela, the Korean Peninsula, the entire Middle east, or even Russia?  Did you know that India and China have been exchanging some serious threats back and forth?  Could it be that previously said administration is going get us into a saber-rattling situation that we can’t get out of without bloodshed, usually from our country’s youngest and bravest?

Maybe it should be the fact that 1 in 6 children in the United States is worried about their next meal?  To put that into perspective, that is 16.2M children.  Perhaps I should focus on the almost 800M people in the world without enough to eat?  BTW, that small thing called “fake” climate change is killing an additional 300K per year.

Speaking of fake, should I focus on the danger of a lack of freedom of the press or maybe even freedom of expression? 

Or perhaps I should focus on what appears to be a reverse in direction in our country on the civil rights of all regardless of religion, gender, sexual identity, race, nationality, etc.?  Or maybe that there is an actual concentration camp or camps in Chechnya for gays?  That there is an ever-increasing spike in the level of violence against those who are different in the United States and abroad?

These are just some of the topics my mind seems to hone in on and at times I feel completely and totally overwhelmed and at a loss at what to do.  At times, this feeling of being overwhelmed makes you numb, or rather it can give you a sense of indifference.  This is dangerous.

Eliezer “Elie” Wiesel, a Romanian-born American Jewish writer, professor, political activist, Nobel Laureate, and Holocaust survivor put it best.

“Indifference, to me, is the epitome of evil.”

So, even when it simply feels like too much, you must write, talk, protest, fight; but, never quit and never allow yourself to stay indifferent.  Take a mini indifference vacation if you must, but come back and never quit.  Those who fight for those who can’t are all that stand between chaos and anarchy in the world.  Your singular voice and actions do make a difference.  One more poignant quote from Elie.

“There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never be a time when we fail to protest.”

If you are not familiar with Elie Wiesel I encourage you to learn more about him.  He was a remarkable human being.

Namaste,

Tom