There's some deep part of me that reveres women. Men may be idealists, but they are just as often demagogues. Women seem so much more sensible. Children need to be nourished. People need to care for one another. And war is hell.
And then I see a story about another big, beefy football player who's knocked his then-fiancée out cold during an argument in an elevator, and see his now-wife "standing by her man" and actually apologizing to the public. Are we truly stuck in an endless cycle of co-dependence? Will the women of this country hold their tongues as the self-righteous men again take over a woman's right to make decisions about her own body?
In Ancient Greece Lysistrata rallied the women from all "sides" of the ceaseless martial conflicts between their men and persuaded these women to cease all sex and lovemaking with the warring men until they laid down their arms and stopped fighting. Or so the story goes.
When I was active in the peace movement in the 60's, there were plenty of other guys at my side. Vietnam was a horrible misuse of power that took years to bring to a close. Have we learned nothing? How can we forgive and forget that the previous President, led by money grubbing oil barons, lied to Congress and the American people in order to better control the flow of earth-killing petroleum, and thereby unleashed so much hatred and death that there's no end in sight.
Why is it so hard for us to understand why so many people hate America and are so angry that they will sacrifice everything just to make us suffer in return? And all the while, where are the voices of peace and reconciliation? I'm really asking. These are not rhetorical questions.
Early on in a bamboobear post, I told the story of my getting drafted to go fight in Vietnam. I appreciate the positive feedback I've received about my telling of this story. Yet behind and above my tale stands my deep conviction that we cannot fight for peace, that we must help one another or we all shall perish.
It doesn't do me any good to either rant and rave or to shrug my shoulders. I want to engage in radical conversation. I want to create beauty and nourish the peacemakers. I've learned that every word I say and deed I do matters. As soon as I buy into the idea that someone else is my enemy, I'm already losing my clear vision and common sense.
Sisters, brothers, we all count. Or none of us do.
3 Comments
Bobolink
9/9/2014 06:02:01 am
The Santa Claus Murderer by Spencer Holst
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Bamboobear
9/8/2017 12:01:55 pm
Oooh....waiting for the end of the story! Won't you add it?
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Bobolink
9/8/2017 05:59:19 pm
I mean what possible political reason could make these women send their guys out to get killed? It was ridiculous!
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