A good friend and I discuss religion often. We are of differing religions, but of the same faith in many cases. She maintains and I have come to agree that faith is the innate belief in a powerful being, one that has ultimate say over us, who has placed us here on this earth to live the righteous life, more helpful to and of others than anything else, and to honor that Being. Religion, on the other hand, is the trappings that have been accrued around that faith, trappings that yes, can add warmth and joy, structure and aid, yet that can also add an element of hate, of entitlement, and of a violence that grows from this "religion".
This is what I believe we have today. We have extremists of all religions, Moslem, Christian, Jewish, Hindu, and the list can go on and on, who believe that their version of G-d demands violence, demands blood, demands sacrifice, though that sacrifice seems mainly to fall on others who lose their lives and limbs in the name of the god of another. These extremists hate one and all and are liars to the nth degree.
They are losers, people who know they are inferior and thus go on to kill others in an attempt to prove that they are not. So they debase women and children, deny them their rights as human beings entitled to live independently, infused with love, with opportunity. They demean those who are "others" to them and do what they will with them - shoot, kill, run over, behead, torture, knife, ram with cars, kill in mass attacks and bombings, all to prevent them from living and loving, from taking joy in life with friends and family and why- because they are different, because they do not call their Being by the same name.
We talk today of honoring our servicemen and women, of thanking them for protecting us. They board first, they get free admission to theme parks, we buy them drinks - and then we send them out to get wounded, maimed or killed, to deal with PTSD, with lifelong wounds that are life altering both to them and to their loved ones and caretakers. What we need to do, besides increasing our help to them, is to find a way so that such things will not have to be. And the first step towards doing that is the acceptance and realization of the acts and facts as they are and not looking away from them. We cannot be PC about this, for then we are trying to fool ourselves.
Yesterday's NY Times is a prime example of what is wrong and right with us. Big headline - the FBI finally seemed to realize that San Bernadino was a terror attack and somehow or other the whole vetting and visa process, of investigations went awry. Brilliant! Took them awhile, but they got there. The rest of us - we were there at the first scream, at the first wisp of smoke from a gun's overheated barrel. We were there with the same questions we ask all the time. How was this missed? How many more times are we going to make excuses? How many more times will the imams cry wolf instead of actually standing up at the podium and curse the killer, deny jihad, defy the terrorists? And how many more horrendous attacks of any kind will it take to accept that yes, we have the right to bear arms, yes a pistol, a rifle for hunting, for target practice, but not assault rifles, meant for one purpose - to kill, and only to kill. But the politicians are weak in the face of pressure and donations and so here we are.
And here we are in the op-ed piece of Timothy Egan, "No More Thoughts and Prayers". These do nothing to stop this horror. Nor do the flowers and teddy bears and notes. Yes, they help, perhaps, but the only way to stop this is to wake up and do something, face reality and reach out to the good amongst ourselves, force people to realize that silence in the name of religion, in the name of protection, is abetting the murderers and the guilt will then fall on you as well. Hope that it won't happen again is useless and foolhardy. Only concrete steps will help. Let us see what Obama has to say tonight and so help me G-d, if he tells us not to judge, not to rush to judgement and trust in our security processes we now have.......
So let us bow our heads as we plead with G-d, any G-d by any name, to help us become strong, do the right thing, to reach out with true brotherly feelings to others and understand the concept of unity and sameness, that we all share the same enemy - those who would kill us, destroy us - in the name of their Being, the same Being who evidently allows them to enjoy the riches of those they conquer, be they Taliban, ISIS, Hamas, PLO, Boko Haram, some Aryan group out there, or some over the top group of Jews out there who want their own messianic state. Terror is terror. Greed is greed, no matter how it is wrapped. Religion is religion and faith is faith.
Please, Lord, help us to see the truth, to recognize it even as it passes us by. Help us to understand that we are all one, that the blood of one cries out to all of us. Help us to know, truly know, that we ARE our brothers' keepers and put an end to this carnage. Thank you. Amen.
"You may say he's (we, us, you and me) a dreamer,
but he's not the only one."
Total in Israel for October, November, December: 24 dead, 220 wounded, 83 in shock. From the elderly to the young, Jew and even some Arabs being killed in these attacks, stabbed, hacked, axed, shot, rammed by cars. And the attacks continue.
Please note how the wounded keeps rising in number.
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