"Talk, keep talk, keep talk, keep happy talk..." Remember that from Bloody Mary in South Pacific? If only we would remember that advice today and talk, talk, talk and truly hear with our ears and hearts. If only.
Many, many years ago, when music videos were first gaining a foothold in our world, I taped a video of a song called Pipes of Peace, sung by the "cute" Beatle, Paul McCartney. It was part of a unit on the portrayal of peace in our media, literature, arts and sciences. It portrayed a true moment of history when during a Christmas truce at the fronts of WWI, soldiers on both sides climbed out of their muddy and bloody trenches and sang together, played ball together, smoked "pipes of peace" together and heard each other and felt each other in their hearts. Not enemies at that moment, just boys and men and front line nurses who only wished to go home to families, to life.
That moment echoed the exchanges of the Rebs and the Yanks as they shared tobacco and coffee and stories and songs of home during the long and lonely nights. One can see that the enemy is not a monster, for the most part, but simply a bunch of plain people caught up in the machinations of their supposed leaders who have agendas of their own.
Now quick, back to our times. There is talk of the peace talks in Syria - but some chief groups will not partake. There is talk of the negotiations for at least a truce, if not peace, in Afghanistan, but the Taliban will not take part. We are told that there should be talks of peace and negotiation in the Middle East between the Israelis and the Palestinians, but no Palestinian is willing to do this unless all is agreed and ceded to before the talks!! So where is all this talk supposed to go, to lead to, to produce what?
If we cannot talk and hear each other, if we cannot feel each other in our heart, then what is the use. Talk is cheap, they say, but not really, if done properly. But the talk goes the other way, and all we hear and all we feel within the beats of our hearts are the degradations implied and impugned on "the enemy", the names assigned to those who oppose one's viewpoint, the deliberate separation of these people from society.
Do not get me wrong. I abhor terrorists of all kinds, be it an individual's sick moment or that of government sponsored horror. But what is even worse is the condoning of such behavior by our own behavior - the wishy-washy reactions, the lack of pro - activity, the hypocrisy, the holier than thou smarmy and snarky behavior that will make much of the death of an innocent in a raid, yet will casually pass over a bombing that murders and maims hundreds and even thousands as an "oh, well, it is expected".
How do we reach the people who can and should fight against these leaders who lead them down these murderous roads? By standing firm and strong, something many people will not or cannot do for a myriad of reasons, so they close their ears and their mouths and harden their hearts and the wars and the horror go on.
Now transfer oneself over to the current national elections. Never, in all the memories of elections that I can recall, has there been such a plethora of hate words and ideas bandied about. One or the other is going to get the immigrants, destroy the poor or the wealthy - take your choice, and the waves of hate, the stink of hate, fill the air and the very fabric of society.
The leaders, instead of trying to calm things down, are doing the opposite and beating the drums of proposed violence and enmity. Just listen to the words of Trump or Cruz. Listen even to the words of Sanders who is going to dismantle society as we know it and in that mist of theory I hear the sounds of revolution. One cannot shred so carelessly and quickly the threads and patterns of society without trouble resulting. Look at the violent revolutions, or even the Arab Spring which all led to nothing or worse.
There are merits and wrongs on all sides and if only the mouths would open with words of wisdom, with if only, of invitation to talk, to actually hear each other, to think and to compromise, and to hear the hearts of all - not only the leaders who either feel they must hang tough or go the extreme in the other direction and cave in to all demands - but the beat of truth, of peace, of humanity. If only we would stop teaching our kids the words of hate and the actions that match. If only, for when one side does it then the other side feels it must follow for survival's sake.
If only we could get rid of the suspicion and all the evil and ancient hatreds. What and why does it makes a difference if one's skin color is one shade or another, or one calls G-d by this name or that - if we all preach and follow the same "pipes of peace"? But we are all so closed off from each other.
And even here, in our own little village, we have the same refusal to hear the people, to talk with the people, to mediate and share. Instead we have filthy language, the exclusion of a group by giving it a supposedly derogatory name - an ancient tried and true method of oppression and hate. We still have a policy of exclusivity rather than inclusiveness for I have heard nothing to the contrary. We have a lumping together of all opposition and have we not yet learned that to do that is error ridden? Just look at the opposition side of the Syrian debacle. The components are so different that they even war against each other. And here in the Village, while people might agree with much of what one has to say, there are differences of opinion and no one group who runs it all or says it all or commands it all. It is a co-operative effort, all with the end goal of a better Village, a better and more wholesome place to live.
So, David Israel, are you willing to put your money where your mouth is - and your ears and your heart? Appoint people to the committees. Invite differing opinions and experiences in to the fabric of UCO. While we might not be able to cure the ills of the world, though we can certainly pick our leaders in a wiser manner, we can start with the "man in the mirror". The ball is in your court at the moment - not the tennis court as that is dangerous! - but nevertheless in your court. We can become whole or we can continue the fracturing of our Village until one side achieves all its goals. And I must tell you, time is on our side, always on the side of change and betterment of society. I await your response, David Israel, even as I travel to the Holy Land, certainly an example of all I have written but also a land which draws my heart and my love. Shalom, David Israel - let us both start with the man in the mirror.
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