Up Date May 7th 2012 *** I wanted to publish this again on May 4th this year 2012. As you can see it was first published on April 2, 2010, and I’m afraid not much has changed since then. I couldn’t publish it when I wanted to because my web host had me off line for four days. So publishing this on May 4th the anniversary of the slaughter of students at Kent State University in 1970 was not possible. However if it was important 42 years later then it is as important today as it was on the anniversary.
There are many ways to fight for peace, but killing unarmed students is not the way. And more recently Pepper spray was used on students at UC Davis as they sat on the ground not moving not threatening, no just sitting in protest as part of the occupy wall street movement.
Pepper spay is an awful feeling to have sprayed directly in your face, I know. But they continued to sit peacefully. Guns and pepper spay may be a necessary evil in our gone to hell world. But in the hands of idiots who do not know the difference between self defense and arrogance of power. That is a problem. The over use of power has been shown many many times, from slaughters in Vietnam, the My Lai Massacre to the Rodney king beatings, to pepper spray and bullets on students. If we must use force then lets take the ability to use forces out of the hands of idiots and power hungary fools and stop using it on people who are struggling for peace in their own way. Without force.
This is not meant to sway one way or another toward religion, anyone’s . Gandhi had his, Christ had his, John Lennon his, Rosa Parks hers, etc etc,you have yours and I have mine. But it is meant to say something about the world and striving for peace, and therefor seemed appropriate for this weekend. And in Peace as a human being sharing this small planet, this time in space, I wish you PEACE.
“Just the Holy song of man…that they never understand”
Actually, one of the things I really love about the teachings of Muhammad and the old Norse was that they were not obsessed with peace but instead with Life. In many ways, I think the emphasis of Christ on peace was to correct for a culture that did not appreciate such things at all, and later on, when dealing with a different society (the Romans) Christ gave us a different but entirely compatible set of teachings that embraced the side of bravery, adventure, freedom, honor, the full gradient of human passion, and risk more fully, the teachings of the book of Revelations with its often warlike tones.
I do definitely admire other religions, but I personally admire Muhammad and Sultan Osman the First and my Viking and Celtic ancestors, and at times the Coastal Salish faiths from the PNW, more then Ghandi
You have obviously made a deep study of this and state your findings and beliefs very well.