Friday, January 4, 2013

2012: A Very Bad Year


Hurricane Sandy . . . Newtown . . . Aurora . . . Israel bombs Gaza . . . car bombs kill and kill and kill in Iraq . . . Syria . . . Gaza bombs Israel . . . no Pullitzer awarded for fiction . . . Mexican drug wars result in horrific killings . . . Benghazi . . . Israel bombs Gaza . . . bus and train crashes, floods and earthquakes, kill thousands . . . cholera and yellow fever and ebola strike the poor . . . drought spreads . . . one gang rape in India and one Pakistani girl shot stand as exemplars for the horror of our violence . . . History Orb

Turning the page on a calendar will not change anything . . . will not lead to a new chapter of existence . . .

But it does give pause . . . a time, a space, for reflection.

Is this who we are?

In the microcosm, how easily I can name the violence done me; 2012 is no exception.  But can I chronicle nearly so well the violence I do others?  Or does that violence disappear into the fog of self-justification?

We search for reasons as if that changes the thing.  But perspective is just another name for forgetting.  If we can ‘understand’, then we can differentiate – that could not happen to me, to mine.

But it could.  It does.

So to 2012, I bid good-bye.  To all the reasons proffered, I say never mind.  To all the justifications, I say no go.

You did it.  I did it.  We did it.  Now we live with it.

For you see, when it comes to the whys, well, that’s easy: because we could.

The real question is how to avoid the doing. . . the hurting . . . the wounding . . . the tearing of the fabric of all that is good and holy and just and right and true and worthy . . .

We didn’t call names because we were wounded; we called names because we could.

We didn’t kill because it was necessary; we killed because we could.

We didn’t fail to protect because of anything other than because we didn’t want to.

What good is a will if it is only bent to the self?

What good is a will that leans only towards destruction?

So here goes for my own personal 2013 resolution:

This year, I resolve to do no harm.  Period.

Likely I will fail.  But in the resolving there is good to be found, progress to be made.  And fewer bloody carcasses left behind.

6 comments:

  1. What a nice blog. My friend Betsy Burrows shares your blog with us and your posts are always so wonderful and thought-provoking.

    I am not a Christian - although I hate to label myself, I would say I am a Wiccan. The Wiccan Rede (pagan version of Ten Commandments) starts with these words: "Bide within the Law you must, in perfect Love and perfect Trust. Live you must and let to live, fairly take and fairly give" which are very powerful and the Rede ends with the following words: "These Eight words the Rede fulfill: "AN YE HARM NONE, Do What Ye Will"

    Such powerful words that I try to live by everyday, from my interactions with people to my veganism. Harm no one.

    Have a wonderful new year and best of luck to your mom in her rehabilitation. That must have been so frightening.

    ~Lolly

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    1. Lolly, Thank you & thank Betsy for sharing. Labels - they are such a problem, aren't they? 'fairly take & fairly give' - reminds me of the Fair Trade movement - if only we all would. The idea of freedom within no harm is so powerful and often expressed in many of the world's religions and philosophies - think we're on to something there? :-) I so often wonder why those who do such violence in the world forget the obvious lesson - that therein lies their own happiness - until I remember the violence that I myself do - sigh. Thank you for your thought-provoking response & blessings to you & yours, Beth

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  2. You never fail to make me think. Thank you.

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    1. Debbi, Thank you so much for those affirming words - it's always good to know that this is a conversation. Blessings, Beth

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  3. Be positive and resolve to do good when and where you can!

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    1. A good philosophy, or perhaps better, a good resolve.

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