| Where is the Greatness? |
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The following article is my response to the news item in the Los Angeles times, this date, about the erosion of Iraqi support of the US presence and policy in Iraq. Where is the Greatness? In the early days of April, 2004 four American civilian contract workers were seized by Iraqi people, insurgents or other, who killed them and brutalized their bodies. In this news report coalition representative Dan Senor was quoted as saying “This is not something in which we can just turn our heads and look the other way.” The US military moved into Fallouja to try to quell the disturbance and arrest the perpetrators. Since then fighting between the insurgents and the US military escalated. During the last week 49 American service people and hundreds of Iraqis, insurgents and civilians have been killed according to reports. “...not something in which we can just turn our heads...” No, it is not, but it is something in which we can, and must use our heads. Our military response was predictable. It was habitual. It was the old brain, the old instinctual brain, the kind that animals use to fight or flee. Are we still just old brain animals, or have we not developed the ability to think creatively, to be aware, to rise above the kill or be killed addiction? Have we not developed a morality at least equal to that of the animals (they kill only to eat, and seldom kill in defense against direct attack)? Of course we have. The human specie with its clever abilities and technologies would have wiped itself out (just as we are doing to innumerable other species) long before this. But where in our general leadership are we using this higher order ability to think, to be aware and to utilize policy and initiate actions that ACTUALLY solve problems and make things better for all people? A problem is not solved if it makes things better for some but not others. The problem does not go away and always come back to cause greater difficulties. Where is the greatness in our leadership? Where is the wisdom, the humanity, the understanding in our actions and policies as laid down by our leaders? Where is the problem solving intuition and insight? How dare we exert military action against a people, or merely their rulers, in a different part of the world and then pretend we know how to deal with them, even if our intentions are good? How dare we do this when we are ignorant of their culture, their history, their long struggle against forces just like our own? Oh yes, in the case of the middle east and the Arabian and Islamic peoples, they have struggled and died at the hands of the western powers ever since the crusades. How many of us know that the crusaders butchered untold thousands of Jews and Arabs alike in their unholy missions for centuries? And ever since then these same peoples and same lands have been exploited and dominated by one western nation after another. For what? For riches, for wealth; for their minerals, their spices, their arts and treasures and, and for oil. And to top it all by setting up and supporting potentates and rulers in order to keep the domination and exploitation in place, while the common people sloughed in chronic poverty, pain and heinous indignity, century after century. Just as Saddam Hussein was set up by western support. How dare we go into their lands and not understand the centuries of resentment, of rage and despair that have been bitterly carved into the foundation of their psyche? How dare we not understand that this bitter pain is carried in the very genes from one generation to the next. This does not go away without serious long term remorse, repair and restoration on the part of the offenders. And now comes along America, the modern symbol of western power and exploitation (we must thank our political/corporate culture and the general unawareness of our uninformed people for this burdensome mantle). Many of us believe we are in Iraq to help lift the people up. Many of our young and beloved soldiers believe this, and many of them are trying to do this. But our leadership, and our generals, ignorant as they are of these important themes, have not informed nor instilled a sense of understanding of what the historical struggle has done to these people, whose hordes surround them in this foreign land. Are our young men and women scared? For all their belief, their brave faces and determination, of course they are scared. This is natural and healthy. Not to be scared is to be cut off from their humanness and lost in a shroud of cynicism or hate. Our own propaganda has raised expectations of hope, of better lives, of freedom from control and despair among the Iraqis. Many of them did welcome the Americans with this elation in their hearts. Here are the deliverers from oppression, the heralders of democracy and prosperity. What is the reality? Poverty continues, joblessness for anxious and restless men, control and domination by military forces are seen everywhere, and once again elite members of the society are set up as rulers (pro tem). Alright, we have hope, we have patience the people think, but incidents happen. Insurgents keep everyone on edge, people are being killed, and the military, in its primordial way keeps killing back. This old rage keeps boiling up towards the surface. Hope and faith and rationalizations are not strong enough to keep the lid down on the festering pain. One too many insurgent or civilian is killed and the top blows off. Now comes a jeep, in Fallouja, with four Americans. Blood is in the eyes of some of the insurgents. They grab the Americans, and the infection of rage and hate turns what once were humans into mad creatures of revenge. They kill the men and inflict on their bodies the indignity and humiliation their people have historically suffered. These four became the handy scapegoats for the long, long syndrome of rage. Was this right, was this fair? Of course not! What it was, was the insane result of a world with too little understanding, too little humanity, too little justice, too little regard for genuine equality, care and compassion. What do I say to Dan Senor, and to all like minded purveyors of the old brain method, truly good and good intentioned people though they may be? What else can we do differently instead of to “turn our heads?” First we take a pause, and let the horror of what was done (and being done) take hold of our human consciousness and intelligence. We think “what can it be that allows any human beings to act so monstrously, far away from mere fighting, beyond merely shooting and killing? What madness can drive any of us to such depth of blind brutality? We say to ourselves, “when have I felt like tearing someone apart?” And I answer myself, “of course when I was so furious with insult to my being, with assault to my dignity and survival is when I felt such rage.” And then we let our great sadness and compassion rise in us, and we hold back our rifles and our tanks, knowing that to use them will only lead to greater bloodshed without end (as in Israel and Palestine), and we mourn. We mourn for our loved ones, we mourn for ourselves, we mourn for a people whose centuries of disgrace and injustice can lead to such bestiality. Do we not mourn for our own ancestors whose poverty and injustice led them out of their home lands to a new dreamland of safety and equality? Do we not mourn for our American Natives who, being butchered and robbed, turned to acts we call savagery, and then were cut down by our troops as “savages?” Do we not mourn for our troops misused for this cruel purpose? Do we not mourn for our own innocents gunned down on our streets and for the young men and women whose injustices and disgraces lead them to pull the trigger. Our mourning for all these and for ourselves leads us to think what must we do now. We must stop the killing (killing back leads to more killing). We must change the culture of response. We must change the condition of despair. How do we do that? How do you help a person who is desperate for food, dignity, respect and the opportunity for self-reliance and self-governance? Yes we say we are doing good things, but too slowly and with conditions and strings. We back up our promises, urgently, without conditions and strings. We the rich nations, with the other rich nations, reach out with lots of food, lots of goods and resources so the people can run their businesses and provides JOBS and dignity, and creative interests. We do what we did in Europe after WW11, we do a “Marshall Plan” not for just the elite and better off, but for the people, all the people. And we do this without strings attached. We support the people to decide for themselves what kind of society and structure they want. We hold back our military in their bases and do not follow the people around with armed guards and tanks. But yes, when major attack comes forth, we protect them while they take the time to prosper and decide. But we don’t try to kill every one of the attackers. This forces us into the streets and homes, and innocents get killed and then we are back to square one. Why would we do all this? Because this is the remorse, the repair and the restoration that the people deserve. This leads to a truly safer society, safer world and a real trading partner (the corporations ought to take joy in this). This leads to a light heart and clean conscience. We are human, with human brains and we, too, deserve this, because we are a good people, and the most of us mean well. This is greatness in leadership, in wisdom, in humanity, and even in enlightened self-interest. Our leaders being born human with brains inherently having at least a hundred billion smart neurons, just like every one else, can decide to think, to be human, great, wise and unconditionally caring.
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Re:Where is the Greatness?
Mar 09 2010 17:33:54 I don't believe that anything will change in the world until we can use common sense in dealing with others from different cultures. Realize that they have their own perspective and understanding, because of their own history and experience. Just as we have ours. Neither one is more valuable than the other and we must find it within our self, to respect this fact. Problems can only be solved between equals. When equals come together than the topic is, what can we each do to solve the problem at hand? How can we between us, do what works the fastest, easiest, most equitable way possible, for everyone affected by this problem. Until our own perspective changes, we can not make anything better for anyone else, regardless of our good intentions. And in fact, can not make it better for our selves, for the same reason.
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