Sabbath Time #84 – "THEM!"

Welcome.  This is #84 in a weekly series posted on Street Prophets and My Left Wing, usually on Saturday afternoons.  Normally it’s more of a place for reflection. Today I had more words, and given the topic, find it appropriate to crosspost to Bootrib (and dKos).

An Irish Benediction this day:

May those who love us, love us,

and those who don’t love us, may You turn their hearts.

And if You cannot turn their hearts,

turn their ankles, so they may be known by their limping!

And perhaps a counterpoint…

We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools.

Martin Luther King Jr.

I think it is common, in liberal and even (gasp) centrist circles, to toss out a quote from Dr. and Rev. King much the way a fundamentalist would refer to Scripture, as a self-evident trump card sort of argument.

Usually, when playing such a trump card – I think the expectation is that the other will see the light and change while we will be vindicated and declared the winner of the contest.  Less often, I think, does the quote apply equallly to the speaker and the listener. Perhaps it should more often. I certainly intend it to this day.

Too often, in doing so, we’ve turned this great man and his brilliant mind and heart into something safe rather than something confrontational. A few pithy sayings; postage stamps and statues rather than a continuing challenge to our society and ourselves. He wouldn’t be the first.

I don’t think anyone could seriously make the argument that Dr. King was a sellout,

a person of weak moral stamina,

that he compromised with society or accepted marginalization. 

Nay, he stood strong – continuously willing to speak out and when necessary suffer for his beliefs. Expecting not exceptions, but real change in the laws and attitudes he challenged, realizing that neither would come lightly.

Yet, significantly Dr. King managed to do something that we too often overlook. He disagreed – strongly. He challenged injustice – but he did not divide. 

He drew lines not to exclude others but to demand change. Recognizing change would not come instantly, he still refused to fall into the trap of hating and demeaning his adversaries.

He Did. Not. Divide. 

He refused to allow even those who persecuted him to become a “Them.”  He recognized that whatever the conflict, we will ultimately have to live with those we now oppose and if we are to break the cycle of oppression, not merely change who’s in power, then we have to start breaking the cycle in our everyday lives.

them never became “Them.”  Rather, he lived by his own creedo of focusing on the content of character and when meeting an enemy, not writing him off, but seeking change and understanding.

Hard and fast divisions, stereotypes that belittled the other, these had no place in King’s Dream and vision.

I think this lession is especially important for fights among those on the center to left of modern American politics. Whatever our deep disagreement, we have more in common than not.

Sadly, we on the “left” blogosphere seem very good at drawing lines ourselves – but they are too often lines to divide.  “Us” from “Them”  Real Democrats from Dirty Fucking Hippies and the DLC – both “Thems” of first order.

Real leftist from those damned centrist and ineffective posers…  we hate THEM!

The sad irony is that I’m sure everyone reading this has been on the outcast side of a line drawn in our society.

During the last 6 years, I’m confident that nearly every one of us reading this has been called a traitor, in the media if not to our faces.  Most of us have been called dirty fucking hippies. We’ve been divided on theological lines – with non-theist and liberal religious folks both feeling the pinch of minority status, told they need to STFU if “we” are to win elections.

Recently the members of MLW have been frequently vilified on dKos as “malcontents” “quasi-trotskites” ?! and “syncopants.” 

Why – well MSOC had some “dirt” on Markos… how dare we criticize… how dare she….  whatever.

We became a “them” -  and it’s not the first time. 

In return its common to see the membership of dKos reduced to a monolithic “them” of centrist appeasers.  That, in both cases, many of us are also part of them makes no difference…  nor does who started it.

Here’s the problem – however justified we are in drawing the lines – the moment we allow our generalizations to become self-justifiing, the moment we create a “them” which can be mocked and stereotyped, considered a monolith instead of a range of individuals…
  – then we have become that which we are fighting.

And that is true even if our stereotypes are about Republicans, the “religious right” etc.  Yes – for ease of communication, we will of necessity have to refer to groups – the we cannot let that seep into our hearts and become fixed and normative.  A subtle, but critically important distinction.  I think readers of both the sites I post this on realize that.  Yes, we are generally united in working for Democratic candidates. We are even “partisan” – but we are not so fixated on that we will give up principle, ignore the logs in “our sides” eyes and succomb to a win at all costs mentality.

How many “old fashion” Republicans do you know who really dislike what their party has become, but wouldn’t think of voting for a Democrat even as a “lesser of two evils” scenario.  After all – Democrats are “THEM”! 

Let us never become that.  Interestingly, for all the criticism of dKos to be found among the disaffected and banned malcontents I hang out with, I think the desire to challenge the Lieberman’s of the world show that site hasn’t crossed that particular bridge just yet.  (yeah, I’m still pissed about a few races too…).

A couple more quotes from Dr. King

Man must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression and retaliation. The foundation of such a method is love.

The hope of a secure and livable world lies with disciplined nonconformists who are dedicated to justice, peace and brotherhood.

Martin Luther King Jr., “Strength to Love”

And one I’ve always enjoyed, malcontent that I am….

Human salvation lies in the hands of the creatively maladjusted.

In the religious tradition that Dr. King and I both draw strength from, our Scripture tells us that Jesus said to love our enemies.

That’s a hard lesson. One often too easy to rationalize away or think impossible.

But when we do that, we give up on change. We give up on love. We, of necessity, endorse hatred, bigotry, oppression, even murder, genocide.

Yes.  If “They” cannot be reformed.

If we rule out any change.. then what is the alternative?

If we cease to give our adversary the opportunity to change. If we think “Them” locked inplace – then we have failed.  We have become what we are fighting.

What does success look like? 

A story I’ve heard repeated a few times, possibly apocryphal, but it will illustrate the point. If it didn’t happen exactly this way, certainly it has in other ways. The story is profoundly true.

Here is a crowd in the American deep South, outside Ebenezer Baptist Church in Selma, at the height of the Civil Rights Movement.  The crowd hears that the notoriously brutal racist Sheriff Jim Clark  has ordered the brutal beating of a group of black college students.  A ripple of rage flows through the crowd, until a pastor steps up to the microphone, “Do you love Martin King?” he sings out. The crowd enthusiastically sang back, “Certainly, Lord. Certainly, certainly, certainly, Lord.” _The minister goes on, naming leaders in the Civil Rights Movement. “Do you love Medgar Evers? 

Do you love Charles Steele? 

Do you love Rosa Parks?”

Each time he sang a name, the crowd sang back, “Certainly, certainly, certainly, Lord.” The song is one of community, love, dedication, hope, focus… the words are well known.

“He goes on, naming names…. then, suddenly…

“Do you love Sheriff Jim Clark?”  “Cer-Certainly” – a few reply - 

Do you love Jim Clark?  Stronger now: Yes Lord. 

So the pastor continues – “It’s not enough to defeat Jim Clark. We need to convert Jim Clark. If we hate our enemies, we’re no better than them. We’ve got to love them until they change.”

A side note on that loaded word “convert”  My tradition is horribly guilty of using that word in a way that deserves disdain and caution.

I’d note that it does NOT mean “force him to change on the surface through coerscion” as far too many have been “converted’ to my tradition – no, it means continuing to suffer with (yes, the oppressor suffers too, even though it’s a very different form) and confront the injustice until that person changes.

We cannot make a person change, but we can help them. It takes a hell of a lot more energy and commitment – but ultimately it’s what we have to do if we’re serious about breaking the cycles.

Is it possible?

Remember Nelson Mandela at his inauguration as President of South Africa.  Whom does he invite to be part of the celebration ?  The man who was his jailer on Robben Island.

There are some people on these blogs who REALLY piss me off. I often find that my limited energy and time is better spent without engaging them. But there is that word again – them.  If it’s merely a pronoun for a group – that’s fine. But if I let it become a noun…  well, then I’m actually spending a great deal of energy on “Them” – even if I’m avoiding “them”

In the imagery of a familiar Native American parable, That energy is feeding the wrong wolf. It’s a cycle that ends in division, destruction and hatred.

One of the reasons I write Sabbath Time is to remind myself to find the point of balance, where the life and teaching of those great men and women who have transcended “us and them” might speak to me and inform my life.

Another reason is to remind myself that I cannot do everything. I cannot confront every person who I disagree with, I cannot help arbitrate every fight, I cannot champion every just cause. But I can chose, and be honest with myself about, how I spend my energy.  If I’m spending it harboring a grudge, looking for slights, etc – then I’m probably not making much progress.

As part of my candidacy process, I’m supposed to write a “rule” for myself – kind of a spiritual version of a mission statement.  I’ve not yet completed that task, but a major part of it will be to expand on this idea.  Am I spreading light or heat with this action or these words?  Certainly there are times when heat is appropriate, but more often than not we settle for that easy route when a bit more effort to focus on light would serve us better.

When I keep that in mind – both my anger / heat and my efforts on light bear more fruit. I do better avoiding destructive energy.

never let them become “Them” – as satisfying as it might be in the short run, we’ll never break the cycle that way.

Disagree

But do not divide.

Science wins in Kansas

Don’t see that this was covered on the trib.  Crossposted from MyLeftWing .

Last night was primary night in my home state of sasnaK – and the results have assured that no matter what happens in the general election in November, the “moderate” pro-science members will outnumber the remnants of the “conservative” majority that has made such a mess of science standards and the state BOE the last few years.

The lone moderate facing a primary fight, Janet Waugh defeated an anti-evolution stealth candidate in the District 1 Democratic primary – there is no GOP challenger in the General, so she will hold her seat on the board.

One of the most vocal “conservative”  leaders – Connie Morris – was defeated in her District 5 GOP primary by a pro-science Republican challenger, Sally Cauble.  There is a Democrat entered in the General – but both are in agreement regarding the science standards – so this will be a gain for the “moderates” and assure that the current majority will cease to have control of the board.

more after the jump
Another of the current majority did not run – and so the GOP primary was between “pro-science” Jana Shaver and “anti-evolution” replacement Brad Patzer (the son in law of the incumbent).  Shaver won the primary handily so she or Dem moderate Kent Runyan will provide another new “moderate” voice when the Nov winner joins the board.  A swing of at least 2 seats.

It was not all good news – anti-evolution ringleader John Bacon held off former Kansas Citizens for Science president Harry McDonald in District 3 and incumbent Ken Willard managed to sneak through with 49% of the vote against 2 challengers in District 7 – but even if they hold off Dem challengers in November, they will be no longer be able to control the board’s agenda.

McDonald is a disappointing loss – but he has already endorsed the Dem challenger for the November election – and despite Johnson counting being a GOP stronghold – that seat is not yet assured to be Bacon’s.  (after all – over 40 percent of GOP primary voters were against the guy…  maybe one of those “moderate coalitions” KS seems to put together can yet be built to get rid of him.)

Either way, much of the board’s work of the last few years will be quickly undone – although as Pat Hayes of Red State Rabble points out

We will face another election in just two years when three of the current four-member moderate minority are up for re-election. The radical right will be ready with money and candidates when that day comes.

Will we?

I think we will – the Democratic party is becoming much more visible and vocal – and the split between “moderate” and “ultra-conservatives” in the GOP is nearing schism like levels – witness a number of moderates who have very publicly changed parties recently.

Here are some good places to read up on recent events in Kansas

Red State Rabble/

In This Moment: Hope and Politics

Thoughts from Kansas

Sabbath Time #50 Tragedy

Welcome. Sabbath Time is a regular weekly series that started almost a year ago on MyLeftWing and is now also a feature on Street Prophets each week – usually on Saturdays. The goal of the series is to remind us to find balance in our lives between work, play, and rest.  We cannot pour from an empty cup.

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I’ve found this helpful recently – thought some of you might as well.  The bulk of the content is taken from Krista Tippett’s radio program / web site Speaking Of Faith – specifically an episode titled “The Tragedy of the Believer”

An excerpt…

Wiesel’s faith, as he wrote in Night , had been consumed forever by the flames of the ovens at Auschwitz.

snip

There is a terrible moment in Night when Wiesel watches a young boy die slowly by hanging and repeats the question posed by someone in the crowd: “Where is God now?” Wiesel writes, “I heard a voice within me answer him. Where is He? He is hanging here on this gallows…”

But I [Krista] could never quite imagine that as the last word on God in Wiesel’s life, especially after he began to publish volumes of Hasidic tales in more recent years. Two decades after our first meeting in Berlin, I sat across from him in a hotel room that my producers had turned into a makeshift studio. I asked him the questions I’d come to care about in the intervening years. I asked him to tell me what happened after he lost his faith forever at Auschwitz. He answered: “What happened afterwards is in the book. I went on praying.”

Krista notes – ” If you catch nothing else of this week’s program, listen to the marvelous prayer Elie Wiesel recited near the end of our conversation.”  – transcript of that prayer is below the fold.

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Please use this space to give yourself some space – a moment to breath, perhaps to accept that it doesn’t make sense, and to restore your energy to keep working anyway.

This is the complete intro text in an email sent to promote the episode

Faith in the Face of a Destructive World”

I first met Elie Wiesel in 1985, when I was a young New York Times stringer in West Berlin. He was visiting that city, the former capital of the Third Reich, for the first time since the Holocaust. He had requested a meeting with a group of young Germans — the new, post-Holocaust generation. Afterwards, another journalist and I sat with him and his wife and talked. He was visibly surprised, even shaken. He said this: “I had never before considered that it could be as difficult to be a child of those who ran the camps as to be a child of those who died in them.”

I was not a religious person at that time. I was caught up in political crises — the enduring geopolitical consequences of Germany’s descent into Nazi terror. I was an idealistic, ambitious young American, enthralled with politics and military strategy. Yet I felt Wiesel’s words belonged on the front page of newspapers, that they should be shouted to the world. I was finding that politics could not penetrate the complexities of human nature that shape the problems it arose to address. Through Elie Wiesel’s eyes, paradoxically, a goal like redemption — and not just retribution — appeared possible, even necessary. But this had nothing to do with God. Wiesel’s faith, as he wrote in Night, had been consumed forever by the flames of the ovens at Auschwitz.

I became a religious person in the years that followed — in part because I continued to wonder at the limits of politics and to love large questions of meaning. As I began to read literature about faith, I often found Elie Wiesel cited as an icon of a reasonable loss of faith. He was at once a quintessentially Jewish figure and a thoroughly modern intellectual. There is a terrible moment in Night when Wiesel watches a young boy die slowly by hanging and repeats the question posed by someone in the crowd: “Where is God now?” Wiesel writes, “I heard a voice within me answer him. Where is He? He is hanging here on this gallows…”

But I could never quite imagine that as the last word on God in Wiesel’s life, especially after he began to publish volumes of Hasidic tales in more recent years. Two decades after our first meeting in Berlin, I sat across from him in a hotel room that my producers had turned into a makeshift studio. I asked him the questions I’d come to care about in the intervening years. I asked him to tell me what happened after he lost his faith forever at Auschwitz. He answered: “What happened afterwards is in the book. I went on praying.”

When you read Night, it’s easy to dismiss those prayers as hollow ritual, to skim past them to the horrors that seem to defy their validity. But Elie Wiesel holds human beings responsible for the evil of Auschwitz and Birkenau, he tells me, not God. “God gives us the world which he wanted — not perfect but beautiful. And what are we doing to it?” He cites an idea first described by the Jewish philosopher Martin Buber, that in certain historical periods there is an “eclipse of God.” Elie Wiesel imagines that perhaps the Holocaust was so massive and unbearable that God “turned his face away.” Still, he can not help but be angry with God for that. All of Wiesel’s writing about faith is rich with paradox and infused with the anger he feels up to this day.

Somewhere along the way in America, we came to think of religious people as those who have all the answers. Elie Wiesel is an exceptional — and exceptionally wise — example of the way I have come to believe religious traditions actually function in the lives of real people most of the time. That is to say, faith and religious ritual are there precisely in the midst of life’s ambiguities, when there are no easy answers and the world does not make sense. After the horror of the Holocaust, Elie Wiesel went on venting his anger at God, writing his stories, grieving, rediscovering Hasidic legend, visiting other people in places of horror, and praying. His life is a model of religious faith and practice in a world where faith can seem purposeless, even destructive.
 

Prayer

by Elie Wiesel

The prayer originally appeared in a diary and was included in the collection One Generation After.

I no longer ask you for either happiness or paradise; all I ask of You is to listen and let me be aware of Your listening.

I no longer ask You to resolve my questions, only to receive them and make them part of You.

I no longer ask You for either rest or wisdom, I only ask You not to close me to gratitude, be it of the most trivial kind, or to surprise and friendship. Love? Love is not Yours to give.

As for my enemies, I do not ask You to punish them or even to enlighten them; I only ask You not to lend them Your mask and Your powers. If You must relinquish one or the other, give them Your powers. But not Your countenance.

They are modest, my requests, and humble. I ask You what I might ask a stranger met by chance at twilight in a barren land.

I ask you, God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to enable me to pronounce these words without betraying the child that transmitted them to me: God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, enable me to forgive You and enable the child I once was to forgive me too.

I no longer ask You for the life of that child, nor even for his faith. I only beg You to listen to him and act in such a way that You and I can listen to him together.

I encourage you to listen to the whole thing – as well as other episodes – I really enjoy this program’s approach.  Here is the archive .

Sabbath Time #49 Tree of Life

Welcome. Sabbath Time is a regular weekly series that started almost a year ago on MyLeftWing and is now also a feature on Street Prophets each week – usually on Saturdays. The goal of the series is to remind us to find balance in our lives between work, play, and rest.  We cannot pour from an empty cup.

I’m crossposting to some of my other haunts this week as I think the Tree of Life project this entry centers on might be helpful to those who aren’t regular MLW or SP visitors.  Welcome to Sabbath Time.

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Photobucket - Video and Image HostingBeen a terrible week of news. 

I sometimes think humanity is imploding. 

It’s so easy to look at the boiling hatreds of the mideast….

or under an urban bridge that’s tonight’s shelter to a homeless family

or any of a hundred other tragedies

and despair.

and yet….
there are bright spots.  Every now and then a sword gets beaten into a plowshare. Once in a while, somebody gets serious about peace – and lets it begin with them.

Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting

Mozambique was torn by “civil” war for over 16 years – peace finally came in 1992 – but there are still caches of weapons hidden all across the land – a land where 75% of the population survives on less than £2 per day.

Artist are working to sustain the peace by turning these weapons into sculpture – including the piece that inspired this entry – The Tree of Life.

Out of despair, strife, and conflict we humans ARE capable of creating hope, community, and beauty.

We have strong opinions – and strong disagreements.  Personal history, ties to people on either side of a given dispute, different understandings of history shape our relationship on blogs like dKos, bootrib, MLW, and StreetProphets.

I don’t think we can or should avoid our disagreements.  I’m convinced that our differences are a source of strength and that “getting along” too often means excluding or suppressing differences.

There is a form of “peace” when “everyone’s the same” – but it’s not really peace – especially if you’re on the outside looking in.  The conservative idealization / cliche of the 1950’s America for example – looks very different if your picture includes, say, an African American Woman with polio….  the golden age tarnishes quickly.

I think true peace is only achieved by working through our disagreements – and it begins only when we let it start with ourselves.  Oaks and Maples are both trees – we need not decide which is the correct way of being.

  Peace is how we treat one another.  Peace is hearing the other side (not agreeing, not giving in – but hearing). 

the alternative is disaster for all.

There is unrest in the forest,
There is trouble with the trees,
For the maples want more sunlight
And the oaks ignore their pleas.

The trouble with the maples,
(And they’re quite convinced they’re right)
They say the oaks are just too lofty
And they grab up all the light.
But the oaks can’t help their feelings
If they like the way they’re made.
And they wonder why the maples
Can’t be happy in their shade.

There is trouble in the forest,
And the creatures all have fled,
As the maples scream “Oppression!”
And the oaks just shake their heads

So the maples formed a union
And demanded equal rights.
“The oaks are just too greedy;
We will make them give us light.”
Now there’s no more oak oppression,
For they passed a noble law,
And the trees are all kept equal
By hatchet, axe, and saw.
The Trees, RUSH

Peace is not the absence of conflict, but the presence of justice and work of restoration.

The effort of building community – not enforced sameness, but community where differences are respected – working together where we agree and disagreeing without being disagreeable when we don’t. 

Peace is drawing lines for ourselves to the benefit of others, of sharing resources, and breaking the cycle of hatred, revenge, and who did what to whom first….

Peace is not easy, but we can take the weapons and create works of art.

Sabbath Time #38 Anger, Fear and Sorrow

thought I’d hop over to the pond and crosspost this weeks Sabbath Time.  It’s a series I’ve been doing for 38 weeks now over on MyLeftWing (thanks MSOC, and happy birthday!).

This week is my first repeat – but the entry from week 5 really sums up how I’m feeling right now – and is centered around Guernica – the anniversary of an atrocity that makes it timely again.

I hope my many BooTribber friends find something they might need here.

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Yeah yeah, I hear you say – this Sabbath Time idea is nice enough. Let’s all remember to rest, think happy thoughts. Yadda yadda…. Kumbuya  What the fuck ever simplexity.

But God Damnit I’m Angry!  I’m frustrated. I’m afraid, I’m filled with sorrow.  Fascists are taking over. My nation – America! – abandoned the poor to drown.  The world is fucking ending. and  I’ve got to DO Something.  

Indeed.

Which is precisely why we must remember the idea of Sabbath.  I believe – however you want to describe it – that we are all connected.  How we spend our individual energy affects – positively or negatively – our collective energy.

We have ample grounds for anger. We frankly have ample grounds for hatred. &nbsp But we are not alone in the world, nor are we unique in history.   Anger and hatred  are insidious things – they do the most harm not to those they are directed at – but to those who hold them. They burrow into our hearts and eat away at our own humanity.

 I submit that those who give into and are controlled by their anger and hatreds are precisely what we are fighting. If we give in to anger, fear and hatred – if we let them control us – we become that which we are fighting – then that which we are fighting has won.

The artwork for this week’s Sabbath Time is Guernica by Pablo Picasso.  Painted for the Spanish Pavilion 1937 World’s Fair, it has been called modern art’s most powerful antiwar statement.

Image hosted by Photobucket.com

Please follow me after the break. We can talk about this painting, about anger, fear, sorrow, and about Sabbath.  

This is a place of rest, a cool place. – I’m glad you’re here today – come take a load off 🙂
Please click here to learn more about the painting

In 1937, Spain was in the midst of Civil War between the Republican government and fascist forces of Generalissimo Francisco Franco.
 

(BTW – Franco is, as of this writing, still dead 🙂

Hoping for a bold visual protest to Franco’s treachery from Spain’s most eminent artist, colleagues and representatives of the democratic government have come to Picasso’s home in Paris to ask him to paint the mural. Though his sympathies clearly lie with the new Republic, Picasso generally avoids politics – and disdains overtly political art.

For 3 months, Picasso struggles with inspiration for the mural – then on April 27th, 1937 –

unprecedented atrocities are perpetrated on behalf of Franco against the civilian population of a little Basque village in northern Spain. Chosen for bombing practice by Hitler’s burgeoning war machine, the hamlet is pounded with high-explosive and incendiary bombs for over three hours. Townspeople are cut down as they run from the crumbling buildings. Guernica burns for three days. Sixteen hundred civilians are killed or wounded.

Picasso paints….
his resulting work is displayed at the Spanish Pavilion at the World’s Fair in Paris – in the shadow of the Nazi and Soviet Pavillions .

After the Fair, Guernica tours Europe and Northern America to raise consciousness about the threat of fascism…. But…The one place it does not go is Spain. Although Picasso had always intended for the mural to be owned by the Spanish people, he refuses to allow it to travel to Spain until the country enjoys “public liberties and democratic institutions.”

On the centenary of Picasso’s birth, October 25th, 1981, Spain’s new Republic carries out the best commemoration possible: the return of Guernica to Picasso’s native soil in a testimony of national reconciliation. In its final journey, Picasso’s apocalyptic vision has served as a banner for a nation on its path toward freedom and democracy.

Image hosted by Photobucket.com Click for Larger Image

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Last week I talked about naming the problem. Owning our emotions, reactions, feelings.  Once we recognize them, claim them – they no longer control us – rather – they become fuel for our journey. Tools we can harness.  We can – as my traditions scriptures say – Be not overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

The horror of the events at Guernica are overwhelming – just as the horrors of war and the gulf coast, the government’s failure, the racism and classism that has been exposed are.

Like us, Picasso could have given in to anger and hatred. Instead he created, he spoke out, he resisted.

When we allow ourselves time to rest, to reflect, to enjoy life – even in the face of horror – we tap into our humanity, our creativity, and our interconnectedness.  We can grow beyond anger, fear, and sorrow – we can avoid the trap of hatred – and we can become productive. We can make a difference – we can stand up to evils like fascism and we can overcome it.

It does not happen overnight – no one action brings final victory – but our collective action does make a difference – and together we can bring change.

The key is to do what we are capable of doing, follow inspiration when it comes, and be aware of ourselves, our emotions, our energies

A Buddhist  named Pema Chodron says it this way

for practitioners or spiritual warriors – people who have a certain hunger to know what is true – feelings like disappointment, embarrassment, irritations, resentment, anger, jealousy, and fear, instead of being bad news, are actually very clear moments that teach us where it is that we’re holding back. They teach us to perk up and lean in when we feel we’d rather collapse and back away.

The key is to be intentional – to allow what we think and feel to be without overcoming us – to harness this energy.

When we set off to “DO SOMETHING” – we are like a lumberjack with a fresh axe – but if we never stop chopping, the axe becomes dull.  We have to work harder and harder with declining results.

 If we stop chopping for a moment and take time to resharpen the blade – we are more effective.  That is what Sabbath time is.  A recognition of our natural cycle – work, play, and rest.

Mathew Fox says

The reptilian brain that we carry with in us years to be tamed and bridled. We need to give it our attention, in the process getting to know our deeper and often more violent selves, and move beyond the aggressive instincts that may have served us when we were hunters and gatherers in a hostile environment but that play havoc with our contemporary efforts at making community.

He then quotes Chodron again in a passage that speaks to me today

When the rivers and air are polluted, when families and nations are at war, when homeless wanderers fill the highways, these are the traditional signs of a dark age. Another is that people become poisoned by self-doubt and become cowards

To avoid being seen as (or thinking of ourselves as) cowards – we often resort to violence – mental, verbal, physical.  But we are better than that.  Violence only begets violence.  An eye for an eye only makes the whole world blind.  

Thich Nhat Hanh suggests

Mindfulness, if practiced continuously, will be strong enough to embrace your fear or anger [or sorrow] and transform it. We need not chase away evil – we can embrace and transform it in a nonviolent, nondualistic way.

Gandhi taught

Man often becomes what he believes himself to be. If I keep on saying to myself that I cannot do a certain thing, it is possible that I may end by really becoming incapable of doing it. On the contrary, if I have the belief that I can do it, I shall surely acquire the capacity to do it, even if I may not have it at the beginning.

Generations before us have confronted evil and facism – and they have overcome. Now it is our turn. We can draw strength from those who have fought this battle before us.  We can accept that some of us will not see victory in this life.  We can set aside our fear and instead harness it.

In my tradition – there is an often misunderstood passage.  In Jesus teaches “turn the other cheek”  Many see this as madness – as surrender, submission.  We have too often been taught this is a call to be passive.

It is the reverse!  It is a call to action. To dignity. To resistance!  We must do something – we must respond – but not in kind.  Rather than perpetuating the cycle of violence, hatred, and oppression – we are called to break it.

Walter Wink teaches about this passage this way

Something seems terribly wrong here. Turn the other cheek sounds like supine cowardice, the refusal to confront someone who is doing evil. It’s being a doormat for Jesus. It strikes many as suicidal, as an invitation to let someone wipe up the floor with us. Battered women have all too often been told by their pastors that the Bible requires them to turn the other cheek when they are being pulverized by their husbands or lovers.

<snip>

Jesus couldn’t have told us not to resist evil. He always resisted it, and taught his disciples to do the same. So what is he saying? Nature has provided us with two instinctive ways to deal with violence: flight or fight. Jesus articulates a new response to evil, a third way, contrary to nature: a path of nonviolence that can end our penchant for violence. Jesus gives three examples of what he means.
 _. “If anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also.” Most people probably think of a right hook here, but a right hook would hit the left cheek. A left hook would strike the right cheek, but in Jesus’ day the left hand was reserved for unclean tasks. Even to gesture with the left hand in a Semitic society would bring shame on the one doing so. The only conceivable blow would be the back of the right hand. This is not a blow to injure, but to humiliate. It was always a “one down” blow by a “superior” to an “inferior”: husband to wife, parent to child, master to servant, Roman to Jew. By turning the other cheek, the inferior is saying, “I refuse to be humiliated by you. I am a human being, a child of God. You can kill me, but my soul is out of your reach.” This reaction is light years from the passive acquiescence ascribed to Jesus all these centuries.

Amen and Hallelujah!

Sabbath Time can work for us.  It is in the practice of Sabbath time that I first encountered Wink’s teaching.  It is in the practice of Sabbath that I encountered the painting of Guernica.  It is in the practice of Sabbath rest and intentional mindfulness that I am able to harness my anger, frustration, and sorrow and make a difference in the world.

We are not Picasso’s – but we can each do something.  For example

Image hosted by Photobucket.com

Image of Dove from Camp Casey.

We Shall Overcome!

——

Thank you for reading this weeks’ Sabbath Time.  I have had a chance to share some stories and ideas that inspire me and give me hope.  I’d like to hear about YOUR reasons for living.  What lifts you up in these troubled times – where do you find the strength to speak out, to act, to resist?  We are in this together – our energies are connected and they can build on one another.  Come find what you need.  Namaste.

Not Ready To Make Nice

crossposted from MyLeftWing

I’m not much of a country music fan – I like a few things, most Martina McBride (hey, my mom used to work for her Father In Law :-), some Garth Brooks (who doesn’t like Thunder Rolls or Friends in Low Places… c’mon)

but generally I’ll leave it rather than take it…. 

but this…. 

this is one HELL of a song.  Politics ain’t bad either.

Not Ready to Make Nice.  Dixie Chicks.  Track Plays Here , Video that will undoubtedly piss some folks off  available via flash link on that site too – lyrics posted after the fold.

Heh… my kids just came in and said “Is that COUNTRY?”  Dad’s playing COUNTRY?…. 

Atrios has been tracking things….   Clear Channel may not play them – my wife switched stations locally because of it – but they’re still selling albums and selling out concerts.  Here’s to strong, independent women who refuse to let the bastards get them down 🙂
Not Ready To Make Nice

Words and Music by Emily Robinson, Natalie Maines, Martie McGuire, & Dan Wilson

Forgive, sounds good
Forget, I’m not sure I could
They say time heals everything
But I’m still waiting

I’m through with doubt
There’s nothing left for me to figure out
I’ve paid a price
And I’ll keep paying

I’m not ready to make nice
I’m not ready to back down
I’m still mad as hell and
I don’t have time to go round and round and round
It’s too late to make it right
I probably wouldn’t if I could
`Cause I’m mad as hell
Can’t bring myself to do what it is you think I should

I know you said
Can’t you just get over it
It turned my whole world around
And I kind of like it

I made my bed and I sleep like a baby
With no regrets and I don’t mind sayin’
It’s a sad sad story when a mother will teach her
Daughter that she ought to hate a perfect stranger
And how in the world can the words that I said
Send somebody so over the edge
That they’d write me a letter
Sayin’ that I better shut up and sing
Or my life will be over

I’m not ready to make nice
I’m not ready to back down
I’m still mad as hell and
I don’t have time to go round and round and round
It’s too late to make it right
I probably wouldn’t if I could
`Cause I’m mad as hell
Can’t bring myself to do what it is you think I should

I’m not ready to make nice
I’m not ready to back down
I’m still mad as hell and
I don’t have time to go round and round and round
It’s too late to make it right
I probably wouldn’t if I could
`Cause I’m mad as hell
Can’t bring myself to do what it is you think I should

Forgive, sounds good
Forget, I’m not sure I could
They say time heals everything
But I’m still waiting

rant on ladies.  Simplexity will be buying his first country album soon.  Release is May 23rd.

GOP Sham Resolution – Chaos on House floor

[From the diaries by susanhu. Turn to C-Span to see the live debate. Raw Story reports that the vote is today, and that the GOP has pulled the tax bill from debate. ”
Unlike the resolution Murtha proposed, which called for the removal of troops to begin immediately, the Republican resolution calls for all troops to be pulled out at once. Democrats say this dramatically changes the nature of Murtha’s original proposal.” Check Raw Story for updates.]


Update [2005-11-18 19:20:49 by its simple IF you ignore the complexity]: Changed Title to try and avoid confusion – full text of the resolutions in a comment below. What a day…

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After Rep. Murtha’s courgeous stand yesterday, the Republican Leadership is going to hold an ‘up or down’ vote on Congressman Murtha’s Iraq resolution (H J Res 73) today.

PDA has learned that members of the ‘Out of Iraq’ Caucus are asked to vote ‘yes’ and stand with Congressman Murtha.

This sudden vote is an attempt by the Republicans to silence the call for an end to the war.

Take one minute and call your Rep. urging them to vote yes on Murtha’s bill for immediate withdrawal from Iraq (H.J.Res.73.)

CONGRESSIONAL SWITCHBOARD: 1-800-426-8073 or 1-202-224-3121 if the 800 number is busy.

Thank you for taking action!


Update [2005-11-18 17:7:14 by susanhu]: Murtha will be on Hardball, MSNBC, in a minute.
Originally posted on MyLeftWing

I’d heard some rumblings about this this morning – but don’t have any more more solid info that this email.
Personally I think such a vote could backfire on the GOP – especially if at LEAST a solid majority of Dems would vote to back Murtha.

This isn’t time for nuance – I’ve been a “pull em out now” guy for months – but I also recognize that doing so will take a plan – it doesn’t happen in an hour or even a day…  Murtha knows that to.  (Indeed, given his service, he knows a hell of a lot more about it than I do).

Dems need to back him up and make this vote be yet another anchor around GOP necks in 06

Spirit of Justice Auction – Soulforce

As anyone who’s read my sig knows, I’m a member of the group Soulforce – my meager contribution to the group being a handful of donations and a lot of word of <s>mouth</s&gtblog publicity – I’ve yet to actually participate in a direct action. 🙁       one of these days….

Anyway – I’m excited to be able to share their announcement of Image hosted by Photobucket.com
The Soulforce Spirit of Justice Online Auction.

Image hosted by Photobucket.comHelp bid discrimination goodbye in the first annual Spirit of Justice online auction! Nearly 150 items, including autographed books, music, crafts, art, pieces of civil-rights history, retreat weekends, and more are currently up for grabs to the highest bidder on eBay.  100% of the proceeds will go to support Soulforce’s justice work for GLBT people.

The online auction is happening now and bidding will continue until November 20th. To browse the auction items or to place a bid, go to www.soulforce.org/auction .

A large graphic with some examples of items for bid is below the fold. I hope you’ll join me in supporting the work of Soulforce through this auction.
I’m bidding on a copy of Rev. Jimmy Creech’s speech in the UMC trial that defrocked him, and several other items  (Gee – my mom lived the show Rhoda – wonder if she’d like “Rhoda’s Cape” for Christmas :-).

 Image hosted by Photobucket.com

Here is the Soulforce page about the auction

or click my sig for more information on this group.
;

I hope you’ll join me in supporting the work of Soulforce through this auction. My affiliation with them has been life changing. &nbsp

Namaste.

Tell David Brooks he’s full of it.

Crossposted from MyLeftWing

Over on MLW, the focus of the day has been a diary about “changing the equation”. ;A commenter asks “how”

Here’s one way. Work the Refs!  

Don’t let them get away with Making. Shit. Up.

Media Matters catches David Brooks doing just that – by claiming that Clinton (and Reagan) were “in the twenties” in approval rating.

That is patently false!   That is demonstrably false! And we should let Brooks , the Newshour , and PBS know we know.  Constant pressure on media is one of the ways the right wing extremist gained the disproportionate power they have – we have to stop letting them get away with this crap.  My letter and some links below.

Mr. Brooks,

Can you source the claim that both Reagan (the great communicator) and Clinton were “in the 20’s” in approval ratings.

that sir, from the numerous sources I’ve checked, is patently false and, I think deliberately misleading.

Clinton, for example – even as the Starr investigation dragged on – was in the 60’s – (here are two (2) sources

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/special/clinton/stories/opinion081698.htm

http://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/resources/1998/tracking.poll/

Here’s a chart.

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I see no dots in the 20’s, Mr. Brooks.  Do you have a source?

Bush on the other hand is in the 30’s and 55% say “if” it’s shown he misled us on WMD’s he should be impeached.

Let me know if you’d like 4 or 5 sources for that data – but I bet you can find it.  Further confirmation seems to come out every couple weeks.

Wishing it were otherwise doesn’t make it so any more than wishing we’d be greeted with flowers will bring any of our 2026 plus dead and tens of thousand wounded back to full health.

You, sir, should be deeply ashamed of you role in making this debacle of a presidency possible and you, sir, should apologize to an American public that – after 5 long years, is coming to the realization of just how screw up things are DESPITE you and numerous other members of the oh so “liberal” media making every excuse under the sun for the neo-con power cartel.

In the 20’s you say.

Prove It.

I don’t think you can and I fully expect both verbal and printed retractions of this “misstatement.”

Or do you have no sense of shame?  At long last, no decency?

PS

– this rant and refutation has been CC’d to the Newshour – which I’ve watched for years.  Sad how you’ve declined over the last 2 or 3.  Wonder if Bush’s appointments to the CPB have anything to do with that….

Used to be better than this.

I’ve also submitted this to PBS via the web form..  If they want to know why I’m no longer willing to go to the mat to preserve federal funding, or for that matter send donations – this would be a prime example.  How on earth does Brooks get away with this.  For that matter – why doesn’t Mr. Shields do more to challenge such a demonstrably false statement.  PBS is no longer serving our nation well.  Facts matter.  Start reporting them and make your opinion folks prove the stuff they spew isn’t just conveniently pulled from their nether regions and I might come back.

Christopher Eshelman

Wichita, KS

Work. The. Refs.

stop the bullshit

http://mediamatters.org/items/200511070003