Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Now Tell Me Again Where God Is In All Of This?


I don't know. I'm having one of those mornings.
I open the paper and the headline is

779th Departs Amid
Pomp & Pride

A picture of our governor shaking hands with a man too old to go to war accompanies it. These soldiers are going to Iraq for a year. Fathers leaving families, mothers leaving families. "Our goal," one family member said, "Is for everyone to come home safe."

Well, you know they won't. They won't all come home safe.

I didn't say a word on Memorial Day. No flags here. No tributes to our soldiers. I should feel ashamed but really, what I feel ashamed about is that my country is still sending people off to fight a war that should never have been started for reasons no one believed to begin with. And yeah, I know that WW II was a "righteous war," but you know what? I happen to believe that we should be over war. All of us.
Isn't that naive? Isn't that ridiculous? Isn't that just a bunch of proper hippie liberal bleeding heart pacifistic tree hugging bullshit?
Yeah well. So what?
Like war is a good answer to stuff. "Let's go kill people."
And I know that soldiers do a lot of other things besides kill people. I am aware of this. But a war is about killing people. It's not about building hospitals or schools or roads or teaching people to grow soybeans instead of poppies. Those things may happen but that's not what war is about.

And moving on, the entire country of Ireland, from what I hear, is in an uproar over a recent report concerning six decades of every type of the most horrific abuse of children in state and church-run institutions anyone can imagine. Sexual, physical, emotional, spiritual abuses of the vilest sort- it all happened. Tens of thousands of victims while the government and the church looked the other way while their very own people were acting in such an evil manner to the children entrusted to them that if there is a hell they will be roasting for eternity. And instead of being in prison or hell, many of the perpetrators are still alive and still serving in the church.
Run over to Ten Lizard Tongues to view one of the most powerful videos I've ever seen. One of the boys-grown-up tells his story of abuse in language so powerful that to watch it is to be brought to ones knees with the knowledge of what cruelty people are capable of.
Cruelty to children.
CHILDREN! And babies.
And the eternally lasting effects of this sort of cruelty.

Yeah. So I'm not seeing the face of Buddha in every human being today. I'm not seeing the hand of god in every action.
I'm thinking of how countries on the brink of bankruptcy where people are jobless, people are homeless, where schools and medical care are being downgraded every day still has the money to send troops off to fight wars and I'm thinking of whatever happened to beating our swords into ploughshares and I'm thinking about suffering the little children to come unto me and I'm thinking of treating others as we would treat ourselves (and we don't torture ourselves, do we?).

I'm thinking of innocent people who find themselves on both sides of war.
I'm thinking of innocent people who suffer and die. I'm thinking we don't learn much, we humans. I'm thinking we have a long way to go as a species, even here in good old America, land of the free (unless you're gay) home of the brave (not me!), fliers of the flags, stickers of the heads in sand.
Senders off of the soldiers by the politicians. Weepers of the mothers, wives and children. Observers of the crimes against humanity, standing on the sides, shaking our heads and powerless to act if there is no oil involved.

Me too, I'm ashamed to admit.
Me too.

21 comments:

  1. I used to have this quote on the wall of my office.

    "I don't think we, as a species, actually evolve at all. I think we're as cruel and as awful as we were 10,000 years ago."

    -- David Bowie disputing the theory of evolution, in the Toronto Sun.

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  2. That's a lot to think about.
    I'm going to think of your frog song instead of the wars and the innocence being taken, the abuse, the hate, the stupidity of the human race. Is that ok?

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  3. Ms. Bastard- Mr. Bowie has a very good point.

    HoneyLuna- Yes. You have my permission.

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  4. It isn't the same, but this happened a couple of days ago. I was talking to a young woman I know about the Evils of Walmart, about how they only hire part tiem people so as not to pay benefits, and this woman actually said, out loud, "So? I have medical insurance, why does it matter to me?" No, not the same as war, but the same mindset prevails; let's all just sit on the fence and watch while the world goes to shit all around us and keep our pretty little heads buried in the sand. Because as long as we as indivduals are okay, who gives a fuck about the rest? Grrr. Sore point.

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  5. Yeah, you know by my own blog that I'm right there with you in asking that question -- sometimes you have to just acknowledge the insanity of the way things seem sometimes.

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  6. My momma said there'd be days like this.

    Mourn and breath.

    Feel better.
    xo pf

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  7. Some days the bad side of humanity is so blinding that it overshadows all the good.

    I am ready for the war to end. I am ready for our country to stop doing things that make me feel embarassed to live here.

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  8. Kori- Here is my reply to those Walmart defenders- Yes. It IS your business because when people do not get benefits at their shitty jobs with their shitty companies, they have to get on public assistance which you indeed pay for.
    Think about it.
    And yet, people don't want to.
    I agree totally.

    SJ- I saw the similarities.

    Petit Fleur- Yes. Thank goodness not all days.

    Lady Lemon- Me too.

    XBox- Thank you for bringing this to my attention in such a staggering way.

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  9. The saddest part of September 11th, for me, was knowing that there was going to be a war and that my country was probably going to be at war for the rest of my life. The relatively war-free period the US experienced between the end of the Vietnam War and 2001 was about the longest this country can go without a war. Human nature hasn't evolved much since the days of the cave men.

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  10. O wow Ms. Moon. Beautiful capture of your emotions in this one. I think it actually correlates to the RANT i posted last night about GE. The whole idea that we rarely stop to ask questions of actions. We are hand-fed by media and politicians, and we'll eat almost anything. "What's that? Oh, shit pie with maggots? But you covered it in Jell-O? Bring it on!"

    Thanks for your thoughts.

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  11. ALSO- GREAT QUESTION HERE - "We don't torture ourselves do we?" The same people trying to DEFEND their torture actions are the people who cry Bible verses made them do it! But what about the fucking GOLDEN RULE!?

    ............

    ...
    ....simmer.

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  12. I hear ya, Ms.Moon
    FYI-God is in your post

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  13. I read Evils of Walmart as the Elvis of Walmart.

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  14. War? Huh? It's just brown people. If we don't kill them, they'll just die in some flood or something.

    Walmart has a sale on flags...

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  15. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124329313241952509.html

    Just had to give you this :)

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  16. .html is the ending to that. It's a story on professional blogging... :D

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  17. Ms. Hope- I had the same sinking feeling as the buildings went down.

    AJ- No. I have to disagree with you. These days the shit pie with maggots must be covered in sensuous dark chocolate for people to eat it. Our standards are getting higher these days. Beyond that- you are RIGHT. Golden Rule? What's that?

    Ms. Jo- If Elvis was alive, he would definitely love Walmart.

    Michelle- I don't know. But thank-you, sweetie for saying that.

    Magnum- Oh boy. Let's go buy some!

    Amy- Hello dearie! Another blog for you? I love it! Thanks for the article. Oh my. If I could just figure out how to make a livin' doing what I love...

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  18. Well said. I just don't understand this bullshit war. I'm just sick of hearing about all the 'progress' we're making.

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  19. I just stumbled upon your blog in the most roundabout way. But this was an amazing post. It's just so depressing because, to borrow someone else's analogy, we hit a hornet's nest with a stick. Now there is just no good ending.

    I don't think I probably agree with Donald Trump on too many things. But this is a quote of his from a Esquire story:

    "Look at the war in Iraq and the mess that we're in. I would never have handled it that way. Does anybody really believe that Iraq is going to be a wonderful democracy where people are going to run down to the voting box and gently put in their ballot and the winner is happily going to step up to lead the country? C'mon. Two minutes after we leave, there's going to be a revolution, and the meanest, toughest, smartest, most vicious guy will take over. And he'll have weapons of mass destruction, which Saddam didn't have.

    What was the purpose of the whole thing? Hundreds and hundreds of young people killed. And what about the people coming back with no arms and no legs? Not to mention the other side. All those Iraqi kids who've been blown to pieces. And it turns out that all of the reasons for the war were blatantly wrong. All this for nothing!"

    Yes, I'm afraid, all for nothing.

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  20. Rachel- I know. It's so crazy.

    BoomBoom- Well, I'm glad you found me, however you found me and I read that thing in Esquire too. Even the Donald is right sometimes and he was extremely right about that. Extremely. And I appreciate you taking the time to post it here.

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