Posts Tagged ‘truth’

There have been 2,929 terrorism-related deaths around the world since the attacks on New York and Washington. (Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5889435/). There are also 45,000 American deaths each year associated with the lack of insurance (Source: http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/09/18/deaths.health.insurance). Why do we spend BILLIONS in a war that kills so few? How does a fiscally suffering country find the money to fund such a war?

I have had this post for some time and never posted it but after seeing this article on Fast Company, I felt compelled to put it up.

It is February 2010 and we are still at war against “Terrorism”. Not a country, an evil dictator or alien invasion… terrorism. We are at war against terrorism because there is a very small group of people that scare us with their means of destruction but honestly, they are not very good at killing people. These small groups have been called terrorist because that is the tactic that they employ. Terror. A war against a tactic can never be won. When at war, there will always be the tactic of terror with which to cope. That is why a tactic, rather than a country, has been selected to fight. We will fight terror forever!

A war against anything intangible (like a tactic) will never be won and is not supposed to be won. That is why there has not been a war against anything but “situations and symptoms” in our country’s most recent history (i.e., war on drugs, war on obesity, war or illiteracy). A war against a person, a country or entity of some kind may be fought and even won. Such a war can be won by the removal of the person(s) in power, by killing them, assimilation of culture or other means that removes the ENTITY from being the cause of some threat. Terrorism has been deemed the enemy of our time because the people that profit from war understand that there is no other entity with which to go to war on earth. America will be at war against the tactic of terror until the last day there is an America.

If we are going to be terrorized by anything, be terrorized that while we fight a war against a tactic, we are held in its very grip. The American dollar is weak amongst sovereign nations and yet we find BILLIONS to fight against a small band of renegades in countries without running water and paved roads. American privacy and civil liberties are being eroded away to nearly nothing for the sake of banishing low-tech fanatics in places of the world our school children can not find on a globe. We have become the victims of the mere threat of terror and not entirely of terror itself.

If terror as a tactic is worthy of fighting because of the harm it can cause, there are far more scary things to think about when considering death and harm. Consider that most people die in America by way of our diet that our Government subsidizes and legalizes. Consider that more people die by heart disease, cancers and any number of illnesses than tactics of small extremist groups. Allergies, autism, cellular mutations and various forms of rampant disease are affecting more lives every day than terror ever will. Consider that symptoms are fought in America and never the cause. Consider that more people die in America as a result of insufficient health care than any number of terrorist attacks in the history of the world. Problems are always profitable for those that can perpetuate them. Consider for a moment that this perpetuation of the war on terror is done for the sake of profit and economic control by the richest people in the world.

If anything should scare the living daylights out of you it should be the greed that drives leaders to use fear against free people as a means to divert attention and accountability from positions of power and authority. If we are truly at war, why are laws enacted against the people of America? Should not our way of life and liberty remain intact while under attack from these “terrorist”? I am sorry to tell you this, but they are not. If America is worth protecting, why dismantle our way of life one new law and amendment at a time? Why are more laws and bigger Government needed to fight a small number of extremist in desolate places of the globe? If there really is a war, where is the tally of lives that represent even a fraction of a single-digit-percent of the lives taken by disease, abortion, accidents and the misuse of resources and technology for the sake of human beings? Take a moment and Google death statistics and you will be amazed how small of a problem terrorism is as a cause of death amongst human beings.

Killing people to stop people from killing is so primitive and backwards, words escape me in conveying my frustration. And isn’t that why we fight terror, because they might hurt someone? Wars are tools for profit and building governments, not taking care of the actual causes of human suffering. There is no terrorism beyond the fear we have that someone is going to hurt us or our family. The good news is, terrorism is the least of our worries. You will most likely die of heart disease or cancer.

It really is easy to see the worst in people. It doesn’t take any talent or discipline. Just look and the darkest part of humanity is played out plainly in front of our earthly senses. From the tone of our voices, to the clothes we wear or even the smell of our skin, we draw mental conclusions about one another. One has only to be aware of their own self to see others at surface value. And like thinking that ice bergs float upon the water, we only get a small part of the entire individual. Every single “sensing” of another person casts an unfair judgment upon them and in sliding scales of personal and silent criticism. Mostly we see each other through the lens of our own set of preferences, no matter how smart or spiritual we become. We do this through our senses and we relate with our surroundings through the mirror of memory. For instance, my sister thinks I am a saint and my Mom thinks I’m still a kid. One friend thinks I’m a wild rocker while another thinks I’m some computer guru. Some people know that Brooks and Dunn is my favorite group but others would say KISS or Motley Crue. Some clients called me genius, others called me useless. True? Or just partially true?

The fact is that life, (consciousness) does not just happen. The stuff that makes up the cosmos and the billions of stars of the universe does not just become aware of itself without some real God-like love occurring somewhere beyond our ability to sense things. And in this way everyone is truly sacred! Every time a judgment about another person arises in my mind (good or bad), I have to remind myself that I am just like them, we come from the same stuff. Hell, I might even be them if any of the Copenhagen Interpretation holds a drop of accuracy as to what is going on in the unseen world of physics. Everyone is scared. Every single person, no matter where they came from, what they did or what they have achieved, is sacred and valuable to someone (or something) who loves them enough to make them aware of creation.

Every human is a potential miracle for amazing goodness in this world and is a living, breathing monument of the miracle of life. Every human is a earthly product of our environment, social conditioning and merely an image trapped in time (Dio, anyone?). We are the fleshy puppets of fear in some corner of the human genome trying to come to grips with the cycle of life and death. Call it the “Golden Rule”, “Karma”, “What Goes Around, Comes Around” or “Reaping What You Sow”, it appears that the earth and all of us on it, are subject to perception. Let us deem everyone sacred and look for the very best in one another.

After the holidays, I was set on getting out there and looking for freelance work. I had a plan, prospects, appointments, a checklist and a mental picture of everything I was going to do in order to start the year on the best possible foot. I worked myself up for this task and then tragedy struck. I had to go to a funeral. Not a lot of time when you think about it, but a mentally derailing circumstance to say the least.

I had to go. One of my dearest friends lost his Mother from this earth unexpectedly. Standing out there in the cold doing what I could to comfort his father while his sons eulogized their Mother, my mind went to how many funerals I had missed over the years while “working”. How many times loved ones could have used an extra person to support them in their time of grief?

Standing out in the brisk cold was fitting for a funeral for such an interesting woman. I didn’t know her that well, but I bet she would have liked the idea. It was a reminder that the discomfort in life is proof that we are alive and breathing. Sometimes, the things we don’t like can remind us that grief and hope walk together hand and hand. It was surreal as I watched a glisten of moisture dance on the tip of the speaking Rabbi’s nose. The diverse collection of people gathered there shivering to remember her life, all very much alive and not fully aware of that miracle.

My friend and his family were amazingly gracious and did so much to comfort those that were there to comfort them, that I was moved to tears. Not for the passing of their Mother, but for the void they must feel in their lives at this time. I learned a lot about Jewish tradition and had to call my own Mother when I got home.

No matter how bad I have to work, it must wait when these times come. I will never miss another chance to pay my respects and support my loved ones. Never. I love you Ian and I thank your Mother for putting my New Year in crystal clear perspective. She will be missed.

I remember you too:
Spurgen (Chris) Tony
Alfred Garr II
Melvin Fletcher
Aaron D. Gautier
Walisi “hey” Jablonski
Betty Haines
Jerry Man
…to name just a few.

The worst thing about rising to greatness in any area is that all of your flaws have to be remain hidden in order to get there. Why? Because people can not accept that you just might be human and thus, imperfect. If you are great at ONE thing… you must be perfect at ALL things. I believe Tiger Woods is the victim of character assassination and just like Michael Jackson, you helped bring him down. You set Tiger up because you took your eyes (focus) off the ball and put them on his balls.

Here are some questions to ask when considering my above allegation.

1. Why does it bother so many people what Tiger Woods is/was doing off the golf course?
2. What does his private life have to do with how well he plays golf (a talent for which he is a star)?
3. Can you enjoy watching any other golfer play NOT knowing who he/she is poking?
4. Did he really “fall”? Do you think he might have been “not-so-honest” leading up to his greatness?
5. Is your sex life any of my business?
6. Why is sex the number one killer of character in the collective conscious of the public?

If you think someone is perfect because they hold office, play football, play the guitar or preach, you really need to get over yourself.  Most likely, all great people are as jacked up as you may be in some area of life. Oh, but you’re perfect. That’s right.  “Let he who is without sin…” is something we say in church or when we ourselves are “not so clean”.

I admire people like Michael Jackson, Tracy Lords, Robert Downey Jr., Tommy Lee, Britney Spears, Bill Clinton and Michael Vick for being imperfect and rising to greatness in some area of life. It takes a lot of commitment to be great in spite of ourselves. History will remember Tiger Woods for the great things that he did on the golf course with those little white balls. Oddly, that is the only reason people even cared about him in the first place.

Remember, famous people are smart. Lady GaGa, Marilyn Manson, Gene Simmons, Alice Cooper and the Kardashians all use our self righteousness to their benefit. Without them most of us would have nothing to talk about. That is the real commodity for which we are all paying for in giving credibility without grace to a member of our human family.