Irony

The sky today is wide open with a blue grey color over the water.  The morning is cool but (oddly) does not feel chilly at 60 degrees fahrenheit.  It feels just like a nice pause.  Today is Thursday.

Coming from the voice of a man who survived the holocaust as an infant, a man whose parents and much of his extended family were exterminated at Auschwitz, a man that has dedicated his life's work to healing - literally, as a doctor, and a man who has unshakeable faith in the potential in our ability to hold onto a sense of humanity,  a moment of awakening again came.

Our capacity to hate and be triggered into a state of paralysis has been tested in the past week.  War is again a part of our reality as a nation.  There have been plenty of conflicts and wars across the globe - at last count, this country was actively engaged in more than 30, but the news doesn't cover most.  Today, there is nothing but the stories of atrocities that come with war.  What makes the news coverage different today, is that the slow cooking conflict in the Middle East has now broken out in a time when social media is a part of daily life around the world.  This has shifted dynamics dramatically.

For factual narratives, one can just pull up the news feeds and learn about the dates, times, numbers, names of elected leaders tasked with managing this worldwide crisis.  There is once again, an event that will stimulate our tendencies to choose who is right and who is wrong.  There is the recycling of stories of horror - killings, assaults, rape, kidnaps, degrading tactics deployed in times of war.  

Maybe it was a mistake to introduce beyond China, the Art of War.  It captivated the imaginations of warriors as well as businesses, and even social change activists for a time.  The idea that the greatest general of China would share his knowledge and understanding about how to be the victor in serious conflict was seen as worthy of deep, serious study.  It fit well into the "win/lose" cultures.  But it seems that most missed the most important chapter – Chapter 1, which teaches that one must seriously consider engagement before acting - once you begin, great misery will follow.  Proof the the truth of this has been known since the time human beings began building societies.

And each time, there is an invitation to restore one's commitment to humanity, compassion, caring.  No one says it is easy.  It is not.  Especially if one's identity is the reason for killing, removing another's humanity.

How does one hold on to the capacity for hope, for resisting the desire to seek retribution and harm another "so they can feel what it is like to be dehumanized..."?  The only way is to resist.  

Resist giving up on love for all life.  Resist acting out of a place of pain.  Resist trying to explain or analyze - there are no words.  Meditate - without guidance.  Go into the great silence and the possibility of seeing the path awaits.  It's the ultimate irony that humanity turns on humanity.