Dear reader, two Sundays in the future: you know vastly more than I do about what I mean when I say war. Do you envy me, living in this before, this last shred of relative innocence? I hope not. I hope I ought to envy you, the wild sweet peace you enjoy, the simultaneous epiphany of universal human amity and accord, the melting of all world guns into memorial sculpture which took place on, say, Sept. 16, the miracle that occurred in place of the carnage I’m dreading today. Oh, I hope I ought to envy you; I hope I’m a moron.9 failures of the imagination by B'klyn novelist Jonathan Lethem.
originally posted by xowie
When we cry out for violence, we are indeed asking our leaders to do to other civilians and rescue workers precisely what has happened to us here. Let us use great caution and prudence in our solutions to this horror. We owe that to our counterparts the world over -- people who by no means deserve to suffer the way we are now. I think most people, having seen what I just have, would be hesitant to call for an expansion of this horror.The greatest argument against war.
originally posted by xowie
I woke with the images, the cry for retribution: brutality begetting brutality, blood in my eye. I need to believe that this is somehow un-American. Their whole point is to make us a nation at war. We should resist, resist becoming like those who did this.How can art help us now?- James Taylor, Singer, songwriter
originally posted by xowie
Poynter.org’s gallery of front pages.
originally posted by xowie
Not angry - haven't felt that once, strangely, and I am a reasonably irascible old man. Just surges of disbelief at the kinds of things said on tv and radio; the damnable dance of politicians and the professional pundit puke while shattered hearts lie bleeding true blood. Warm and wet. The stirring promise of endless battlefields to satisfy lust for metaphoric blood. Just experiencing, along with a legion of others, the advancing exhaustion of some subtle psychical strata due to encompassing more than the emotional machinery is yet (if ever) evolved to accomodate without something palpable and accessible to touch. Lots of pictures but no picture. Lack of effect leading to lack of affect. Absurdity of trying to comfort a grieving loved one by email. Not that there's anything to say, only the will to feel alongside of. O world of lost children believing in disbelief instead of doubting doubt. History returns to the starting point armed with ever less poignant weapons. Image of a Fireman on the 31st floor of a crumbling tower when the heavens suddenly open and forever rushes in like a leviathan come to reclaim her young.Journal of Robert Hunter.
originally posted by xowie
SiameseQuadraped: I’ve been focusing on thought and compassion and the meaning of love all week, and the incidents in NY/DC/PA came at at a time when we were talking about Holden Caufield in The Catcher in the Rye, and the book, Brave New World. Anyway, next week we are reading “All Quiet on the Western Front,” and I came across this quote, marked as “great” by a student of mine in her journal. “It is very queer that the unhappiness of the world is so often brought on by small men.” And this one: “Our bodies are a thin skin stretched painfully over repressed madness.”
Here is a poem by Randall Jarrell:
The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner
From my mother’s sleep I fell into the State,
And I hunched in its belly till my wet fur froze.
Six miles from earth, loosed from its dream of life,
I woke to black flak and the nightmare fighters.
When I died they washed me out of the turret with a hose.
originally posted by xowie
Shock, rage and grief there has been aplenty. But any glimmer of recognition of why people might have been driven to carry out such atrocities, sacrificing their own lives in the process - or why the United States is hated with such bitterness, not only in Arab and Muslim countries, but across the developing world - seems almost entirely absent. Perhaps it is too much to hope that, as rescue workers struggle to pull firefighters from the rubble, any but a small minority might make the connection between what has been visited upon them and what their government has visited upon large parts of the world. But make that connection they must, if such tragedies are not to be repeated, potentially with even more devastating consequences.Seumas Milne, They can't see why they are hated.
originally posted by xowie
What can you do? Here are some things to consider:Buddhist Peace Fellowship.1) Being peace yourself. Take the time to stop, breathe, and notice your feelings and reactions to all that has happened and is happening. In the face of the immensity of this tragedy, face your own sense of helplessness and powerlessness. And at the same time, consider how your every word, action, and interaction with another right now carries the potential for peace or war. Be gentle with yourself and others; our compassionate presence for each other will be required more than ever.
2) Cultivate an environment of peace and tolerance in your community -- stand up for and speak out for groups that are receiving the brunt of ignorance and hatred. Consider contacting Muslim organizations and mosques in your community and express your concern for their well-being and safety. Ask if there is anything you or your sangha can do in support of them, i.e. organizing a sitting meditation vigil in front of a mosque to express solidarity and offer protection.
3) Political Action: How the U.S. government responds to this situation will have ramifactions for generations to come. Military action right now has the potential to escalate the situation and increase violence across the world, and will not deter terrorists but rather solidify hatred for the U.S. Contact President Bush and your legislators and express your wish to see this national crisis handled in a sane way.
4) Gather Together: Organize gatherings to offer people a chance to share grief, sadness, fear, anger, and other feelings and thoughts about what has happened, and to discuss nonviolent and skillful actions that can be taken together.
originally posted by xowie
Experts have opined that the US has to hit "someone" within 10 days, that cruise missiles targeted somewhere in the Middle East are the only appropriate action. The deputy secretary of state, Paul Wolfowitz, said that "the whole civilised world has been shocked... and even portions of the uncivilised world have started to wonder whether they're on the wrong side". How's that for the official American view of the planet?Ahdaf Soueif, Our poor, our weak, our hungry.
originally posted by xowie
"Our nation must be mindful that there are thousands of Arab-Americans who live in New York City," Bush said, "who love their flag just as much as the three of us do, and we must be mindful that as we seek to win the war that we treat Arab-Americans and Muslims with the respect they deserve." It's a message that 17-year-old Roula Abu Hassan says her teacher at school missed today. She says her health teacher told her class at a high school in Brooklyn that "Palestinian children all want to become terrorists." Both Roula and her mother Saud Abu Hassan, who moved to the United States from the Palestinian territories, are visibly upset by the statement and want the teacher to apologize.Arab-American community 'keeping its head down' - CNN Generally speaking, when a teacher is accused of harrassing a student, aren't we told the name of the adult and not the minor?
The Detroit Free Press is presenting 100 Questions and Answers about Arab Americans, which I would fail were it a test.
The man who occupies the White House cried today. Good. Keep crying, Mr. Bush. The more you cry, the less you will go to that dark side in all humans where anger rages to a point where we want to blindly kill.Michael Moore 9.14
Tell the mayor, a guy most of us have not liked, that he is doing an incredible job, keeping the spirits of everyone up as high as they can be at this moment. Being there for a city I believe he loves, his own cancer still with him, he goes beyond the call of duty.
But do not declare war and massacre more innocents.
originally posted by xowie
Hey terrorist motherfuckuhs! This Bud’s NOT for you.
originally posted by xowie
Pilot Charles "Chic" Burlingame, Oak Hill, VA
b. Orange County, CA, 1949
a "huge Angels fan"
Navy fighter pilot, 350 carrier landings
Contestant, Greed, Tic-Tac-Dough
Captain, American Airlines Flight 77
died the day before his birthday
"Put out my hand, and touched the face of God."
from his friends in Hollywood
originally posted by xowie
If you read nothing else today, read Mir Tamim Ansary on Afghanistan. I will probably throw the whole thing up here when I get a chance, but don’t wait for me. Go now.
I might have linked more photos sooner had I still a DSL connection. All of these links are from World New York:
“I had originally started this photo collection as a tribute to the view out of my bedroom window that I grew up with. Never did I think…”
BBC: Islamic world deplores US losses.
originally posted by xowie
We are at war, they said. And I thought: they have learned nothing, absolutely nothing, from the history of the twentieth century, from a hundred years of retaliation, vengeance, war, a hundred years of terrorism and counter-terrorism, of violence met with violence in an unending cycle of stupidity.Howard Zinn, Violence Doesn't Work.
originally posted by xowie
Ask Bush to show restraint.
originally posted by xowie
Falwell: I really believe that the pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People For the American Way, all of them who have tried to secularize America. I point the finger in their face and say 'you helped this happen'.Rev. Falwell's hate and cowardice.
originally posted by xowie
I have dropped my quarters in slots my daughter will never see, in buildings she will never enter, on observation decks that do not exist any longer, except in my mind. And I have listened as the timer counted down the time left before the viewfinder would fade to black. And I can imagine looking thru the viewfinder, and wondering why that plane looks so damned close. I can imagine looking uptown as the plane came closer, and closer, and seeing Harlem, and thinking, damn: I shoulda gone to Sylvia’s Soul Food. ‘Cause Harlem, far from being the bad part of town, was one of the safest places in New York yesterday. Even terrorists know which victims count the most in America. America, if you want safety, you’d best get your ass to the ‘hood. Get your boogie shoes to 123rd street. Move immediately into the Robert Taylor Homes, or Cabrini Green, or the lower 9th Ward in New Orleans. Do not pass go, let alone Wall Street. For there you are like sitting ducks.To My Baby Girl, On the Day After by Tim Wise.
originally posted by xowie
