Found this at The Poor Mouth
June 30, 2006
Topsy Turvy World
Let me see if I have the facts straight. An unnamed Palestinian group, may be connected to Hamas, maybe not, enters Israel and kidnaps a young Israeli corporal, at which point the Israeli Defense Force, begins constant shelling of Northern Gaza, including aerial bombings of a power plant, ironically insured by an American company, and other parts of the Gazan infrastructure, like bridges and roads. They then “arrest/kidnap” members of the Hamas led Palestinian parliament. (Is this legal? If so can someone please come and arrest some members of the US Senate?) They then send in a small force of tanks to “show what Israel can do,” and flew fighter planes, paid for by US tax dollars by the way, over Syria. (Is this not an overt act of war?)
What the fuck is going? If this were happening by any other nation, the “international community” would be up in arms. Why does Israel get a blank check to do anything it wants? Why must the entire civilian population of Gaza suffer for the acts of a few militant groups? Who is looking out for the interests of the innocent men, women, and children being blown up at will in Gaza? First they are punished for the way they vote, by an international blockade, now an overt act of war is ignored by the entire world.
Global events like this are enough to make even a pacifist like me boil with rage. Israel and its donor state, the US, must be made to face consequence for these war crimes and acts against humanity. The Palestine people deserve more. Where is the rule of law, we hear so much about?
What the fuck is going? If this were happening by any other nation, the “international community” would be up in arms. Why does Israel get a blank check to do anything it wants? Why must the entire civilian population of Gaza suffer for the acts of a few militant groups? Who is looking out for the interests of the innocent men, women, and children being blown up at will in Gaza? First they are punished for the way they vote, by an international blockade, now an overt act of war is ignored by the entire world.
Global events like this are enough to make even a pacifist like me boil with rage. Israel and its donor state, the US, must be made to face consequence for these war crimes and acts against humanity. The Palestine people deserve more. Where is the rule of law, we hear so much about?
June 28, 2006
The Forces That Oppose Us
A friend recently heard this quote at a Zen lecture at Green Gulch . I thought I would share:
"Only to the extent that we expose ourselves over and over again to annihilation can that which is indestructible rise within us. In this lies the dignity of daring. Thus, the aim of practice is not to develop an attitude which allows us to acquire a state of harmony and peace wherein nothing can ever trouble us. On the contrary, practice should teach us to let ourselves be assaulted, perturbed, moved, insulted, broken, and battered–that is to say, it should enable us to dare to let go our futile hankering after harmony, surcease from pain, and a comfortable life in order that we may discover, in doing battle with the forces that oppose us, that which awaits us beyond the world of opposites."
"Only to the extent that we expose ourselves over and over again to annihilation can that which is indestructible rise within us. In this lies the dignity of daring. Thus, the aim of practice is not to develop an attitude which allows us to acquire a state of harmony and peace wherein nothing can ever trouble us. On the contrary, practice should teach us to let ourselves be assaulted, perturbed, moved, insulted, broken, and battered–that is to say, it should enable us to dare to let go our futile hankering after harmony, surcease from pain, and a comfortable life in order that we may discover, in doing battle with the forces that oppose us, that which awaits us beyond the world of opposites."
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