meanderings

what measuring stick

what is different about christianity? that was the lesson. i listened with a miasma of feeling to the alternating views of ignorance and compassion that i heard, but it is an important question, i think. the common denominator in all religions, including christianity, is the criteria that sets "us" up as better than "them" - it is often set on the basis of enlightenment, or a set of rules; but it is always a measuring stick by which man measures himself (or herself) to others and finds a way to be superior... at least to somebody. this desire is the basis of all racism. actually, it's the basis of all nationalism i.e. patriotism.
but jesus said, he who would be greatest must be the servant of all. how can you feel superior to someone you are submitting to as servant? actually, the desire is so strong that you can... but then you've missed the point. i think you can reach the understanding that loving others as yourself is the greatest manifestation of god on earth through non-christian means. i believe that that is the narrow road that few find. i also believe it is the way of jesus more than the person who claims to be a christian and has no love for others.

iraq

when we began the war with iraq, i shaved my head. i felt compelled by an inner voice to make this symbolic gesture of grief and shame. i am more and more convinced of the appropriateness of the metaphor. it will take years for my hair to grow the twenty inches i shaved off, IF i am ever able to do it. it will take at least as long for us and the world to recover from the damage we've done. saddam is no longer in power, and no one argues that that is a good thing. but we have lost all moral standing in the doing of it. i am afraid we have created a richer environment for terrorism than we have prevented. look at israel. they have taken our example and have trampled any semblance of just war in their suppression of the palestinians. innocent palestinians are killed and injured 10 to 1 for every israeli... not that i'm suggesting than any acts of terrorism are justified. but to the people killed, what is the difference between a soldier destroying your home and killing your loved ones and a fanatic strapped with explosives. violence begats violence and someone has to be the one to say no. the world cries for another ralph bunch or martin luther king, but america has no such man (or woman) to offer.
i read the papers of our soldiers, who have sacrificed so much, being shot and confused by the anger of a poplace that was supposed to greet them with open arms. they go over their with such high ideals of serving their country and mankind and find that it's not so simple. it's another vietnam in that the enemy cannot be discerned from the friend. so what happens? they begin to think of any iraqi as enemy and soon you have feelings of hostility and fear between the americans who came thinking to help and those who they thought they were helping. it is a vicious paradox.
i have recut my hair several times, trying to find a style i can live with, either short or in the process of regrowing it....we will have to do the same. we don't know what will work. i protested in washington at every gathering before the war, but i'm not going on oct. 25. i don't know what to ask for..... un involvement would surely help, but we hold a huge responsibility for the state of iraq. and i'm afraid we will desert them in the way we have afghanistan. and how are those people going to feel about americans? the people of america are idealistic and generous and incredibly uninformed... for a multiplicity of reasons. wouldn't it be great if the world's problems were so simple that we could just beat up the bad guys and the good guys would take over..... but that's tv, not reality. the bible refers to wisdom as the knowledge of good and evil. it's never been easy to know what is right and what is wrong. and we must live with our mistakes. they cannot be undone. i make an abbreviated sweep through my hair and wonder what the future will bring.

the bible

i grew up in a southern baptist culture that basically worshipped the bible. other people grow up to worship the quran. both muslims and baptists would disagree and say that they worship god and not a book, but sometimes i wonder. and the strange thing is that both books agree that it is what is in the heart that counts.

as far as i'm concerned jesus is the most different person who has ever lived. more than any other prophet, or originator of a religion, jesus was not bound by his culture. muhammad was. the apostle paul was. others reached beyond their culture in their compassion for others, but only jesus transcended his culture. only jesus spoke of a kingdom within the heart that broke down all barriers and turned the world way of thinking upside down.

what if we did something radical like to agree to disagree about all matters except the two that jesus said covers everything. love god, and love your neighbor as yourself... which any careful listener of the message of jesus knows is the same command.

do we love god or our neighbor when we kill or maim them for a piece of property? do we love god or our neighbor as ourselves when we expect them to live in conditions that we would find intolerable for ourselves? do we love god or our neighbor when we look at the suffering of children and blame their parents without doing anything to relieve that suffering? do we love god and our neighbor when we stuff ourselves into obesity while raging about our rights to what we've earned without caring that others who have worked as hard as we have go sick and hungry and homeless because they were born in the wrong place or receive less than a living wage for their labor? do we love god and our neighbor when we feel fear or contempt because others are not like we are?

it's something to think about. but what if we go further than that? what if we try to live that... for an hour, a day, a week, a month.... what if we could manage it for a lifetime? would we have to worry about peace or justice or freedom if everyone lived by that simple and so difficult rule? could we try?

What's important in life:

1. Children. They are our most precious gift. There is no greater feeling than that of an infant's arms about your neck, and no greater beauty than a child's smile. And there is no greater tragedy than an unloved child.

2. Family and friends. Friends are easier. We don't load them up with so many expectations and don't make them so responsible for who we are. We need to remember that our friends and family who care for us are gifts to be acknowledged with thanksgiving.

3. Beauty. Whether it is a music or poetry, a landscape or a painting, our life would be empty if void of beauty.

4. Our five senses. Our vision, hearing, taste, touch and smell give us life as we know it. So often we don't appreciate the wonderful world we experience through our senses.

5. Memory. Nothing is lost that is not forgotten. Yes, we carry the sadness, but we also maintain the joy... and they are so often twins. Our memory gives us the ability to see others as ourselves.

In the aftermath of September 11, we thought about what matters and what doesn't. How radical if we could do this every day.