America Under Fire

“If the world should stop revolving, spinning slowly down to die – I’d spend the end with you… go the words of the song.  Well, Sept. 11 2001 and the world has pretty much come to a standstill tonight.  America has come under a terrorist attack the likes of which we could only have contemplated as a script for a movie – until today.

The world is asking in bewilderment “Who?”, “Why?” and “How could anyone do something so terrible?”  But let’s look at what these terrorists have actually done?  They have planned and plotted, schemed and organized a set of events to hurt, kill, destroy and maim their fellow humans.  We judge and condemn them – but how can we?  How can we judge them without judging ourselves? 

All over the world, in our homes, our workplaces, our communities we do it everyday ourselves – the only difference is in the scale and location.  We hurt, batter and kill our spouses and our children.  We gossip, malign, and devise schemes to climb over our workmates up the corporate ladders and the political corridors of power.  We marginalize and victimize the weaker and those that are different in our communities.  We fight and steal from our neighbors.  Many of us abuse our power and authority.  We teach our children to bully in the school yard and we bully each other everywhere else!

It is not possible to “enforce” peace.   All the laws and security in the world will not prevail against terrorism when the terrorists believe so strongly in their causes that they are prepared to die fighting for those causes.  Peace begins with you and me – in our hearts and in our homes, workplaces and communities.  World peace will be possible when we and our politicians of the world really look with love and compassion at all the areas in the world where there is injustice, poverty, hunger, pain and oppression and make the decision to do whatever is necessary to put things right.  For this to happen we must DESIRE peace and justice for ALL.  Do we really even think about it until the bomb lands on OUR DOORSTEP?

Tonight the world has stopped revolving.  There must be a better way.

© Mara 11 Sept 2001