Holocaust
from 
JoeUser Forums
JoeUser Forums
With palms together,
Good Morning All,
Last night at the synagogue, we marked Yom HaShoah. Coincidentally, I am reading through a book entitled "Bearing Witness" by Bernie Glassman-roshi who ordained Anshin Thomas (the Zen priest walking across the US-Mexican Border as we speak). This book is about a group of Jews, Buddhists, Muslims and Christians who gather at Auschwitz (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auschwitz) to acknowledge an witness The Holocaust.
There are many such holocausts, not to diminish the word or the lives of those who were persecuted, tortured, and killed in the German run death camps. Anytime a civilization is torn to shreds by terror, starvation, and murder, I deem it a holocaust. Cambodia, Somalia, Rwanda, Darfur, North Korea, the Balkins, Iraq, and others are examples of holocaust, in my opinion.
And if we add up the totals of women killed or abused in domestic relationships, homelessness, and other forms of severe poverty and social injustice, millions come to mind, perhaps even our own country has its holocaust.
What makes the German holocaust so horrific is both the directed intent and the economy of it all. People reduced to animal status, animals with no names, no status, and no use, were systematically selected and killed, their remains burned. And no one did a thing to help. Then Cambodia was the same, as was Rwanda. When we do help, our efforts seem clumsy and ineffectual, as in Somalia or Darfur. In Iraq and the Balkins open warfare is the holocaust itself. Confused lines, ethnic fighting, and guerrilla warfare make the situations terribly cloudy.
Yet, people are suffering and dying either from actions of omission or co-mission in all of these places and they are doing so in large numbers.
Where are our witnesses? The witnesses of the 21st century? The military are not witnesses, they are part of the problem. The United Nations seems mired in its own sort of muck. The United States and the rest of the civilized world seems all too willing to use weapons rather than food, medical care, and other forms of relief. And as a nation, we are treated to a continuous show of man's inhumanity to man.
To be fair, there are thousands of witnesses: the small groups who sit n sidewalks with placards, the thousands who volunteer for the Peace Corps, Red Cross, and other humanitarian agencies. These are the Davids against our modern Goliaths. Still, there are millions, well actually most, of the rest of us who witness in our comfort, between commercials designed to put us to sleep, and who do nothing, say nothing, and ultimately think nothing about anything but what's for dinner and what's on the tube next.
We should be ashamed of ourselves.
Religious people are hardly that if they sit idle. Spirit means nothing if the will to change is not there. We need to get up off our asses and open our mouths. We need to change.
Yet change what? Where do we begin? The whole thing is so overwhelming, so complex.
We begin at the beginningless beginning and when we get to the end of the endless end, we stop. This means that every moment we confront ourselves and our world. Every moment we do something, some small thing, a random act of kindness or even a kind or loving thought. Each moment we see the Other as ourselves: there are no enemies. Each moment something violent arises we meet it with something peaceful. Each moment anger arises we embrace it with compassion and deep understanding. This is hard work, as it is personal work.
From there, we step out. We take small signs and sit for peace, non-violence, or social justice. We work in a soup kitchen, a library, a school. We collect donations for Darfur relief. We write letters to our elected officials. We attend political meetings as a voice of conscience and not a political party member.
When our eyes are open, there is always somewhere to step.
Please consider offering yourself to the universe.
Be well.
Good Morning All,
Last night at the synagogue, we marked Yom HaShoah. Coincidentally, I am reading through a book entitled "Bearing Witness" by Bernie Glassman-roshi who ordained Anshin Thomas (the Zen priest walking across the US-Mexican Border as we speak). This book is about a group of Jews, Buddhists, Muslims and Christians who gather at Auschwitz (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auschwitz) to acknowledge an witness The Holocaust.
There are many such holocausts, not to diminish the word or the lives of those who were persecuted, tortured, and killed in the German run death camps. Anytime a civilization is torn to shreds by terror, starvation, and murder, I deem it a holocaust. Cambodia, Somalia, Rwanda, Darfur, North Korea, the Balkins, Iraq, and others are examples of holocaust, in my opinion.
And if we add up the totals of women killed or abused in domestic relationships, homelessness, and other forms of severe poverty and social injustice, millions come to mind, perhaps even our own country has its holocaust.
What makes the German holocaust so horrific is both the directed intent and the economy of it all. People reduced to animal status, animals with no names, no status, and no use, were systematically selected and killed, their remains burned. And no one did a thing to help. Then Cambodia was the same, as was Rwanda. When we do help, our efforts seem clumsy and ineffectual, as in Somalia or Darfur. In Iraq and the Balkins open warfare is the holocaust itself. Confused lines, ethnic fighting, and guerrilla warfare make the situations terribly cloudy.
Yet, people are suffering and dying either from actions of omission or co-mission in all of these places and they are doing so in large numbers.
Where are our witnesses? The witnesses of the 21st century? The military are not witnesses, they are part of the problem. The United Nations seems mired in its own sort of muck. The United States and the rest of the civilized world seems all too willing to use weapons rather than food, medical care, and other forms of relief. And as a nation, we are treated to a continuous show of man's inhumanity to man.
To be fair, there are thousands of witnesses: the small groups who sit n sidewalks with placards, the thousands who volunteer for the Peace Corps, Red Cross, and other humanitarian agencies. These are the Davids against our modern Goliaths. Still, there are millions, well actually most, of the rest of us who witness in our comfort, between commercials designed to put us to sleep, and who do nothing, say nothing, and ultimately think nothing about anything but what's for dinner and what's on the tube next.
We should be ashamed of ourselves.
Religious people are hardly that if they sit idle. Spirit means nothing if the will to change is not there. We need to get up off our asses and open our mouths. We need to change.
Yet change what? Where do we begin? The whole thing is so overwhelming, so complex.
We begin at the beginningless beginning and when we get to the end of the endless end, we stop. This means that every moment we confront ourselves and our world. Every moment we do something, some small thing, a random act of kindness or even a kind or loving thought. Each moment we see the Other as ourselves: there are no enemies. Each moment something violent arises we meet it with something peaceful. Each moment anger arises we embrace it with compassion and deep understanding. This is hard work, as it is personal work.
From there, we step out. We take small signs and sit for peace, non-violence, or social justice. We work in a soup kitchen, a library, a school. We collect donations for Darfur relief. We write letters to our elected officials. We attend political meetings as a voice of conscience and not a political party member.
When our eyes are open, there is always somewhere to step.
Please consider offering yourself to the universe.
Be well.