PEACE: THE BETTER ALTERNATIVE

(Maybe, the Only One for Man’s Survival)

It’s sad how this war is being propagated, at the expense of truth, freedom, justice and humanity.  The governments of the U.S., Great Britain, Spain and other countries like my own country, the Philippines – with the help of most of their mainstream media - are still in denial about how this war lacks the support of the majority of peoples all over the world. 

It’s amazing how many of the most misinformed people seem to come from the U.S.  Once the land of the free, the U.S. now has many citizens who seem to have given up their rights to seek the truth and exercise discernment – perhaps because of genuine fear or, maybe, for the comfort of having a strong leader dictate their thinking and behavior instead of engaging in their own.  Maybe, for some, it’s the desire to maintain, at all costs, the lifestyles that they’ve been used to.  For some, perhaps, it’s arrogance – what is good for America is good for the world.  Some, perhaps, just have not developed the habit of looking beyond their noses.  Whatever the reason, it is truly incredible how many find patriotism an excuse for violations of the very basics of democracy.

Here’s what Lord Baden Powell has to say about that kind of patriotism:

We should take care, in inculcating patriotism into our boys and girls, that is a patriotism above the narrow sentiment which usually stops at one's country, and thus inspires jealousy and enmity in dealing with others... Our patriotism should be of the wider, nobler kind, which recognizes justice and reasonableness in the claims of others and which lead our country into comradeship with... the other nations of the world. The first step to this end is to develop peace and goodwill within our borders, by training our youth of both sexes to its practice as their habit of life, so that the jealousies of town against town, class against class, and sect against sect no longer exist; and then to extend this good feeling beyond our frontiers towards our neighbors. 

As a result of this kind of patriotism, in this advanced state of civilization, we find racial discrimination very much alive again.  Will we soon see slavery back?  And, what other sordid things do we want to revive from the dark ages? 

The fallacy of sweeping generalization and other enemies of logic are rampant these days.  Due to the crimes of some individuals, a whole group of people is called terrorists.  Muslims are supposed to be all violent people, all religious fanatics.  Name-calling and ostracism are lethal weapons used to gain support for this war.  “You are either with us or you’re against us.”  Join the bandwagon of extreme arrogance, narrow thinking, infantile behavior and absolute intolerance for differences.  Support the development of the superior race that Hitler dreamt about.  Support genocide.    It’s easy when you’ve taken the first step of practicing discrimination.  Both Democracy and Christianity would fly out the windows of your mind and soul, in a heartbeat, to the very depths of oblivion.  Then, what do you have standing between you and barbarism?  Nothing.

I am a Christian and don’t know a lot about other religion.  But, I do know that Christianity has its fair share of evil, fanatic people – and it would be unjust if other religions pronounce all Christians to be evil fanatics.  Although Christianity is the leading religion in the world accounting for over 30% of world population, there are some Christians who have stopped praying and practicing their faith – “I’m not religious though I’m spiritual” is something I’ve heard of only from Christians.  People of other faiths – Islam, Buddhism – seem to pray more often – they cannot not practice their faith.  We can.  At least, that’s my personal observation. 

Now, look, who is leading the world to the third world war?  Aren’t they Christian nations?  They don’t even suffer from cognitive dissonance – or even a guilty conscience -- when sitting side by side with their claims to be Christians is their un-Christian, bloodthirsty cry for retaliation, and their determination to kill now those they suspect might kill them in the future.  In fact, let’s not just kill some individuals – let’s kill everyone in the land because even those who are not suspect now could produce offspring who might be.  Shall this be applied, nationally, where we could eliminate people we suspect might someday be criminals?  Shall we eliminate them while they’re still in childhood, as soon as they manifest some tendency to be criminals?  Or is this applicable only internationally?  When will these Christians realize that they cannot serve two masters?  Not our God and the god of power and the almighty dollar at the same time.  Not our God and the god of human massacre.

Someone told me that in the U.S., those who join the anti-war movements are “cowards and idiots.”  If those are cowards and idiots, I pray that the U.S. might have more of them.  That alone gives the whole world a lot of hope.  Let us pray for these people who risk their lives and must be suffering a lot of discomfort.  This war issue is so divisive – it divides not just the world, but families; it could destroy friendships.  Imagine what you have to go through, day in and day out, when you’re fighting for peace in an environment where many people want war?

Let’s pray, too, that all nations and peoples against the war could maintain their strength and conviction, even faced with mighty opposition – government/military/politics, big business/greed and biased media/ propaganda, all working together for the interest of their masters and gods.

Here’s the lyrics of a sad, gentle song of protest against the escalation of the war in Vietnam by Canadian folk singer, Joni Mitchell, from her second album, Clouds in April, 1969.

THE FIDDLE AND THE DRUM

And so once again

My dear Johnny, my dear friend

And so once again you are fightin' us all

And when I ask you why

You raise your sticks and cry, and I fall

Oh, my friend

How did you come

To trade the fiddle for the drum

You say I have turned

Like the enemies you've earned

But I can remember

All the good things you are

And so I ask you please

Can I help you find the peace and the star

Oh, my friend

What time is this

To trade the handshake for the fist

And so once again

Oh, America my friend

And so once again

You are fighting us all

And when we ask you why

You raise your sticks and cry and we fall

Oh, my friend

How did you come

To trade the fiddle for the drum

You say we have turned

Like the enemies you've earned

But we can remember

All the good things you are

And so we ask you please

Can we help you find the peace and the star

Oh my friend

We have all come

To fear the beating of your drum

Isn’t it peculiar that what was true in the 60’s is still true today?  See this quote from Martin Luther King:

We can no longer afford to worship the god of hate or bow before the altar of retaliation. The oceans of history are made turbulent by the ever-rising tides of hate....  We still have a choice today: nonviolent coexistence or violent co-annihilation. We must move past indecision to action. We must find new ways to speak for peace in Vietnam and justice throughout the developing world, a world that borders on our doors. If we do not act, we shall surely be dragged down the long, dark, and shameful corridors of time reserved for those who possess power without compassion, might without morality, and strength without sight.  

If you want to relax and promote peace via the Internet, see and spread the various peace quotations in our PEACE RACE section.  You will also find here the enlightening writings of Martin Luther King.  Just recently, we have optimized our PEACE RACE section.  All the pages load up faster now because we have lowered the resolution of the images and have removed the playing of audio.  But, you could still send peace cards and download Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” audio file and some songs.  The following are full songs that are downloadable – after unzipping, you could play them with Windows Media Player:

·                     If We Hold On Together  by Diana Ross

·                     The Lord's Prayer  (I forgot the singer but it’s such a beautiful

rendition)

·                     Imagine by John Lennon

·                     We Are The World  by Michael Jackson & Friends

·                     Where have all the Flowers Gone by Peter, Paul & Mary

·                     Amazing Grace by Lani Misalucha

·                     Jubilee Song  by Jamie Rivera

·                     Isang Lahi (One Race) by Regine Velasquez

The PEACE RACE section could be found at

http://www.yonip.com/peace/index.htm

Let us keep these four candles, burning.

Peace, not war, be with us, all!

Katherine V. Arellano

Webmaster, www.yonip.com