Bird Droppings April 1, 2010
Seeking peace

“In this week of great destruction, we must each choose what road we are to walk and live. The road of destruction is war, it has always been so. The road of creation is deeper and more complicated; it has always involved forgiveness, love, light, prayer, and spirit. In these new millennia we have a chance to change the way we see other beings to one of connectedness and unity. We have a chance to let go of the ancient ways of war and conflict, of who is right, of being better, of senseless killing. This week has thrown us back on the old model of the last millennia.” Michael Samuels, M.D., Mary Rockwood Lane, PhD, Path of the Feather

It has been a few months since I was in class and or meetings nearly all day literally in graduate school from 6:00 AM till 10:00 PM and never really stopped to write or think, although I did do a little pondering. During one moment of time between classes and meetings I happen to be sitting in the lobby of the Education Building at Georgia Southern University and gentlemen walked through with two peace symbols tattooed on his calf. It caught my attention and got me thinking back to several summers ago when I was driving up to Mountain City Georgia to visit the Foxfire museum. I watched seven people marching for peace in small town almost on the state line in Clayton, Georgia.
The paragraph I started with is a few lines from a Navaho prophecy edited by Dr.’s Samuels and Rockwood. In my own searching reading and writing so often the contrast of peace versus war comes up, as does so many other dualities in our world. As I get older the Cherokee rule of opposites seems to be more and clearer. We have to have these opposing forces in the world in order for a clear and definitive line to be drawn between. If there is black then white is needed to contrast and compliment and if love than hate.

“The three hardest tasks in the world are neither physical feats nor intellectual achievements, but moral acts: to return love for hate, to include the excluded, and to say, ‘I was wrong’.” Sydney J. Harris

For many Sydney J. Harris is simply an old forgotten columnist from by gone days that today people happen to read on occasion. When I use quotes from his essays and columns I am always amazed at how his words still have significance. His words are powerful and I thank a dear friend from nearly ten years ago for showing me his work. Often as I find articles he wrote from the sixties and seventies and I wonder why I missed them then. I am reminded often it was not the time, as I make reference to my Jungian philosophy and orientation. All of the pieces were not in place at that time for me to understand to recognize what it was he is saying. In my emails and communications often I see misunderstanding and ignorance, myself included. I recall a friend writing from his heart and others only could criticize and or turn away and not understand, so often not even reading the words.

“The two words ‘information’ and ‘communication’ are often used interchangeably, but they signify quite different things. Information is giving out; communication is getting through.” Sydney J. Harris

“An idealist believes the short run doesn’t count. A cynic believes the long run doesn’t matter. A realist believes that what is done or left undone in the short run determines the long run.” Sydney J. Harris

Sitting here most mornings it is so easy to formulate solutions and fantasize a world free from strife and turmoil and I as I write this morning thinking back to that graduate school experience a week in a motel room and recalling the then current news, thirty thousand more troops to be deployed in 2009 my heart still sinks. But then I walk away from my computer and wonder what is it we are trying to do in the world. Tomorrow morning a big sale at one of the local department stores, with the sale masses of humanity will line up to get the best deals using if they got their tax refund checks and gasoline will still be artificially high so our wonderful gas company’s profits can continue to bolster or hinder the economy, depending on whose view you take.
I often wonder who came up with thinking like that in any other business sooner or later someone would see the ridiculous, it has been nearly five years that Exxon just about each quarter has the highest profits ever in one headline and on another gasoline is at its highest ever, such an interesting parallel we seem to miss. A good point however at least someone is thinking as our Supreme Court judges slowly age, a poll was taken as to what type of judge should replace any who should step down. Most now want a moderate there are still a few wanting conservatives and only about a quarter want a liberal. Somewhere there was an extra three percent I am assuming they were undecided.

“Democracy is the only system that persists in asking the powers that be whether they are the powers that ought to be.” Sydney J. Harris

Ought to be that came up a few times this week as we discussed ethics in education. I am excited to be a part of education and to wake up to a new morning at my own house and be able to go begin again working in my herb garden that is if spring is really here. We each need to look at our pathway and see which direction we are going. Looking back at the first quote are we choosing the path of destruction or of creation as the Navaho say. My dear friends please keep all in harms way on your minds and in your hearts.
namaste