to quote a great american "...if you explain it to me for 1000 yrs it still won't make any God damned sense"- david letterman

now, i'm not a real smart man and i think more people like me are needed to solve this problem. all these learnered sages have been talking and debating and "summitting" for how many years now?

you might have a problem with bush, sharon, arafat
bin laden...but how am i concerned? or my children or the poor s.o.b who saved up for years to go to new york on vacation on 9/11/01 to do all the dorky tourist stuff including getting his picture taken on top of the world trade center tower? how is the young lovers on the town or the old man in the cafe drinking coffee and telling lies to his cronies connected to the cause of the stranger who will take their lives with a bomb?

bush: "you know osama, i can't believe how evil
we've been for so long. we americans see
now that democracy is really facism and
if you hadn't ordered that attack on
america there's no telling how long we
would have continued before we saw the
light. we as a nation thank you and
al-quida"



sharon: "you know yasser, that last suicide
bomber really opened my eyes. so i was
thinking, hell, just go ahead and keep
the land and start your own goverment.
we won't stand in your way."

arafat: "hey man, i was just getting ready to
call you. hey look, why can't we try
to solidify and work together under one
goverment? and about all that blood
shed, let's just put all that behind
us huh?"


sharon: "yeah, why cry over spilled milk."


in america problems exist between the blacks and whites. we don't understand one another and there are definite "lines" of distinction. black fashion/white fashion, black music/white music, "black" sports teams/"white" sports teams...but that's ok. to be an american means you can stand together as a culture without fear of reprisal. sure there was slavery and the klan but that is the PAST. that kind of action is no longer tolerated....

look, the most brilliant scientist could lecture and show charts and stats explaining evolution down to the tiniest quark and he couldn't disprove the existance of God because it would come down to one question..."how". how did the first spark of life begin if not by a higher power that can't be explained? likewise, scholars and polititians could speak and explain until they run out of words and try to make sense out of the conflicts in middle east and religious jihads and the question would always come back to "why". why not live and let live. why not surrender an inch to maybe gain a yard. why.

Danny,

I enjoyed your post. And I agree. "Live and Let Live" is a standard of excellence.

Simply, what comes to my mind after reading your post is: It appears that priorities are out of order. As I see it, whenever humans value land (anything tangible, or even praise or worship) over human life, chaos reigns. On a global level, it seems that outside parties, whose motives are pure, enter into the situation and struggle to set priorities back in order. (As a side note: Families, as microcosms of the world stage, would do well to take a lesson from it's dynamics.)

However difficult, the world's experiences are part of life and of learning. In the end, though, I believe the Truth will show up and be known. And all the struggles and chaos will cease.

Hey Danny,

At the base of every religion we are presented with a diagram or list of things to do which all boil down to 'Get Along'

This is God's message to us in what ever language (religion) we look at.

It is human nature to not get along with one another. We are divided and have always had the We/Them mentality - and for many thousands of years this was a good thing, it insured the survival of our species through the early ages when mankind had to fight to survive and resources where limited.

Our technology has made it possible for everyone to have everything they need to survive, unfortunately the division of the wealth is lop-sided - though in reality there is enough to go around, greed is a very powerful player in how things are divided up.

It is this greed which maintains the 'status-quo' it is greed which ultimately leads to bigotry.

By being able to dehumanize our fellow man, making them less than us by keeping distinctions such as race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, etc. We are able to justify our greed.

In the mentality of the greedy it is simply a matter of justification and rationalization that says that our survival is more important than the other persons and that survival depends on more.

And too, the other side, those who are being given less and are being made into less than human by the mentality of the greedy becomes upset and takes on the survival aspect that demands removing the threat to that survival in any means possible.

If we look at the Islamic Terrorists and their hatred for America, we find these two principles are at the root of the situation.

America's greed had dehumanized Islam, we have taken from them things that we really didn't need (The greed) Islam thus has resentment toward America and a few have taken it upon themselves to remove the very real threat to their survival - America.

This is why I do not feel angry at the Muslims dancing in the street in joy when the WTC towers collapsed - I can see the situation from their standpoint - America is their Evil Empire that threatens their very existance - it must, therefore, be removed.

Understanding the two driving forces that cause wars, riots, hatred, bigotry, and all the other nasties will make the acceptance of the way the world is easier, and too will make you aware of what the real issues are so you can start to cause a movement toward rectifying the wrongs and bringing peace.

Cheers

David

David,

"This is God's message to us in what ever language (religion) we look at.":

You and I must be reading two conflicting Bibles. And must have studied human behavior through opposing entities. I would be interested in taking a look at your sources.

Overall, though, I feel grateful that the UN does not turn a blind eye to meglomaniacs who plan, and act on their fantasies of taking over the world. History shows that "Let's just all get along", does not work with these people. It did take a while for us to open our eyes, with regard to pockets of evil, hiding and growing. But our eyes are open now.

On a personal level, I saw people attacking other people, psychologically. The people who were targeted for attack did not say, "Let's just get along." They cried out for help. And received it.

Later, someone else viciously attacked another person, through much more insidious psychological methods. That person targeted cried out, too. And the same people who received help, turned their backs, closed their eyes and said, "Just get along."

This is the real problem with flourishing evil: (Globally or familiarly.) Us. Indifference. Double standards. "As long as it's not aimed at me, who cares?"

But still nobody ever picks up the phone, and makes that call. Peace is so much easier than pride, but if everybody is "right..." and everybody wants to "win", it never ends and we all continue to lose.

Great post Danny.

ok, ok, ok....thanks ya'll for your replies. i'm not so dim as to think that the situation can be solved by "just getting along". all your replies are very insightful but david, what "greedy" deed did u.s commit that could possiably warrant a jihad? come on, not get mad when you see those ******* cheering the destruction of the wtc and the death of americans?! there is not/can not be logic to their actions no matter how much retoric is applied.

laying down arms do work. look at norhern ireland.
is everybody buddies now? hell no. but the violence has stopped (for the most part) and bridges between the two are being built.

my post was retorical....the idiology subjective.
i was just thinking out loud.

but here's a fresh idea...if whatcha doin' ain't workin' try sumthin' new. well, killin' and breakin' things ain't gettin' the job done why not bury the hatchet (and no not in the other guy's back) and try livin' peaceful-like.
couldn't hurt.

Saint Dan, please allow me to answer your question which was addressed to David. The greed in question is the greed for oil. The American government has been helping and protecting corrupt and brutal governments because they want to protect their access to oil.

As for the Arabs cheering at the collapse of the towers, I remember in the 60s seeing a photo in a magazine (Soldiers of fortune or something) where GIs were laughing and pointing at a Vietnamese woman who was sobbing over the dead body of her husband, whose skull was open, showing the brain inside. I just want to point out that when people are being brainwashed by jingoism and perverse patriotism, it is easy to consider "the ennemy" as non or sub-humans and therefore to laugh and cheer at his misfortune.

Whatever happened to the US on 9-11 has happened to other countries before and will happen again. The loss of loved ones is just as painful for any human being and it doesn't really matter whether it was due to terrorism or jihad or other acts of war, just or unjust. I think it is up to the people to tell their respective governments that they have enough of this nonsensical hatred and that they're mad as hell, etc..you know the rest... It's not going to happen anytime soon, but I'm still hoping.