Waging Peace
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Social Networks are all the rage.
MySpace, FaceBook, Orkut, Gather, etc. Spaces where people of "like-mind" can meet and share.
So...
Up steps Ning, a site that lets you create your own Social Network.
So...
I created one: Waging Peace !
In the blog on that site, I posed an issue and got a surprising and slightly mind-blowing response:
Where Is Everyone?
Started by Alexander M Zoltai on Mar 9, 2007, 7:12am –
Peace is a good thing...
So, why do you think more people aren't supporting it?
Posted by Dar Mar 10, 2007, 8:26am –
That is a very good question but the answer is as complex as people themselves. History is rife with war, many seemingly justifiable. Who among us would stand by, in the name of peace, and watch our livlihoods stripped from us, our homes taken from us and our families murdered? Who among us didn't feel we were watching honor and courage incarnate when we watched Mel Gibson in "The Patriot" or "The Lord of the Rings"? While the line between good and evil may seem black and white to some of us, that is only because we are comfortable and not living in war. Innumerable smaller situations innundate every day in chaos, making that line between black and white blur to gray. This is what has happened to so many of our soldiers in Iraq.It is the nature of all beings to survive. Humans have an extra piece to that; they want to survive and conquer- greed is inherent in human nature. If a war for greed can be disguised as a war for honor or homeland, more is the support for it. Attaching people's emotions to a cause is vital. It has always been those very qualities that we admired in William Wallace and Aragorn that, when combined with any number of personal belief systems can wreak havoc on the world. Some of the most heinous mass murderers in history went to their graves feeling much as William Wallace did-like they died fighting for a cause they knew to be true. The suffering and the glory are but 2 sides of the same coin. People are expert at rationalizing their beliefs--to the greater good or the greater peril--of us all. SO why don't people support peace? That is a question that will garner a billion individual answers.
Posted by Alexander M Zoltai Mar 10, 2007, 8:37am –
Dar!!!!
Extremely insightful and poignant analysis!
Nearly poetic in its power!!
Worthy of prominent display!!!
~ Alex
P.S. Can I put it in my blog?
Reply by Dar Mar 10, 2007, 8:58am –
Alex! You are so very kind! Of course--feel free to put it in your blog--I would be honored!!
4 comments:
I think a lot of people are caught up in their own struggle for survival. It takes free time to be an activist. And I think there's a lot of apathy and hopelessness as well. The pump has to be primed somehow.
"The pump has to be primed somehow."
Oh, my, YES !!!
~ Alex
LadyK made a very good point. No matter how much I desire to fight for peace or to help hunger and illness and disease, I'm caught=up in my own struggle for survival - the daily nine-to-five. However, I think being in the right mind is a good place to start. We could move in a more positive direction if people would just begin there! It all starts with healing yourself, first.
Puzzled Woeman,
"...I think being in the right mind is a good place to start."
In my book it's the only place to start and, actually, the only place to stay !
If more people were in their "right mind" we'd all be happier...
~ Alex
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