PERSPECTIVE: A VIEWPOINT

ENOUGH

Yesterday, I saw a video that managed to shift everything and put it into perspective.  The beginning of the video was deceptively beautiful and there is no doubt that beauty exists within the country the video originated from.  The multi-colored panorama was a beautiful exposition of some of the country’s natural and majestic delights.  Juxtaposed midst the beauty of the panorama, the video demonstrated horrors and atrocities committed behind the deceptive beauty while a world looks on and watches.

The ravages of genocide have a way of making one see that there are some things in this world worth becoming angry and outraged about. Some things that demand stepping up and doing something about it while other, much less important things are not worth getting angry about.

It made me realize that getting upset, like I had been, over being short-changed in the serving of a cup of coffee, or becoming angry at people’s rudeness and insensitivity were just not worth the effort it took to become angry and expend that energy over trivial things. 

When confronted with the reality of what occurs around the world and the atrocities committed because someone is different from another, or usually because of greed it manages to shift things and put them into perspective.

There already exists too much anger and hatred in the world.  Let us ask ourselves, do we really want to contribute to the spreading of more hatred and anger by reacting to the situation with anger or hatred?  Is there not enough of it already in the world?

Seeing the bodies of men, women, children left on the ground and decaying like they were rubbish or trash to be disposed of makes road rage seem ludicrous in comparison.

We are so very blessed in this country and we have so much to be thankful for.  Our children are not forced into becoming child soldiers and trained to commit atrocities.  Our children, for the most part, sleep safe, sound, and snug in their beds while others throughout the world hide in fear and are hunted to extinction.

The video caused me to realize that it takes little effort to apologize for reacting out of anger and to make amends.

Differences between people must exist because we are not all created as clones of each other.  We all think differently, believe differently, act differently.  We would be hard pressed to tell the difference between races if our outer layer of skin and its pigmentation did not exist.  Underneath, we all have hearts and organs and muscles and tissues, our bodies all pump blood and most have intellect. 

We were all created to live life, not to destroy life. 

If women knew that one day the child they would bear would take life and become a murderer or that their child would be the one destroyed by the efforts of another do you suppose they would have chosen to birth the child? 

When did the world change?

What mindset in this world sits back and watches as innocent minds are destroyed and corrupted?

Too many are unwilling to see the reality of life as it exists for others around the world because it upsets the apple cart and cause some discomfort in the viewing of it.

While I understand that no one wants to disturb or disrupt their peace of mind or happiness, there comes a time when we must deal with issues the way they are presented.  Oftentimes, war and genocide are not pretty pictures and yes, they will certainly cause or provoke a reaction.  Hopefully it will be one of horror and shock at the brutality.  Unfortunately, in today’s age, very little shocks anyone anymore. 

Have we become so accustomed to violence that we have become immune to it and to the plight of millions around the world?

Have we become so comfortable in our own lives that we can spare little for anyone else? 

How can millions be slaughtered and there is barely an outcry around the world?

The answer to this must be because it causes too much discomfort to people to actually take the time to look and see and understand what is happening.  Indifference comes at a very high cost.  It comes at the cost of the destruction of innocent life, the murder of our children, the raping of their mothers, and the extinction of millions.

What effort do we take and what difference can we make?

Do we add more hatred to the toxic mix around the world?

Do we feed the frenzy that hatred creates and do we encourage even greater brutality?

The answer to these questions must be yes if we are unwilling to even see what happens. 

Yes there are some things worth getting angry about and the genocide of people is one of them.

Greed is usually at the forefront and is the root cause of many of the wars.   Greed… why?

There is only so much that we can spend.  There is only so many pairs of pants or dresses that we can wear at one time. There is only so many vehicles we can drive at one time.

We can only wear one set of clothing at a time, drive one car at a time, eat one meal at a time, sleep in one house at a time.  Is it necessary in the quest to become richer that it comes at the cost of innocent life?  The profit margin, while it is understandable to a degree.. where do we draw the line and when is enough enough?

Our comfortable lives, ability to communicate, jewelry we wear, clothing we wear, sometimes comes at a very high cost in other countries around the world.  The diamonds we wear, were they purchased with the blood of the people? The cell phone we use, was it purchased at the cost of more life blood? The mineral resources… the cars we drive, did the fuel come at the cost of more innocent life? The mineral resources we use at the cost of our planet’s existence and ultimately the destruction on a global scale of human life.

When is enough enough?

 The video hit at the core of what it means to be human.  It is visceral in that we see the level of destruction at the hands of another human being for the sake of inanimate matter.  Life destroyed for a THING that has no life.  

Corporations are headed up by human beings; it is time to offer a refresher course to the world on what it means to be a human being.  Strip away the pigmentation and we all look the same underneath, muscle, sinew, bone, tissue and organs.  Heads of State, Heads of Corporations, Global Leaders, man, woman child, we are all human beings. Let us remember that and let us see the humanity in others.

We need to reassess our priorities in life and recognize that we are destroying our future and the world that our children will inherit if we do not change our response from anger to  peace, from hatred to love, from greed to giving, from taking to serving, from indifference to caring.

Are we all capable of anger? Certainly we are.  It is part of the human condition and is one of the choices that we make every day.  Anger is a choice we make.  Hatred is a choice we make.  Greed is a choice we make.

We are at the crossroads and we must now take a stand and say ENOUGH.  If we go further down this path we are on, we await the destruction of mankind.  We must shout it from the rooftops.  ENOUGH.

When we look with love instead of hate, we seed the world to change.

Change begins with us.  It begins within us and within our thoughts and externalizes outwardly to others.  When we cease expecting something in return , we stop greed from taking root.  When we give to others without expectation of anything in return, we do this to make a difference in at least one other life and we do it because we can.

Life is about choices.  Because WE CAN.  Choose wisely and choose lovingly. Any other choice paves the way to increasing the level of violence in the world.  It is time to say ENOUGH and it is time to LOVE.

It is time to be and exemplify what being a human being means.

We can no longer afford to look the other way; the cost of looking the other way is much too high a price to pay.

Live, love, laugh in service to others, because we can. Strip the mask off and reveal what it means to be a human being.

When we look away, we pave the way and make it easier for the atrocities to be committed.  When we fail to take action, we allow it to continue.  When we pretend it does not exist, we allow it to grow to greater proportions.  When we choose to ignore it, we may as well be pulling the trigger ourselves because we didn’t step in to help when we had the chance.

When we are silent their voices are not be heard.

We are all part of the human race… are we all unwittingly racing to the finish line?

In our race to be the first, the best, the most, the mightiest, it is worth the effort to see what price it is that others have to pay to make our success possible.

In some countries, mutilations, rapes, genocides happen while in others people freeze to death because of lack of caring or empathy or compassion.  It’s another form of extinction.  In some countries people die of starvation and some in prosperous countries die of this too.

In some countries, people die of lack of medical attention while in prosperous countries, people weigh the cost of medical attention.  Where is the difference?

In some countries, people live in cardboard houses while in prosperous countries, they live underneath bridges.

Each country must also see to the needs of its own people and not turn a blind eye to their plight.

The video put things into perspective for me yesterday.

In some countries people lack the basic necessities of life while in prosperous countries people are forced to make a choice to eat or to pay heating costs and many more.

We all have our own set of problems and we recognize this.  It is time to look for the solutions to the problems rather than focus on the problems.

We can no longer afford to turn a blind eye to the reality of life around the world and the plight of this world’s people.  We are ONE WORLD and we all live within this world. Let us now choose a better response to living in this world.

We are ONE WORLD, and like the blood that pumps through our veins that is crucial to our lives, let us recognize that we all must work together for our very survival.  We all have different functions and we must celebrate our differences.  The body human is made up of many parts; each has its own purpose.  This world too is made up of many parts, each with its own role and its own purpose.  We are all the lifeblood of the world; let us not obstruct its proper flow and life-giving sustenance.

Hatred and intolerance are akin to arterial plaque build-up in the heart that chokes off the blood flow and causes loss of life.  War is the obstruction to life.  Greed is an obstruction to life. When War and Greed combine, we have found the elixir that will propel us to the end of the race; the human race.

What can we do to make a difference in the world today? Questions we must ask ourselves.  What can I freely give to another to help make someone’s life brighter? Give thanks for the many blessings we have received and the love we share with each other and for one another.

What have I seen on my travels this day? Did I notice someone who needed help? Did I notice that someone did something or said something nice to someone else? Did I see only the bad things or did I notice the good things too?

Seeing myself step into their shoes for just a moment to wonder what it would be like to experience something from another person’s perspective?

The video yesterday put things into perspective for me.

The people of this world inhabit one world – Do we really want to race towards its destruction?

Greed is too high a price to pay when our environment and this planet’s survival is at stake. What profits the world that it seeds its own destruction when its people germinate greed?  This is a question that should be asked in the boardrooms and on senate floors.

Greed is too high a price to pay. Our world’s resources are critical for sustaining life and we are destroying even that.

What will man profit when our trees can no longer purify the air we breathe? What will man profit when the oil we deplete from earth’s core causes the depletion of the earth’s ozone layer?

What will mankind profit from the resources it plundered; what of our children?

What will mankind profit from teaching our children to merit greed when we are born naked into this world and will leave it the same way?

What will mankind profit when it destroys the world’s greatest resource, when it destroys human life it sets about its own destruction? For if we value not life, why would others value ours?

Hatred begets hatred; Love begets love.

Am I capable of anger? You bet I am. Do I choose to react in anger? Yesterday’s video put things into perspective for me.  Some things are worth getting angry about while others are not.

What can I do today to make a difference in the world? I can choose to react with love and with kindness.  I can choose to be compassionate.  I can choose to be helpful.  I can choose to be nice. I can choose to be me.

Where have all the children gone.  Cherish our children; they are the world’s life blood.

Nurture our children; they are the world’s continued existence.

Protect our children; they are the world’s most precious resource.

When you look through the eyes of a child and you see what that child should not, you know what difference you can make.

When I looked into the eyes of a child soldier and I beheld that child’s reality, I recognized that it was time to yell out ENOUGH!

It is up to us to teach our children. Do we really want to teach them to be destroyers?

If this is what we choose, we teach them to choose their own destruction.

It is up to us to teach our children. Let us teach them to nurture one another and accept each other’s differences.  Like the body has many parts that all work together for the benefit of the whole body, so too, the world must have many peoples all working together for the benefit of the whole world.  Our very survival is at stake.

It is time to loudly proclaim ENOUGH! Today I choose Love.

When we hold a newborn life in our arms, decide to teach with love. When we correct a child, decide to correct with love.

Decide what you will feed, the power of hatred or the power of love?

Do not let fear of not having enough be the root cause of letting greed into your life to rule over it; where the quest for more serves as the building blocks that lead to the finishing line of the human race.

Yesterday the video put things into perspective for me and caused me to reflect greatly on what I saw and begin to write again.

The impact of the video was the impetus to the poem below:

Where Did The Little Ones Go?

They took our children

taught them to be monsters

Destroyers of innocence

showed them how  to mutilate

Purveyors of hatred stole our children

and showed  them  the ravages of war.

They stole our children

and twisted their souls

what future have they now?

Can we turn back the hands of time

and teach them innocence again?

Can we go back to before

and teach them how to play once more?

Can we stop time

and undo the damage to these young minds?

Where did the little ones go?

Where do they hide within the body of the soldier boy?

Hatred builds upon hatred

and feeds on the frenzy created

Where have our children gone

In this world that taught them to kill

In what do we hope

for the future born of violence

Who bears the cost

They murdered these children

when they taught them to kill

They ripped out their hearts

when they taught them to hate

They changed who our children are

when they taught them to mutilate

Who mourns the loss of their innocence

Who hates the child held hostage

to the tyranny of the dictator

What world is this

that creates such horror

They stole our children

and taught them to be monsters

Where did the little ones go

when their minds beheld the horrors?

Where did the little ones go

as their machetes struck a blow?

The laughter of innocence

and playful joy silenced

Gave way to the screams

as these little ones tortured

What world is this that we live in

That creates such as this?

What mind of man in this world

demanded the sacrifice of our children

who spilled their blood

and tries to wash it clean

who hates indiscriminately

Corruptor of innocence

Children lost and bewildered

haunted by deeds

the voices of many

who lay slaughtered

cry out from the blood soaked soil

The blood of this people

The cost of a diamond

The earth cries out

as it chokes on blood

and embraces the bodies

covered up with dirt

Ashes to ashes

They stole our children

Blood to blood

Destroyers of Innocence

an eye for an eye

Where have our children gone

and will they ever return?

What sword is this

that they must now wield?

You taught them no mercy

And taught them not to yield

You spent their blood

and ravaged neighborhoods

You stole their puberty

and taught them to rape

Thieves in the night

soldiers by day

nine years old

knows what a child should not

You murdered our children

you taught them to hate

Who was this you wonder

It was man I say.

Deborah McIntosh

November 18, 2010

We all share a common thread… we are the heartbeat of the world.  Humanity is the lifeblood of the world.  Mankind is the essence of life.  Mankind is a composite word – man and kind.. Mankind, within the word itself, teaches us how to be and teaches us that we are all different.  Man is about humanity and kind is about kindness and is also about differences.

Let us hasten change around the world to show that we are the world’s children.  We are one body, one world.

Let us teach our children what it is to be part of mankind so that they, in turn will teach their children to be what children naturally are; loving.

Some things are worth becoming angry over.  Our survival as a species is one of them.  Our world’s survival is another.

It is time to say ENOUGH.

What can I do today to make a difference? 

Today I choose to forgive past hurts and deeds. 

Today I choose love. 

Today I choose to heal. 

Today I choose to make my space a loving space.

Today I choose to be me, just because I can.