In my distress of the war, I emailed a very good friend and both complained to her about “my” country and asked to her to give me some shread of hope to hold onto.
Her reply follows;
About Americans – what do you want to say to them? – If you could say anything at all? Here’s what I picture you saying — sometimes it helps to really get it out…
AMERICAN speaking to YOU:
Damn it Sol, those Muslims are fucking up the world!
YOU speaking to an AMERICAN:
Jesus Christ! Don’t you know you shouldn’t make assumptions about other people without REALLY listening to them (not listening through a filter of “you’re wrong, I’m better” – really LISTENING), don’t you know you should sit down face to face and TALK about it? And that if you did you’d realize that those are PEOPLE over there inside those imaginary lines. People just like you and me – people who care about their children and their livelihood and only want happiness and safety and LOVE. And you’d also see PEOPLE who are SCARED to death that someone will come into their country or their neighborhood or their home and destroy all that matters to them? And that the reason they are scared is because it has happened before — that everyone has been hurt, and hurt badly — by someone from another country, or village — or even by someone within their own home. No one is free of hurt – no one on the planet is free of pain. Of course the natural (human) reaction to fear and pain is to put up a defense and fight back. That is why they feel like the have to resort to violence at times.
AMERICANS speaking back to YOU:
Exactly – they resorted to hate and violence. They shouldn’t do that — we need to punish them with more hate.
YOU to the AMERICAN:
NO, no – that is the last thing we need to do. When we hate them for hating us the cycle continues – to no end.
AMERICAN:
But they started it!
YOU:
What?? How old are you? They are just people – human beings. If you want to talk about who started it forever just look at the mess in Isreal – obviously that isn’t working. The only thing to do is to stop creating discord between human beings no matter what. Have you ever heard of a little something called UNCONDITIONAL LOVE. I think Gandhi and Martin Luther King knew a little something about that.
AMERICAN:
That’s impossible – it’ll never happen.
YOU:
I can give you something that will make it happen. I’ll tell you a little secret about TRUTH but only if you promise to pair it with UNCONDITIONAL LOVE.
Because TRUTH paired with UNCONDITIONAL LOVE is what is really, truly needed in the world right now.
Don’t get me wrong – unconditional love is really fucking hard (in fact, it is perfect, you’ll never get there). But the way to get close is to recognize thoughts of hate or discord when they come to mind and say “thanks for your input but no thanks.” Doing that moment to moment is how you break the cycle – you start with you – it is a constant meditation – at recognizing your own degree of hate and LETTING GO.
And when one whose heart is full of unconditional love takes up the banner of truth, he/she is unstoppable. — That is the challenge I give you.
——————– Now read this version of the conversation — read ALL the way to the end WITHOUT STOPPING.
YOU speaking to ME:
Damn it Sarah, the Americans are fucking up the world!
ME speaking to YOU:
Jesus Christ! Don’t you know you shouldn’t make assumptions about other people without REALLY listening to them (not listening through a filter of “you’re wrong, I’m better” – really LISTENING), don’t you know you should sit down face to face and TALK about it? And that if you did you’d realize that those are PEOPLE over there inside those imaginary lines. People just like you and me – people who care about their children and their livelihood and only want happiness and safety and LOVE. And you’d also see PEOPLE who are SCARED to death that someone will come into their country or their neighborhood or their home and destroy all that matters to them? And that the reason they are scared is because it has happened before — that everyone has been hurt, and hurt badly — by someone from another country, or village — or even by someone within their own home. No one is free of hurt – no one on the planet is free of pain. Of course the natural (human) reaction to fear and pain is to put up a defense and fight back. That is why they feel like the have to resort to violence at times.
YOU speaking to ME:
Exactly – they resorted to hate and violence. They shouldn’t do that — we need to punish them with more hate.
ME speaking to YOU:
NO, no – that is the last thing we need to do. When we hate them for hating us the cycle continues – to no end.
YOU:
But they started it!
ME:
What?? How old are you? They are just people – human beings. If you want to talk about who started it forever just look at the mess in Isreal – obviously that isn’t working. The only thing to do is to stop creating discord between human beings no matter what. Have you ever heard of a little something called UNCONDITIONAL LOVE. I think Gandhi and Martin Luther King knew a little something about that.
YOU:
That’s impossible, it’ll never happen.
ME:
I’ll tell you a little secret about TRUTH but only if you promise to pair it with UNCONDITIONAL LOVE.
Because TRUTH paired with UNCONDITIONAL LOVE is what is really, truly needed in the world right now.
Don’t get me wrong – unconditional love is really fucking hard (in fact, it is perfect, you’ll never get there). But the way to get close is to recognize thoughts of hate or discord when they come to mind and say “thanks for your input but no thanks.” Doing that moment to moment is how you break the cycle – you start with you – it is a constant meditation – at recognizing your own degree of hate and LETTING GO.
And when one whose heart is full of unconditional love takes up the banner of truth, he/she is unstoppable. — That is the challenge I give you.
Dear Sarah,
You´ve made my life lighter.
…and my world more peaceful.
I promise to deny the cycle of Hate my energy…
… and to forgive the Muslims, America and myself every single day.
With unconditional love,
sol