A perfect quote...
We have returned home from a lovely Thanksgiving. As is so often the case, in the flurry of activity that is the holiday, I didn't watch or catch any of the news since Thursday. So upon returning and learning about the horrible events in Mumbai, India...well, I am just sickened. And when reading my Friends List, I found my friend, roaming had found the perfect quote that expresses some, but hardly all, of my feelings on this. And if you haven't seen The Dark Knight, the latest Batman movie, than this quote is perhaps the one thing I remember the most from it.
"Some men aren't looking for anything logical like money. They can't be bought, bullied, reasoned or negotiated with. Some men just want to watch the world burn." (Alfred Pennyworth, Batman, The Dark Knight)
These sorts of events summon up all my anger and frustration at these so militants. Their actions throughout the world dismiss and belittle all of the possibly legitimate issues that are occurring due to Western actions. As a Buddhist, I try to practice and understand compassion at all times. I would love to live in a non-violent world. However I do not. And when events like this happen they make me examine my own internal understanding of non-violence. I come to understand that when violence is brought to you, you are already "in violence" and will need to reply to it in kind. These terrorist have brought violence to the whole world. They would harm and kill my children were it possible. And for that, I would see them removed from this world.
The Dalia Lama said once, when being questioned about the fighters who resist the Chinese in Tibet, and I am paraphrasing here, that sometime the only way to instruct a person in the Dharma, may be a slap on the face. And that sometimes, were these people so entrenched in their own cycle of violence, that that slap may need to be a fatal one.
In the face of such actions, it is easy to see the world as a dark place. But really it isn't. The vast majority of human kind understand that our lives are best served through mutual cooperation and peace. I have often said that the peace is often kept not through laws are police, but through simple human actions. There aren't enough laws are police to keep us each from violence and most of us don't commit such acts not through fear of punishment or retribution. We act civilized because we are and it is a natural state of the human condition. I can only hope so, for the sake of my children and their future. So I was pleased to see the following video and This Story on tonight's CBS news, about a wonderful good Samaritan. One quote from the man featured in this is,
"There's too much anger and distrust and fear out there. I'd like the world to be a better place," Weller said.
I hope your Thanksgiving was thankful and you have told a love one that you do today.
"Some men aren't looking for anything logical like money. They can't be bought, bullied, reasoned or negotiated with. Some men just want to watch the world burn." (Alfred Pennyworth, Batman, The Dark Knight)
These sorts of events summon up all my anger and frustration at these so militants. Their actions throughout the world dismiss and belittle all of the possibly legitimate issues that are occurring due to Western actions. As a Buddhist, I try to practice and understand compassion at all times. I would love to live in a non-violent world. However I do not. And when events like this happen they make me examine my own internal understanding of non-violence. I come to understand that when violence is brought to you, you are already "in violence" and will need to reply to it in kind. These terrorist have brought violence to the whole world. They would harm and kill my children were it possible. And for that, I would see them removed from this world.
The Dalia Lama said once, when being questioned about the fighters who resist the Chinese in Tibet, and I am paraphrasing here, that sometime the only way to instruct a person in the Dharma, may be a slap on the face. And that sometimes, were these people so entrenched in their own cycle of violence, that that slap may need to be a fatal one.
In the face of such actions, it is easy to see the world as a dark place. But really it isn't. The vast majority of human kind understand that our lives are best served through mutual cooperation and peace. I have often said that the peace is often kept not through laws are police, but through simple human actions. There aren't enough laws are police to keep us each from violence and most of us don't commit such acts not through fear of punishment or retribution. We act civilized because we are and it is a natural state of the human condition. I can only hope so, for the sake of my children and their future. So I was pleased to see the following video and This Story on tonight's CBS news, about a wonderful good Samaritan. One quote from the man featured in this is,
"There's too much anger and distrust and fear out there. I'd like the world to be a better place," Weller said.
I hope your Thanksgiving was thankful and you have told a love one that you do today.