Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: politics, brother ali, Barack Obama, Yes We Can, Recent events, life the universe and everything, social justice, activism, peace, justice, war
Though much of the “honeymoon period” of Obama’s presidency has ended and we are finally realizing that it will take much effort and time to undo all the wrongs and injustices that George W. Bush’s eight years, today Barack Obama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
This is wonderful. However, what is even better is President Obama’s reaction to winning the prize.
To be honest, I do not feel that I deserve to be in the company of so many of the transformative figures who’ve been honored by this prize — men and women who’ve inspired me and inspired the entire world through their courageous pursuit of peace.
But I also know that throughout history the Nobel Peace Prize has not just been used to honor specific achievement; it’s also been used as a means to give momentum to a set of causes.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr said that his Nobel Peace Prize was “also a commission — a commission to work harder than I had ever worked before for ‘the brotherhood of man.’”
Dr. King’s Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech is worth reading.
Dr. King was right when he said, “Sooner or later all the people of the world will have to discover a way to live together in peace, and thereby transform this pending cosmic elegy into a creative psalm of brotherhood. If this is to be achieved, man must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression and retaliation. The foundation of such a method is love.”
Barack Obama acknowledges that the prize is not so much a reward for a completed effort but rather a reminder, almost a burden, that there is still work to be done. That we shall overcome. That we are all part of the effort for a peaceful world. Barack Obama is being honored for his work in international diplomacy and efforts for a world free of nuclear weapons even though the we are still on the journey.
The man sat on the slim peninsula of land that divides East Parkway. He held a tattered cardboard sign, I was too far away to read it but I knew what it said. “Homeless and hungry”. I had seen the man often, always slumped against a pole holding his sign. There were three cars ahead of me at the intersection where the man sat. I had just taken a bite out of my breakfast biscuit when the light changed. Suddenly cars were moving and I found myself cranking my window down and handing the man my breakfast as I drove by. Giving the man my food wasn’t a choice. It just made sense, I had food but he didn’t. I watched him as I drove by and noticed things about the man I had never seen before. My eyes darted, first to his arm as he reached for the food. The man labored to move his right arm towards me, even though his left side was nearer to me. I then saw his left arm hanging limply by his side. As I observed the man I noted the two strands of saliva hanging from his beard. He turned towards me and mumbled his thanks, his words slurred and slow, as if the sound was being stretched as it left his lips. He smiled a crooked smile, exposing his swollen and bleeding gums. His eyes are what really jarred me. The brilliant blue orbs seemed to move in slow motion and out of synch as he turned look at me. His eyes never quite met mine, the milky blue of his irises was made more striking by his yellow sclera (the “whites” of the eye).
As I drove away, the things I had noticed about the man coalesced in my mind. I am a scientist and will be a physician eventually. His lack of left sided movement, slurred speech and drooling are all indicators of damage from a stroke. By smiling the man revealed what is most likely the manifestation of a lack of vitamin C and other essential nutrients. Though we usually associate scurvy with pirates, it can and does occur among the elderly and alcoholic, even in America. His eyes were striking both for their beauty and for how much they spoke about the man’s life. The milky white covering that somewhat veiled the blue of his irises could be cataracts, or a manifestation of a malnutrition. His yellow sclerae are almost certainly a consequence of liver disease.
The man’s very countenance revealed much about his life. The man is destitute and ill, in need of medical and possibly psychiatric care. The cold reality is that it takes time, often a long time, for a person to develop the problems the man with the sign had. As I continued my commute I kept thinking “this isn’t right”. No matter what vices this man was facing and no matter how many poor choices he may have made, the man, and all people, deserve a second chance. All people should have the right to proper medical care. Proper medical care doesn’t stop after treating the symptoms. Proper medical care considers the whole person and combines medicine, pastoral care, counseling and social work to heal a person rather than a disease.
I arrived at the research hospital where I work wondering, with sadness and indignation rising by the second, how many people had passed by the man without noticing or without caring. Wondering how many times I had averted my eyes as I passed the man. Wondering how many more people were in the same position as this man.
I don’t know how to fix a society where people are left behind, ignored, abused or oppressed but I do know that I can do something, however small, to help people in need. There is something that unites all humans. If we truly love each other and respect others in the way many great philosophers have described (Martin Buber’s “Ich-Du” or “I-Thou”, Buddha’s teaching about respect for all living, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s call “for a worldwide fellowship that lifts neighborly concern beyond one’s tribe, race, class, and nation is in reality a call for an all-embracing and unconditional love for all mankind” or Jesus’ commandment to love one another are all examples and expressions of the same idea) we will be able to see and strive to ameliorate the problems in the world.
“Strange is our situation here on earth. However, there is one thing that we do know, we are here for the sake of others. Above all, for those upon whose smile and well-being our own happiness depends. And, also, for the countless unknown souls with whose fate we are connected by a bond of sympathy.” Albert Einstein
Seeing the problems in the world is sometimes disheartening but as Dorthy Day said, “No one has a right to sit down and feel hopeless. There is too much work to do.”
I gave the homeless man a meal and in return I received a jolt that lifted me from a growing complacency and redoubled my commitment to do whatever I can to make things better.
One last thought to this very long post:
The United States has spent $600,361,401,515 on the war in Iraq. Just think of how much good we could do with that money. Instead of “defending ourselves from our enemies” through war (which only creates more enemies) we as a nation could become a powerful force of good in the world.
Just think of how many schools could be built or improved in the US and the world or how many millions of gallons of clean water could be provided to those who need it or how many medical clinics could be supplied and staffed. The possibilities are endless…
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Israel, Palestine, politics, Recent events, social justice
An army with at least $2 billion dollars of money from the US, bombed a school in a refugee camp run by the United Nations.
This is not just.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: activism, books, life the universe and everything, musings, social justice
I’ve always been fascinated by superheroes, mutants, wizards and other assorted fantastical creatures and their ability to change the world through their extraordinary powers. I would read comics about Superman saving the day, or the X-Men (and Women) fighting their valiant fight against the forces of evil and I wished that they were real. I became wrapped-up in the possibilities of the fantasy world where good always defeats evil, each book I read was a blessed escape from the reality of a world where wars and greed always seemed to triumph. At the end of each book, I was forced to return to the “real” world, a world devoid of superheroes. Each reemergence into the real world became harder as the contrast between what is and what should be became more apparent. With each book I knew that the world as it was, was in dire need of a superhero; however, I also realized that superheroes were trapped in the world of fantasy.
Recently I encountered a thought provoking passage towards the end of a satirical fantasy, Reaper Man, by Terry Pratchett in which the character of Death said: “THERE IS NO HOPE BUT US. THERE IS NO MERCY BUT US. THERE IS NO JUSTICE. THERE IS JUST US…ALL THINGS THAT ARE, ARE OURS. BUT WE MUST CARE. FOR IF WE DO NOT CARE, WE DO NOT EXIST. IF WE DO NOT EXIST, THEN THERE IS NOTHING BUT BLIND OBLIVION.” (N.B. Death only speaks in all caps.)
I mulled over these words and realized that Death was right. The only hope is the hope we maintain. The only mercy is the mercy we show to others. The only justice is the justice we create and protect. The only good in the world comes from ordinary people trying to make the world a better place. There are no super heroes.
The only superpower we can hope for is the strength that comes form the realization that the lack of superheroes frees us from complacency in waiting for someone else to change the world. We can’t keep waiting for a superhero to come and make everything better. There is nothing but us.
I wrote the above mini-essay 3 August 2005 but I’ve been thinking about it lately. I love D-PAN, Deaf Performing Artists Network (go watch the video, I can wait), they do amazing work but it is the words of John Mayer’s song that have been irritating me. Mayer laments about how the world doesn’t understand him and people like him so he will wait for the world to change. To me the idea of sitting back and waiting for things to change is appalling.
My heroes, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Mohandas K. Gandhi, and Phillip and Daniel Berrigan didn’t wait for oppressors and war lovers to have a change of heart; they acted, moved and created change.
The oft cited “Prayer attributed to St. Francis” would be nothing without the action inherent in it’s language. This isn’t a question of semantics. Imagine if the writer of the prayer had written “Lord, please allow me to see peace happen, where there is hatred, may love grow, may healing occur where there has been an injury” instead of “Lord, make me an instrument of Thy peace; where there is hatred, let me sow love…” In a world without superheroes or even deities (depending on your viewpoint) the only way to change the world is to do exactly that; change it.
Death, as Pratchett has imagined him/it, has it right. There will never be justice if we don’t act. There is no mercy except that which we show our neighbors. There is no peace except that which we create. The weird thing is that the opposite of justice, peace, mercy and kindness can occur in two distinct ways; actively (we do unjust things) or passively (we do nothing while injustice happens around us) but it takes action to make things right.
Whether it is a grand march to Montgomery, a walk to Dandhi or simply writing letters to movie studios demanding that they provide accurate captioning for all their films (in accordance with the FCC’s laws) actions big and small are what really matter.
