9-11!

9-11!

Wake up!

Help!

Er, not now!

Change!

Repent!

Who--me?

Who--US?

Like most Americans I remember where I was on 9-11-01. The only other time and event as such I remember where I was and what I was doing was November 22, 1963--the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. I was in high school, in algebra class. We heard a radio announcement through the school’s public address system.

9-11-01 was a beautiful sunshiny warm day here in Frankfort, KY, my hometown, as it was in New York City and Washington, D.C.

I left my sick teenage daughter home watching TV while I took off for a walk. When I came back I found that the first plane had hit the World Trade Center. My daughter and I watched TV off and on throughout the day.

I watched a lot of TV after that--especially CNN and PBS. I have always appreciated the PBS coverage and follow-up--analytical, thoughtful, informative, educational, in-depth programming.

I also read a lot--both in print and online. I learned a lot about Islam, Afghanistan, American foreign policy, etc. I had already been learning and praying about the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict. I knew there was a connection.

I was devastated by the American all-out military response of the Global War on Terror and I still am. I was horrified by the U.S. invasion of Iraq, especially knowing there was no connection there.

Following 9-11, I joined a monthly prayer vigil for peace. I took prayer walks in my neighborhood that included around the Kentucky Capitol Building. I helped organize a community celebration of the International Day of Peace on September 21.

Leading up to the U.S. invasion of Iraq, I stood at first alone and then with my husband weekly before Frankfort’s Federal Building to protest. I stood with a sign in front of Kentucky’s Old Capitol, next to the Federal Building during a holiday celebration. With a friend, I organized a large MoveOn.org candlelight vigil before the New Captiol.

I gave up when the invasion of Iraq actually happened. When I found out that the war was not going to be the cakewalk as promised I began protesting again.

I really do not have the exact timeline of protests and events. I will say that a few joined me in my protests, that we had had a few events, including observances of the International Day of Peace and Mother’s Day for Peace. In the process we became a chapter of CODEPINK: Women for Peace.

After weekly protest vigils for sometime, especially after President Obama was inaugurated, people began leaving the vigil and I finally became unable to do so. I still maintain a listserv for CODEPINK Frankfort with announcements, news, and e-actions.

I have been blogging for peace and I have written occasional Letters to the Editor on the matter of peace. I participate in online activism.  I have also joined and am now on the board of the Frankfort Chapter of the United Nations Association.

9-11 was my wake-up call. I have dedicated my life to peace. I try to live for peace and in peace. I pray for peace. I use the prayer and affirmation of the World Peace Prayer Society, May Peace Prevail On Earth! In fact, I Declare World Peace. I have also signed the Charter for Compassion believing that compassion and peace itself, not war, is the way to peace.

Along the way I have acquired a new faith--Unitarian Universalism (See here and here).

I am still reading and I am still learning, too. (See some of my reading at my Beautiful Books page. Also check out my Lilting Links page as well as the Links in the Sidebar.)  I wish I could do more in the active mode, but I am limited because of circumstances.

I do encourage others to join the work of peace. I wish my own country would do so, too.

According to CostofWar.com of the National Priorities Project, the United States has spent 1.3 trillion dollars in total war spending since fiscal year 2001.

That same amount of money, the Website says, could have provided for

• 646.0 million Children Receiving Low-Income Healthcare for One Year OR
• 18.6 million Elementary School Teachers for One Year OR
• 122.0 million Fair Market Rent for One Bedroom Apartment for One Year OR
• 165.8 million Head Start Slots for Children for One Year OR
• 602.2 million One Year Worth of Groceries for an Individual OR
• 259.2 million People Receiving Low-Income Healthcare for One Year OR
• 159.9 million Scholarships for University Students for One Year OR
• 227.1 million Students receiving Pell Grants of $5550.

Something is wrong here. Instead of bombing and making war on others, the United States needs to invest in its own. Yes, we can and must help others abroad, but war is not the way. We must also not neglect our own people. We must Bring Our War $$ Home!

9-11!

Wake-up!

Help!

For Hiroshima Day

August 6, Hiroshima Day, commemorates the first ever atomic bomb attack, by the United States, on Hiroshima, Japan in 1945. It is estimated that 90,000－166,000 persons died from that attack. A second (and last) atomic attack was carried out three days later, also by the U.S., on Nagasaki, Japan.


Having been born almost two years later, I grew up in the shadow of the bomb. I grew up in the first generation knowing we could bring the world to an end. Now we know that we can bring the world to an end not only by nuclear destruction, but through environmental destruction as well. 


I remember  in elementary school we had bomb drill practices when we had to get down under our desks for awhile. Families were encouraged to build bomb shelters in their backyards for survival. I don't think many did though. At least, none that I knew of. Anyway, "the bomb" was in the air, so to speak. We were probably even shown documentaries on such.


I also remember later seeing the movie called, "On the Beach," depicting after the bomb. I even read a couple of novels depicting after the bomb.


Not too many years ago, I read a book I found at my local library telling stories from the survivors called, hibakusha. At this time I also read from the library, a book by a Japanese man survivor written not too many years after the bomb.

I guess you could say I have been haunted by the bomb. This threat of nuclear destruction is one reason I believe we are going to have to get along in this world.  I am not one of those who looks forward to the end of the world for Jesus to come back. I believe that part of why we are here is to love and care for each other. Compassion--not hate, destruction, and war--is the way.


The above is why I am so dismayed by the current action of Congress in our deficit crisis. There is no excuse for the wealthy not doing their part and for putting it all on the poor and the needy. All this warmaking and defense spending must be cut.


All human life everywhere is sacred including terrorists, Democrats, and Republicans.


I Declare World Peace.


Read Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Rich Man's Coup of America and Women's Challenge, and sign the Charter for Compassion. You can also declare world peace, too.

What the World Needs Now

I have felt for some time that the religion writer Karen Armstrong is a prophet for our time. As a self-taught religious historian (comparative religion) she came to the conclusion that compassion is what ties the religions of the world together. She found that the main religions all developed in a time of conflict and that their answer was compassion based on the Golden Rule of treating others as one would wish to be treated.

This last book of hers, Twelve Steps to a Compassionate Life, is a companion to her Charter for Compassion initiative. The Peace Advocate has its own page for that Charter (See the tab at the top or go here.) and the Charter's website is here.

I have read several of Armstrong's books now. (See the Beautiful Books tab at the top or go here.) I have thoroughly enjoyed them and have learned much. They read fairly academically in a dense, but interesting manner. The first chapter in this book may read that way, but the main thrust of the book is much more practical and straight forward.

Armstrong begins with compassion from and for the individual and ends up with compassion from nations for the world. She stresses the meditation of the Buddha on the Four Immeasurables and she continues to stress the Golden Rule.

She emphasizes that the book is a how-to. I have now read the book through and hope soon to reread it and study it. Reading groups are encouraged and there are resources for them available. The Charter's Facebook page has a page of its own devoted to the book.

As the old song says:

What the world needs now is love, sweet love
It's the only thing that there's just too little of
What the world needs now is love, sweet love,
No not just for some but for everyone.

I believe that time is now.

A Need for Consciousness-raising

I call this post, “A Need for Consciousness-raising,”  but I guess it could just as well be called “A Need for Awareness-raising.” Whatever you call it, I believe there is a need in American society for something to bring about a change of mind or change of heart.



Robert Wright had an Op-Ed in the New York Times on Thanksgiving Day in which he wrote about having to write a column appropriate to the day. He wrote that he had a hard time giving thanks and that he tended to focus on the negative. He gave some of his examples:



(1) The New Start treaty — which just about every analyst, Democratic or Republican, says would make America more secure — is on the verge of being sunk by a few senators for partisan reasons. (2) This is symptomatic of intense political polarization, bitter division that is paralyzing our politics. (3) Some of America’s divisions, dangerously, are falling along ethnic lines. In particular, American Muslims are often the object of irrational fear and suspicion.



Then, turning to the positive, he wrote:



If people preaching tolerance, understanding, and cool reason prevail, the world won’t go down in flames. My point isn’t just that good may yet prevail. My point is that there’s a correlation between good prevailing and the world surviving in good shape. The more morally enlightened people get — the more they set aside their narrow perspectives and tribal passions and see how things look through the eyes of people from different religions, cultures, nations — the more orderly things will be.



My husband pointed out Wright’s piece to me and, agreeing with Wright  as I do, said he was reminded of the Native American legend or parable of The Two Wolves.



In that little story, a Native American grandfather, in explaining life to his grandson, tells him that a fight is going on within himself.



"It is a terrible fight,” he said. “It is between two wolves. One is evil - he is anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego." He continued, "The other is good - he is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith. The same fight is going on inside you - and inside every other person, too."



When the grandson asked which wolf would win, the grandfather said, “The one you feed.”



My husband and I agree that this country is in great need of the feeding of the good wolf. There is more than enough feeding going on of the bad wolf. A fight is going on within our society. The churches and other faith communities especially should be the ones feeding the good wolf. The political entities can not. We would like to see the faith communities stepping up in a pro-active manner. It is a job that needs to be done pronto, probably yesterday. The feeding needs to be done in today’s context, not just in a general, sentimental manner, either.



We do need consciousness-raising,awareness-raising, education, re-education, even. We need a higher consciousness.



As a member of a Unitarian Universalist community, I am reminded of the Principles that Unitarian Universalist congregations are called upon to affirm and promote ~

• The inherent worth and dignity of every person;

• Justice, equity and compassion in human relations;
• Acceptance of one another and encouragement to spiritual growth in our congregations;
• A free and responsible search for truth and meaning;
• The right of conscience and the use of the democratic process within our congregations and in society at large;
• The goal of world community with peace, liberty, and justice for all;
• Respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part.

Because of these stated principles, I believe that Unitarian Universalists and their communities have a special obligation and call in this feeding of the good wolf.

In fact, all faiths uphold what is called The Golden Rule, treating others as we would wish to be treated. (See here and/or here.)  I believe that Rule needs to be emphasized as a way of this feeding, too. The Charter for Compassion (See here.) upholds the Golden Rule and is an implement itself. It needs to grow into a major movement.



However we do it, we must raise the consciousness or awareness in this country. As Robert Wright wrote in his column, “If people preaching tolerance, understanding, and cool reason prevail, the world won’t go down in flames.“

9-11

911 is an emergency call, a call for help in distress. To me. that is part of what 9-11-01 was about.

Afghanistan was in distress, Israel-Palestine was in distress. People of the Muslims faith, especially extremists, were in distress. There was hurt and there was pain.

I deplored the response of my country. All out war was not the answer.

I believed that 9-11 was a wake-up call for the United States of America to change its ways in the world, to change its ways of doing its foreign policy business. 9-11 was blowback for our building up of the Mujahedeen in Afghanistan and the Taliban, too, and for our ungainly, overarching support of Israel against the Palestinian people who had lived in the Land for centuries.

For me. 9-11 was my own wake-up call. It was a call to learn of another faith, Islam, and to learn of and  involve myself in foreign policy. I have since learned about other faiths and I have devoted myself to working against war and for world peace.

I have always believed in the Golden Rule--treating others as they would wish to be treated--and I now believe that even foreign policy should be built on that rule. This is maybe wishful thinking, but it is not stupid thinking. I am convinced that the Golden Rule actually works. People respond as to how they are treated.

In accordance with the Golden Rule which is  held by all faiths and in opposition to the Islamaphobia that seems to be pervading this country and the ensuing acts engendered by it, I continue and especially at this time urge folks to sign the Charter for Compassion and to support it.

The Peace Advocate has been a supporter of the Charter and even has a separate page devoted to it. Please go to the tab at the top, learn about it, and sign on.

On this 9-11, there are people in this country who are in distress, too. May the Charter for Compassion be in effect.

A Place for the Other

Here is a short video of  comparative religion writer and initiator of the Charter for Compassion, Karen Armstrong, being questioned about the Muslim community center proposed to be built two blocks from the site of the former World Trade Center. I was quite taken with Armstrong's answer, feeling that she had spoken a truth.






I would also like to point readers to the op-ed e-letter, Green-Dog Democrat, of Joe Burgess of my town of Frankfort, KY. His current issue entitled, "The Washington Post March over Gingrch and other ignorami" is on the controversy surrounding the center. It is posted on the web here.

Additionally, I note that the two arms of my faith community, the Unitarian Universalist Association and the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee, sent a joint letter to New York's mayor, Michael Bloomberg, in support of the center.

Compassion: The Charter & the Principles

 

On Sunday, April 25, I led the Unitarian Universalist Community of Frankfort in a Circle Worship service entitled, Compassion: The Charter & the Principles. In the previous post, I gave the Compassionate Quotes that were read in its worship circle. In this post, I give the main substance, the background material, if you will, for that service.

~ ~ ~  

A special woman of and for our time, a woman named Karen Armstrong, has a special project/initiative. 

An Englishwoman, Karen Armstrong describes herself as a religious historian. She has a degree in English literature from Oxford, but has become known as a self-taught scholar of comparative religion. A former Roman Catholic nun, she has also referred to herself as a free-lance monotheist and is the author of twenty-two books. The four that I have read and found quite meaningful are A History of God, Jerusalem: One City, Three Faiths, The Battle for God: Fundamentalism in Judaism, Christianity and Islam and The Great Transformation: The Beginning of Our Religious Traditions. Her latest book is called, The Case for God (2009). She has also written a book on Buddha, one on Mohammed, and one on the Crusades. There is an entry about her in Wikipedia Encyclopedia.

In her study, Armstrong found, as she put it, that her work had continually brought her back to the notion of compassion. "Whichever religious tradition I study," she said, "I find I find that the heart of it is the idea of feeling with the other, experiencing with the other, compassion. And every single one of the major world religions has developed its own version of the Golden Rule: Don't do to others what you would not like them to do to you." She has said that Confucius was the first sage to state this rule and that Jesus was the one who, many centuries later, put it in its positive form: Do to others what you would have them do to you.

In 2008, Karen Armstrong was awarded the $100,000 TED prize to fulfill her wish to change the world based on her giving the talk of her life. TED, a small nonprofit, helped with the launch of a Charter for Compassion. A website was set up to begin developing a Charter for anyone, anywhere, online to contribute ideas. Eventually, these submissions were whittled and honed by a Council of Conscience consisting of eighteen high-level religious leaders and thinkers. The Charter itself was formally launched on November 12, 2009. The online Charter is open to affirming signatures by the general public. The website also consists of submissions of original, individual acts of compassion. There is also a Facebook page. The Charter has partner organizations and faith communities, including the Unitarian Universalist Association. There is even a Compassionate Action Network.  (On Saturday, April 24, organized by that Network, Seattle, WA signed the Charter and became the first Compassionate City. There was a day of events centering around the Charter and compassion. Karen Armstrong even gave a talk.) Armstrong who would like the Charter for Compassion to be the basis for a movement has said that she wants to make compassion "cool." I put it as compassion being "in" rather than "out." I firmly believe that compassion needs to be both widely practiced, furthered, and promoted especially in our world today.

~ ~ ~

Charter for Compassion

The principle of compassion lies at the heart of all religious, ethical and spiritual traditions, calling us always to treat all others as we wish to be treated ourselves. Compassion impels us to work tirelessly to alleviate the suffering of our fellow creatures, to dethrone ourselves from the centre of our world and put another there, and to honour the inviolable sanctity of every single human being, treating everybody, without exception, with absolute justice, equity and respect.

It is also necessary in both public and private life to refrain consistently and empathically from inflicting pain. To act or speak violently out of spite, chauvinism, or self-interest, to impoverish, exploit or deny basic rights to anybody, and to incite hatred by denigrating others—even our enemies—is a denial of our common humanity. We acknowledge that we have failed to live compassionately and that some have even increased the sum of human misery in the name of religion.

We therefore call upon all men and women ~ to restore compassion to the centre of morality and religion ~ to return to the ancient principle that any interpretation of scripture that breeds violence, hatred or disdain is illegitimate ~ to ensure that youth are given accurate and respectful information about other traditions, religions and cultures ~ to encourage a positive appreciation of cultural and religious diversity ~ to cultivate an informed empathy with the suffering of all human beings—even those regarded as enemies.

We urgently need to make compassion a clear, luminous and dynamic force in our polarized world. Rooted in a principled determination to transcend selfishness, compassion can break down political, dogmatic, ideological and religious boundaries. Born of our deep interdependence, compassion is essential to human relationships and to a fulfilled humanity. It is the path to enlightenment, and indispensible to the creation of a just economy and a peaceful global community.

I urge folks to explore the website and affirm the Charter. (You can do so here.)

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Karen Armstrong's book, The Great Transformation; The Beginning of our Religious Traditions of 2006, was about what is called, The Axial Age, the period from about 900 to 200 BCE, when Confucianism and Daoism in China; Hinduism and Buddhism in India; monotheism in Israel; and philosophical rationalism in Greece, all came into being.

In the concluding chapter of The Great Transformation called, "The Way Forward," Armstrong wrote:

We are living in a period of great fear and pain. The Axial Age taught us to face up to the suffering that is an inescapable fact of human life. Only by admitting our own pain can we learn to empathize with others. Today we are deluged with more images of suffering than any previous generation: war, natural disasters, famine, poverty, and disease are beamed nightly into our living rooms. Life is indeed dukkha [suffering, out of kilter]. It is tempting to retreat from this ubiquitous horror, to deny that it has anything to do with us, and to cultivate a deliberately "positive" attitude that excluded anybody's pain but our own. But the Axial sages insisted that this was not an option. People who deny the suffering of life and stick their heads in the sand are "false prophets." Unless we allow the sorrow that presses in on all sides to invade our consciousness, we cannot begin our spiritual quest. In our era of international terrorism, it is hard for any of us to imagine that we can live in the Buddha's pleasure park. Suffering will sooner or later impinge upon all our lives, even in the protected societies of the first world. Instead of resenting this, the Axial sages would tell us; we should treat it as a religious opportunity.

We must continually remind ourselves that the Axial sages developed their compassionate ethic in horrible and terrifying circumstances. They were not meditating in ivory towers but were living in frightening war-torn societies, where the old values were disappearing. Like us, they were conscious of the void and the abyss. The sages were not utopian dreamers but practical men; many were preoccupied with politics and government. They were convinced that empathy did not just sound edifying, but actually worked. Compassion and concern for everybody was the best policy. We should take their insights seriously, because they were the experts. They devoted a great deal of time and energy to thinking about the nature of goodness. They spent as much creative energy seeking a cure for the spiritual malaise of humanity as scientists today spend trying to find a cure for cancer. We have different preoccupations. The Axial Age was a time of spiritual genius; we live in an age of scientific and technological genius, and our spiritual education is often undeveloped.

... We now have to develop a global consciousness, because,whether we like it or not, we live in one world. Even though our problem is different from that of the Axial sages, they can still help us. They did not jettison the insight of the old religion, but deepened and extended them. In the same way, we should develop the insights of the Axial Age.

~ ~ ~

I believe the Charter of Compassion closely aligns with both the principles adhered to by Unitarian Universalists and the sources of faith of Unitarian Universalism. 

 

UU Principles and Sources of Faith

There are seven principles which Unitarian Universalist congregations affirm and promote:

• The inherent worth and dignity of every person;
• Justice, equity and compassion in human relations;
• Acceptance of one another and encouragement to spiritual growth in our congregations;
• A free and responsible search for truth and meaning;
• The right of conscience and the use of the democratic process within our congregations and in society at large;
• The goal of world community with peace, liberty, and justice for all;
• Respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part.

 

Unitarian Universalism (UU) draws from many sources:

• Direct experience of that transcending mystery and wonder, affirmed in all cultures, which moves us to a renewal of the spirit and an openness to the forces which create and uphold life;
• Words and deeds of prophetic women and men which challenge us to confront powers and structures of evil with justice, compassion, and the transforming power of love;
• Wisdom from the world's religions which inspires us in our ethical and spiritual life;
• Jewish and Christian teachings which call us to respond to God's love by loving our neighbors as ourselves;
• Humanist teachings which counsel us to heed the guidance of reason and the results of science, and warn us against idolatries of the mind and spirit.
• Spiritual teachings of earth-centered traditions which celebrate the sacred circle of life and instruct us to live in harmony with the rhythms of nature.

These principles and sources of faith are the backbone of our religious community.

~ ~ ~

During the sharing time, someone asked me why I thought the Charter for Compassion was so important. Since I have trouble thinking on my feet, I had trouble answering that question. I since have pondered some and am trying to express it. I could probably use a complete blog post to answer the question, but, instead, will try to do so here.

As someone said on the Charter's Facebook page, the Charter for Compassion is very close to my heart. I was a member of the Christian church most of my life and I believe the Charter speaks to Christianity's deepest affirmations and mission, especially that of Jesus himself. I have always been a strong believer in the Golden Rule. While still having a strong religious impulse and trying to follow Jesus, I have come to see the unity of the religions at their core. I believe that the Charter for Compassion is an answer for today's religious strife. I also believe it is an antidote to the mean-spirited and and hard-line approach that seems to have been so in vogue recently. 

Not believing that war is the answer, I believe that compassion is. I have never agreed with the War of Terror on Terror. I have always believed that 9-11 was, in the larger sense, a wake-up call for the United States and its foreign policy and relations. Revenge and killing were not and are not answering that call. I have believed that the United States was called to change its ways. To treat others in the world as we would wish to be treated. Every person is important. Every culture is also important. I look to the line in our Declaration of Independence about all being created equal and endowed with certain unalienable rights among which are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. I have never believed that all this was to be just for Americans. I believe we need to put on different glasses.

By extension, I also believe that especially in this time of the earth's fragility and climate change, we need to have compassion for all the earth and its beings and creatures.

As people have said, we are all one. We are all connected.

I have been a big believer in the efficacy of and need for consciousness-raising or awareness-raising, as one might say. I also believe in putting my name one the line and standing up for for what I believe in. I see the Charter as a tool for the endeavor that peace may prevail on earth.

Compassionate Quotes

On Sunday, April 25, I led the Unitarian Universalist Community of Frankfort in a Circle Worship service entitled, Compassion: The Charter & the Principles.

Below are the "Compassionate Quotes" that we read in our worship circle:

1. Human being is a part of the whole called by us universe, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feeling as something separated from the rest, a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty.–Albert Einstein

2. Because of our very vulnerable offspring, the fundamental task for human survival and gene replication is to take care of others. Human beings have survived as a species because we have evolved the capacities to care for those in need and to cooperate. As Darwin long ago surmised, sympathy is our strongest instinct.–Dacher Keltner, co-director of UC Berkeley's Greater Good Science Center 

3. If any think they are religious, and do not bridle their tongues but deceive their hearts, their religion is worthless. Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to care for orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.–New Testament Letter of James

4. Religion that is more life enhancing, affirming, and morally compelling advocates doing what is right and good, because it is the right thing to do. But still, we can go one step further. The highest form of religion empowers a person or community to do what is right and good, not only because it is the right thing to do, but because the person or community is permeated and immersed in a divine, magnanimous, unconditional love. Mature religion is self-validating; it is egalitarian, holistic, inclusive, transformational, and filled with compassion and grace. –the Rev. Chuck Queen

5. There's one rule that lies at the heart of every religion -- that we do unto others as we would have them do unto us. This truth transcends nations and peoples -- a belief that isn't new; that isn't black or white or brown; that isn't Christian or Muslim or Jew.  It's a belief that pulsed in the cradle of civilization, and that still beats in the hearts of billions around the world.–President Barack Obama

6. Compassion is something that needs to be encouraged, like an endangered species, perhaps.–John Tarrant

The Side Bar

If readers have not done so, I urge them to mosey up for a visit to The Side Bar in the right of the The Peace Advocate blog.

In The Side Bar, there is an array of non-alcoholic, peaceful selections from which the visitor may choose.

At the top, there is a PINK widget-link for the CODEPINK site, Women Say No to War. Next, comes a peace quote from President Obama. (We hope he believed what he said.) This is followed by another PINK widget-link for the main site of CODEPINK: Women for Peace and one showing that I support us getting out of Afghanistan. Next is a widget-link to the website and text of the Charter for Compassion which I believe is a great document and effort for peace. I encourage visitors to support and promote this initiative. There, then, is a very important little message-prayer-wish-"mantra" for peace itself.

The following section consists of links to peaceful and, thus, Blissful Blogs. Some are CODEPINK-related and some are by Central Kentucky bloggers.

I then have a little section about me followed by the public followers of this blog.

The next section is a Facebook one: a share button, my Facebook badge with link, the Charter for Compassion page, and the CODEPINK: Women for Peace page. 

The next-to-last section consists of a list of peaceful, Lilting Links, including others related to CODEPINK, the UN (I serve on the board of the Frankort Chapter of the United Nations Association.), other peace groups, including some for Palestinian freedom and human rights and peace for all of Israel-Palestine, and also those of my religious affiliation. I also have reminder-reference links to the UN Declaration for Human Rights and the US Constitution. Included in the Lilting Links are also links to the websites of the members of the Congressional Sixth District of Kentucky with their contact information.

The final section consists of The Peace Advocate's blog archive.

Note that visitors to The Side Bar may taste, sip, and drink as they so choose, but overindulgence is discouraged. I hope that the visit is found to be tasteful, enhancing, and helpful.

Please note also that visitors to The Side Bar are asked to leave their weapons without and to refrain from quarreling and fighting within.

I encourage visitors to become Peace Advocates themselves.

The Remedy

Compassion, locally and globally, is the remedy for the world's ills.

A video from the Charter for Compassion:

The Two Wolves

I am repeating a story that I first heard Bill Moyers tell on his Journal program. I am repeating it because
I believe it is quite needful in our partiularly charged time.

I also believe it is relevant to the Charter for Compassion which is also quite timely.

Here it is from a website called, First People: Native American Legends.


A Cherokee Legend



An old Cherokee is teaching his grandson about life. "A fight is going on inside me," he said to the boy.


"It is a terrible fight and it is between two wolves. One is evil - he is anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego." He continued, "The other is good - he is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith. The same fight is going on inside you - and inside every other person, too."

The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather, "Which wolf will win?"


The old Cherokee simply replied, "The one you feed."

I do hope readers know which wolfe to feed and are doing so. However, it is my belief that the two wolves apply not only to individuals. but also to such  corporate entities as families, worship communities, and nations. Please support the feeding of the good wolf--wherever and whatever he may be. It is in all of this feeding that is our hope.

Charter for Compassion

December 10 is Human Rights Day; Hannukah and the Christmas season are upon us and the New Year, too.

For the world, please affirm Karen Armstrong's initiative,
 the Charter for Compassion.

The names of all affirmers on December 31 will be sent along with the Charter for Compassion to 5 world leaders whose countries are engaged in conflict.



MAY PEACE PREVAIL ON EARTH! Compassion is the way.

A Day for Peace

September 21 is the annual United Nations Day of Peace. In observance and ahead of time, I give for reflection some highlights of Karen Armstrong's book, The great Transformation: The Beginning of our Religious Traditions (New York: Anchor Books, c2006). I recently completed reading the book and it does have some lessons for us regarding  the cause of peace.

Armstrong wrote in her introduction to The Great Transformation:

In our current predicament, I believe we can find inspiration in the period the German philosopher Karl Jaspers called the Axial Age because it was pivotal to the spiritual development of humanity. From about 900 to 200 BCE, in four distinct regions, the great world traditions that have continued to nourish humanity came into being: Confucianism and Daoism in China; Hinduism and Buddhism in India; monotheism in Israel; and philosophical rationalism in Greece. (p.xvi)

She wrote in the book about The Persians, a play by the Greek Aeschylus that was presented in 472 BCE. This play she said provided the Athenians with some sympathy for those who had destroyed their city a few years earlier.

She also wrote about The Persians:

The play reflected on the lessons of the war. Xerxes had been guilty of hubris; he had overstepped the mark and refused to accept the divinely appointed boundaries of his empire.

She then gave a warning from the ghost of Darius:

... Let no man,

Scorning the fortune that he has, in greed for more

Pour out his wealth in utter waste. Zeus throned on high

Sternly chastises arrogant, boastful men. p.270)

I was interested to learn of a Chinese sage called Mozi, "Master Mo" (c.480 -390 BCE), who lived in the period called the Warring States. Mozi wrote, "Regard another state as your own, another's family as you regard your own, and another's person as you regard your own." (p.322)

Armstrong wrote of him:

During the Warring States period, Mozi was more widely revered than Confucius, because he spoke directly to the terror and violence of his time. As he watched the whole of China mobilizing for war, it seemed that human beings were about to erase themselves from the face of the earth. If they could not curb their selfishness and greed, they could destroy one another. The only way they could survive was by cultivating a boundless sympathy that did not depend upon emotional identification but on the reasoned, practical understanding that even their enemies had the same needs, desires, and fears as themselves. (p.326)

In her section on the Buddha, Armstrong included an early Buddhist poem: 

Let all beings be happy! Weak or strong, of high, middle or low estate,

Small or great, visible or invisible, near or far away,

Alive or still to be born--may they all be perfectly happy!

Let nobody lie to anybody or despise any single being anywhere.

May nobody wish harm to any single creature, out of anger or hatred!

Let us cherish all creatures, as a mother her only child!

May our loving thoughts fill the whole world above, below, across,--

Without limit; a boundless goodwill toward the whole world,

Unrestricted, free of hatred and enmity! (pp.340, 341)

Armstrong's final chapter called, "The Way Forward," updates Buddhism, Hinduism, and Judaism. She wrote there of Rabbi Akibba, killed by the Romans in 132 CE, who taught:

"Religion was inseparable from the practice of habitual respect to all other human beings. You could not worship God unless you practiced the Golden Rule and honored your fellow human beings whoever they were." (p.454)

In her concluding section, Armstrong wrote:

We are living in a period of great fear and pain. The Axial Age taught us to face up to the suffering that is an inescapable fact of human life. Only by admitting our own pain can we learn to empathize with others. Today we are deluged with more images of suffering than any previous generation: war, natural disasters, famine, poverty, and disease are beamed nightly into our living rooms. Life is indeed dukkha [suffering, out of kilter]. It is tempting to retreat from this ubiquitous horror, to deny that it has anything to do with us, and to cultivate a deliberately "positive" attitude that excluded anybody's pain but our own. But the Axial sages insisted that this was not an option. People who deny the suffering of life and stick their heads in the sand are "false prophets." Unless we allow the sorrow that presses in on all sides to invade our consciousness, we cannot begin our spiritual quest. In our era of international terrorism, it is hard for any of us to imagine that we can live in the Buddha's pleasure park. Suffering will sooner or later impinge upon all our lives, even in the protected societies of the first world. Instead of resenting this, the Axial sages would tell us; we should treat it as a religious opportunity. (p.473)

We must continually remind ourselves that the Axial sages developed their compassionate ethic in horrible and terrifying circumstances. They were not meditating in ivory towers but were living in frightening war-torn societies, where the old values were disappearing. Like us, they were conscious of the void and the abyss. The sages were not utopian dreamers but practical men; many were preoccupied with politics and government. They were convinced that empathy did not just sound edifying, but actually worked. Compassion and concern for everybody was the best policy. We should take their insights seriously, because they were the experts. They devoted a great deal of time and energy to thinking about the nature of goodness. They spent as much creative energy seeking a cure for the spiritual malaise of humanity as scientists today spend trying to find a cure for cancer. We have different preoccupations. The Axial Age was a time of spiritual genius; we live in an age of scientific and technological genius, and our spiritual education is often undeveloped. (p.474)

... We now have to develop a global consciousness, because,whether we like it or not, we live in one world. Even though our problem is different from that of the Axial sages, they can still help us. They did not jettison the insight of the old religion, but deepened and extended them. In the same way, we should develop the insights of the Axial Age. (p.475)

I note that almost in echo of Armstrong's book, John Nichols published an article commemorating the beginning of the Second World War that reflected on and included W.H. Auden's poem, "September 1, 1939," in which Auden wrote of "imperialism's face" and "international wrong" and said, "We must love one another or die."

I note also that the annual International Day of Peace falls shortly after September 11 or 9-11 and I do find the close proximity of these dates fortuitous.

For the International Day of Peace or "Peace Day,"  please explore its website, mark your calendar, and then do something especially for  world peace on September 21. Of course, every day should be a day of and for peace. May Peace Prevail On Earth!