some thoughts on the Cindy Sheehan story
Hi folks,
Hope you are all having a nice day. I was sorry to learn that Cindy Sheehan's mom has fallen ill. I wish Cindy my heartfelt sympathy at this difficult time.
People are talking so much about Cindy, throwing around words like "grieving" and "loss" as if these words could somehow do justice to the sheer hell of losing a child. Cindy is holding up a whole lot better than I ever could. I'd be a basket case if I lost a kid. No matter what age they were. No matter what they died for.
Compassion is a funny thing. We only get a tiny little window into the suffering of others unless we really, really, really try hard. I see a lot of people not trying very hard here. Instead, I see people riding the tailwinds of politics and self-righteousness and putting together terribly designed counterprotest websites for reasons I cannot fathom.
People who think that the Christians are running amok in this country are a bit mistaken, I think. I see few real Christians these days. I see a lot of cross-wavers, but not very many real Christians.
If you ask me, a true Christian looks at a cross and they get a little chill because they can see themselves nailed to it. They are capable of imagining what it would be like to feel the weight of one's body straining against metal nailed through flesh.
That is the true meaning of the cross, to me. It is an urgent symbol to WAKE UP AND CARE about your fellow human because YES you are capable of hurting others and YES it does matter how you live your life.
Whatsoever you do to the least of my brothers, that you do unto me. Whether you are a Christian, a Zen Buddhist, an atheist, or whatever, these are pretty good words to live by. Humanity is a soup. Unless you train yourself to become acutely aware of your effect on others, you are pretty much guaranteed to cause others to suffer, and that is just plain foolish.
Hope you are all having a nice day. I was sorry to learn that Cindy Sheehan's mom has fallen ill. I wish Cindy my heartfelt sympathy at this difficult time.
People are talking so much about Cindy, throwing around words like "grieving" and "loss" as if these words could somehow do justice to the sheer hell of losing a child. Cindy is holding up a whole lot better than I ever could. I'd be a basket case if I lost a kid. No matter what age they were. No matter what they died for.
Compassion is a funny thing. We only get a tiny little window into the suffering of others unless we really, really, really try hard. I see a lot of people not trying very hard here. Instead, I see people riding the tailwinds of politics and self-righteousness and putting together terribly designed counterprotest websites for reasons I cannot fathom.
People who think that the Christians are running amok in this country are a bit mistaken, I think. I see few real Christians these days. I see a lot of cross-wavers, but not very many real Christians.
If you ask me, a true Christian looks at a cross and they get a little chill because they can see themselves nailed to it. They are capable of imagining what it would be like to feel the weight of one's body straining against metal nailed through flesh.
That is the true meaning of the cross, to me. It is an urgent symbol to WAKE UP AND CARE about your fellow human because YES you are capable of hurting others and YES it does matter how you live your life.
Whatsoever you do to the least of my brothers, that you do unto me. Whether you are a Christian, a Zen Buddhist, an atheist, or whatever, these are pretty good words to live by. Humanity is a soup. Unless you train yourself to become acutely aware of your effect on others, you are pretty much guaranteed to cause others to suffer, and that is just plain foolish.
posted by AKA Nantoka at Friday, August 19, 2005
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