Saturday, June 10, 2006
What the death of Zarquawi really symbolizes
When I was at my Pre-Service Orientation for VISTA, one of the activities they had us perform was splitting up into partners and determining--without talking to one another--answers to a series of questions such as "what kind of car do they drive?" or "what would something out of character for this person be?" My partner, a retired New York State Trooper named Art who was much wiser than me, determined that something out of character for me would be to get angry.
Boy did he hit the nail on the head. I don't get angry, or even mad, very often. When I have shown anger in the past usually my friends just wind up laughing at me and thinking that I'm joking around. It's not healthy to get angry over the little things in life, and I personally don't believe in taking out your anger on the people or objects that might be around you. Anger is an emotion--and an important one--however like everything else it has a time and a place, and can easily be trumped by joy and laughter.
Yesterday I found myself running an errand for work and in the car yet another report on NPR was coming out regarding fallout from Hurricane Katrina. On this particular show yesterday--On Point--the person being interviewed was the historian and Tulane Professor Douglas Brinkley, who has been recording New Orleans history for many years and has just written a new book detailing individual successes stories from NO citizens (should be mentioned first) and the many, many failures to come out of Katrina. As a non-resident of New Orleans it has been easy for me to not pay attention to all of the reports that continue to emerge. However as Brinkley read from his book and discussed the issues he was presenting I was captivated, because for once I felt as if I were not getting any spin from a report, but that I was getting as much a truth as I had yet. After all this was coming from a long-time resident and a long-time historian, not a politician or a non-native news reporter. This was just a man--an academic--wanting to tell the truth. 'Truth without an agenda' as one Amazon reviewer states. Well wait...does that exist?
As I circled the neighborhood around my office listening to the show I just began to get angrier and angrier. Anger like I hadn't felt in a long, long time. At one point I had to ask myself: "Hey Josh, where is this coming from?" The reports of coruption and politics, of state & local failures & federal failures just really made me feel hot and bothered, and not in a good way. To think that we've grown so complacent to forget this storm...not to mention the storms constantly barraging us from all sides on a daily basis. Politics. Race (rats and skin tones). Hatred. Corruption. Complacentness. Misplaced values. Competitiveness. Greed. I could continue listing traits for hours.
The thing about life, about history, is that it's never been right. That's the lesson history teaches us. The 1950's were not the perfect decade. 1776 was not the best year ever. Rome was never perfect, nor a paradise; neither was Jerusalem. Not since Eden has life been perfect...amd Saddam paved the supposed location of Eden over with concrete back in the 80's because he didn't like the current inhabitants. There's a metaphor in that somewhere, I'm sure of it.
My point is that anger has a place, and it's not with your family or friends or co-workers. There are reasons to be angry, and chances are that for most of us we do not encounter those reasons on an everyday basis. They do not occur in Starbucks, when we spill coffee on our pants; nor do they occur in traffic when we're running late for a meeting or a date or to catch a TV show. Anger should be directed towards governments who kill more than they help.
Anger and action can be some of the most powerful activites we ever combine. That's how the world is changed. Keep in mind that anger is not spite. Anger is not hatred. Anger is not based out of greed or competitiveness. Don't get angry because your neighbor has a nicer fill-in-the-blank-than you. Get angry because children do not have clean water to drink on a daily basis.
Willie says in his latest book, The Tao Of Willie, which Rob got me the audio version of for my birthday, that to take a breath and listen to ourselves breathe it to hear the sound of God. Breathing relaxes us as we know, but it's also the most important thing we can do on a daily basis. You might say we're always breathing, which you'd think is more or less always true, but when we take some time and we really breathe, I can guaratnee life will be different.
Hey here's a good Willie Nelson song:
Never think evil thoughts of anyone
It's just as wrong to think as to say
For a thought is but a word that's unspoken
In God's eyes He sees it this way
Lend a hand if you can to a stranger
Never worry if he can't repay
For in time you'll be repaid ten times over
In God's eyes He sees it this way
In God's eyes we're like sheep in a meadow
Now and then a lamb goes astray
But open arms should await it's returning
In God's eyes He sees it this way
¶ 6/10/2006 01:21:00 PM
Boy did he hit the nail on the head. I don't get angry, or even mad, very often. When I have shown anger in the past usually my friends just wind up laughing at me and thinking that I'm joking around. It's not healthy to get angry over the little things in life, and I personally don't believe in taking out your anger on the people or objects that might be around you. Anger is an emotion--and an important one--however like everything else it has a time and a place, and can easily be trumped by joy and laughter.
Yesterday I found myself running an errand for work and in the car yet another report on NPR was coming out regarding fallout from Hurricane Katrina. On this particular show yesterday--On Point--the person being interviewed was the historian and Tulane Professor Douglas Brinkley, who has been recording New Orleans history for many years and has just written a new book detailing individual successes stories from NO citizens (should be mentioned first) and the many, many failures to come out of Katrina. As a non-resident of New Orleans it has been easy for me to not pay attention to all of the reports that continue to emerge. However as Brinkley read from his book and discussed the issues he was presenting I was captivated, because for once I felt as if I were not getting any spin from a report, but that I was getting as much a truth as I had yet. After all this was coming from a long-time resident and a long-time historian, not a politician or a non-native news reporter. This was just a man--an academic--wanting to tell the truth. 'Truth without an agenda' as one Amazon reviewer states. Well wait...does that exist?
As I circled the neighborhood around my office listening to the show I just began to get angrier and angrier. Anger like I hadn't felt in a long, long time. At one point I had to ask myself: "Hey Josh, where is this coming from?" The reports of coruption and politics, of state & local failures & federal failures just really made me feel hot and bothered, and not in a good way. To think that we've grown so complacent to forget this storm...not to mention the storms constantly barraging us from all sides on a daily basis. Politics. Race (rats and skin tones). Hatred. Corruption. Complacentness. Misplaced values. Competitiveness. Greed. I could continue listing traits for hours.
The thing about life, about history, is that it's never been right. That's the lesson history teaches us. The 1950's were not the perfect decade. 1776 was not the best year ever. Rome was never perfect, nor a paradise; neither was Jerusalem. Not since Eden has life been perfect...amd Saddam paved the supposed location of Eden over with concrete back in the 80's because he didn't like the current inhabitants. There's a metaphor in that somewhere, I'm sure of it.
My point is that anger has a place, and it's not with your family or friends or co-workers. There are reasons to be angry, and chances are that for most of us we do not encounter those reasons on an everyday basis. They do not occur in Starbucks, when we spill coffee on our pants; nor do they occur in traffic when we're running late for a meeting or a date or to catch a TV show. Anger should be directed towards governments who kill more than they help.
Anger and action can be some of the most powerful activites we ever combine. That's how the world is changed. Keep in mind that anger is not spite. Anger is not hatred. Anger is not based out of greed or competitiveness. Don't get angry because your neighbor has a nicer fill-in-the-blank-than you. Get angry because children do not have clean water to drink on a daily basis.
Willie says in his latest book, The Tao Of Willie, which Rob got me the audio version of for my birthday, that to take a breath and listen to ourselves breathe it to hear the sound of God. Breathing relaxes us as we know, but it's also the most important thing we can do on a daily basis. You might say we're always breathing, which you'd think is more or less always true, but when we take some time and we really breathe, I can guaratnee life will be different.
Hey here's a good Willie Nelson song:
Never think evil thoughts of anyone
It's just as wrong to think as to say
For a thought is but a word that's unspoken
In God's eyes He sees it this way
Lend a hand if you can to a stranger
Never worry if he can't repay
For in time you'll be repaid ten times over
In God's eyes He sees it this way
In God's eyes we're like sheep in a meadow
Now and then a lamb goes astray
But open arms should await it's returning
In God's eyes He sees it this way
¶ 6/10/2006 01:21:00 PM
