There are days like this every so often. We saw such a day on what America calls 9 - 11, when the twin Towers came down. The world stood by America. Le Monde ran a headline "We Are All Americans, Now".
It was a day like this in certain ways. The world stood by ready to help. The American president said "You are either with us or against us!" And he dragged the world back into the fire of war. A war that is still going on, still boiling and bubbling and still destroying lives and hopes. Still part of the events today in Paris.
Could tomorrow be that day? The day the world has been aching for, dreaming for, searching for, several thousand years and more? It doesn't really have to work completely. But a start would be nice. It would give us something to build on and hope for someone else to come along and add to it.
I would like to feel that Pope Francis is at work tonight, that Barak Obama is in contact with leaders tonight, seeking ways and reaching out to other leaders in government and religion and philosophy. Tonight, the day after the sun is reborn. A night, not just to give peace a chance, but a night to create a new world.
Wednesday, January 07, 2015
Islam Today
The shooting deaths of 10 journalists and 2 policemen in Paris today appears to be an attack by Islamic terrorists against one of the most prized and necessary parts of the democratic process, the freedom of the press. Why?
In the Czech Republic a Member of Parliament urged Czechs to walk their pigs near Mosques. That was two weeks ago.
Sweden has seen an increasing number of fires set on mosques and a rapid growth of an extreme right Democrat Party. That was last week.
This follows on the heels of significant demonstrations in Germany against what they call “The Islamisation of Europe”. The German people responded to the 20,000 demonstration with a counter-demonstration by some 30,000 Germans against the anti-Islam march. But that was two days ago.
France had had mounting demonstrations against Islam also. Nothing serious yet. But that was yesterday.
Granted, the depictions in the French newspaper, “Charlie Hebdo”, apparently went way too far. Perhaps they represented the old concept of using a right, in this case the right of the free press, “as a sword instead of a shield”. Nonetheless, what happened today in Paris is a significant event which will have serious repercussions.
In a very large part this event represents what can happen when a religion – ANY religion – runs out of control and is responsive only to one of its extreme fringe elements.
In a very large part this event represents what can happen when a religion – ANY religion – runs out of control and is responsive only to one of its extreme fringe elements.
Sunday, January 04, 2015
Howl
The first howl was a long slow moan that slid down deeply into the cold, moon-lit valley.
It rolled all the way to the other mountain and then echoed down through the valley between the two.
Its answer came from a rocky crag high on the other side, a piercing scream thrown at the moon; but it rode easily through the dark fir forest, like a great savage beast chasing prey.
My next howl was higher than my first, and its answer came back lower, and as the moon rose in the sky we filled the valley with sad songs of lament, me and my dream, as we remembered another time, another way, another world - and those wild, free spirits we miss so deeply.
© John Womack, 2007. All rights reserved.
It rolled all the way to the other mountain and then echoed down through the valley between the two.
Its answer came from a rocky crag high on the other side, a piercing scream thrown at the moon; but it rode easily through the dark fir forest, like a great savage beast chasing prey.
My next howl was higher than my first, and its answer came back lower, and as the moon rose in the sky we filled the valley with sad songs of lament, me and my dream, as we remembered another time, another way, another world - and those wild, free spirits we miss so deeply.
© John Womack, 2007. All rights reserved.
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