When I began this blog in 2001, I was appalled by President Bush's headlong rush to an illegal war (we were not in fact under attack). As time wore on and Bush began his assault on the Constitution and any people bold enough to criticize, I believed that "the republic is endangered more by actions of our own government than by those of any terrorist." With the election of a high-minded, compassionate, intelligent man like Barack Obama, my fears have ceased.
"Honor them with peace, not war"
United for Peace
responsible for the ocean
Yeat's poem The Second Coming seems as true today as it did in 1919 when published. Read these lines:
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.
Yeats produced the idea, utterly novel in its time and still something to be reckoned with, that evil is mundane, that is, it does not arise from some extraordinary force (like the devil) but arises from ordinary people and circumstances failing to work at being good, fromfailing to pay attention.
We keep telling ourselves how good we are and blind ourselves to the harm we create in the world. This is characteristic of people and governments. It is entirely an understandable thing to do, and yet --if we want really to be moral beings -- we must not do that.
Instead we must confront ourselves, confront the meanings and implications of our own actions. We must struggle to make ourselves aware of the impact we have on other people and on our surroundings.
The U.S. Navy used to have a saying You're responsible for your own wake. It's a response to the question, 'Whaddam I, in charge of the whole ocean?' The answer is yes. Being responsiblefor your own wake is the minimum to be expected from each of us. The world might be in better shape if each of us expanded our responsiblity to cover more of the ocean. We can't sit around hoping that possibly God will handle this and it's not our problem. A trap that belief in god lays for people is that they often expect, indeed have faith that god will work things out for the best in the end.
I say to all you believers: If you want to go to heaven, you'd better get busy and start taking some of the burden off god's shoulders. It's obvious that he either can't handle the job, or didn't ever consider it part of his job description. You wonder sometimes what your purpose in life is? Maybe this is it. Now don't start trying to clean up other people's behavior first. Start sweeping your own side of the street, as they say. Once you are perfect, you can start working on the rest of us. :-)
Now, as for non-believers: if there is no god to do this work, it's up to you. Same thing. Get busy.
Read the rest of Yeats' poem.
Palema
6:14 AM
Copyright © 2001-03 Pam Shorey
(except the specific sources credited in quotes)
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