From http://www.victorwooten.com/thoughts.htm
I Ic0n0 did not write this but i think it is interesting.
September 11th was a special day to me. Not only because of the attacks on our country but because it was my 37th birthday. Since the recent “Attack on America” I have spent lots of time reflecting and talking with friends about the current situation. Some of my friends have urged me to post my views here on the site. I understand that some of these thoughts may not be the “most popular view.” Just keep in mind that these are my thoughts only. I hope that they don’t offend anyone.
I urge you to leave emotion aside for now and just read these lines as ideas to ponder. Let them not cloud or change your own views in any way. Read with a peaceful, loving openness and if you change your mind about anything, let it be your own decision.
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I believe that our Country, our President and our world have a great opportunity. I also believe that we will miss this opportunity. Actually, for the moment, we ARE “getting it”. But unfortunately I believe we are only “getting” part of it and missing the greater good that we can bring about in our world and not just in this country.
Right now there is a Unity among Americans that I cannot ever remember seeing or feeling. I walk down the street, into stores and into elevators and strangers are talking to one another. This is wonderful. Most of the strangers that usually talk to me do it because of my musical connection. Right now, people are talking because we all recognize that we share something in common. We are Americans. Again, I say, this is wonderful. We Americans are united like I’ve never seen before.
The problems that I see don’t start with being united. They start with what we are united against. If we are a country united against another country, then I’m afraid that we are just going around in a vicious circle. As long as “bigger retaliation” and “better defenses” are our solutions, we haven’t really gotten to the core of the problem and the blood baths will continue to flow.
We are responding from pure emotion right now. We are asking for heightened security, better surveillance etc. We may just get what we are asking for. Wouldn’t it be nice not to need these things?
The first question usually asked right now is whether you have relatives or friends who were killed in the tragedy. If the answer is “no” then people usually sigh a sigh of relief. My answer to this question is “yes”. We all have relatives and friends involved whether we know them or not. This realization is a big step towards true unity. This tragedy reaches far beyond NYC and DC and I’m afraid that the loss of lives is not over.
I love our President. But, I wish that he could just say to our attackers, “OK, you win, you got us. We could get you back even harder BUT why don’t we figure out how we can now get along as a planet so that more people don’t have to die. We are the “biggest and most powerful” nation on the planet and we could wipe you out in an instant BUT instead we are gonna make the “biggest and most powerful” step towards peace on our planet by, in return, not killing a single person.” If our world leaders would honestly speak this we would have “Peace on Earth”. Sadly, I don’t believe that I, nor my children will ever see this day.
If I were President Bush right now I would capitalize on America’s current unity by creating a national “push” that would bring us even closer together than we are right now and keep us that way. I would create a slogan that urges people to continue to speak to each other getting rid of the old “don’t talk to strangers” slogan that we teach our kids.
I would keep the American public focused on this agenda rather than the agenda of catching and killing the perpetrators. I believe that this would help to keep our country’s morale high and healthy and that it would help to keep our citizens from retaliating against each another.
I would aim this push directly at the American people focusing especially on the perpetrators that prey upon others, hopefully causing us all to think about our actions and find better solutions. I would speak directly to the people and I would speak from the heart NOT from the written page.
I would also point out that we as Americans don’t get along well with each other and that this must change. I would ask the public, “how can I go against our enemies when we can’t get along ourselves?” In big cities you can’t walk through the streets safely at night. You can’t look a stranger in the eye let alone speak to one. You can’t let your children play alone in the playground for fear that someone will harm them. We have to teach our wives how to shoot guns for safety. We even talk about giving our teachers weapons so that they can out gun their second graders. I feel that this message would truly reach the American people. I think that it would even go to the heart of the criminals of this country. I feel that we are more ready than ever to honestly address these issues but our focus is being driven towards retaliation. (a similar act to terrorism but under a different name)
We say, “How can someone kill so many innocent people?” That is a great question. But remember how our country was founded. We nearly wiped out a whole race of people just for this land. I was told that we even secretly put the smallpox virus in the blankets that we “so kindly” gave to the Native peoples to spread disease among them and wipe them out. If true, this may have been the first ever use of biological warfare.
If there is such a thing as Karma, I am not too surprised that it is finally catching up to us. The bad part of it is that we have every opportunity to learn from our mistakes. Instead, we repeat them. Bigger and bigger each time.
A teacher of mine once told me that, “we kill our grandchildren to feed our children.” This is scary because we have not chosen to see it. We are now killing our children. This is even scarier because we do see it and do nothing about it.
It is time to stop the fighting. It is time to realize that we all live in the same house. It is as absurd as the bedroom being at war with the kitchen; the kitchen not letting the bedroom eat until the bedroom gives us a place to sleep.
Imagine having two children, a girl and a boy, and the boy hit the girl with a shoe. Would you advise the girl to get a bigger shoe and throw it back at the boy? Then tell the boy to get a boot and throw it back at the girl; instructing him on better techniques in which to complete his mission?
We can easily see the uselessness of this solution. You can also see, and would cause your children to see that they are family and that fighting within family is absurd. Together, you would search for a peaceful and fair solution, and together, it would easily be found. Sometimes solutions are simpler to find than we think. But first we must want to find one.
We are all brothers and sisters! We do all live in the same house! We are all members of the same family! This must be realized for true peace and true love to be realized. What is done to another is done to you and to me. There is truth in the statement. WE ARE ONE!!!
I once read in a book that the best way to handle any situation is by asking this question: “What would LOVE do?” I urge us all to honestly and repeatedly ask this question.
I urge all people to pull together. I mean really pull together and keep it that way. Talk to strangers. Help each other. Treat each other like immediate family. Love each other and I really mean DO IT!!! If not now, when?
I believe that continuing to work together is what will create a better nation and a better world for us and for our children. That’s what this letter is about, how to work "with" each other and leave the thought of “against” behind.
If there is such a thing as “Best”, I think that America is the absolute best country for me to live in. In no way would I want to be anywhere else. But being “with” America does not put me “against” any other country or person. There are so many things that are “right” about this country, and that is what makes us the great Nation that we are.
I believe that one day a future generation will live in a place where war is no more. I believe that this will be a clean and healthy place to live. I believe that these people will travel its streets without concern for safety. I believe that they will consider all races to be their brothers and sisters. I believe that it will be unimaginable to be fearful of attack from any of their brothers and sisters, even those living in other nations. I believe that this place may be called America. And I believe that these people will proudly fly a flag high in the sky. I also believe that it will be a World flag.
I Love This Country. I Love Our Planet. I Love Our Universe.
And PLEASE KNOW THAT I TRULY LOVE YOU!
Peace, Vic
i know this is really idealistic but interesting none the less
This message has been edited by ic0n0 on October 17, 2001 at 08:46 PM
