1. Terrorism and Conflict…and Solutions
“War on terror”, poverty, epidemics, recession, candidates….
Fighting for fighting’s sake…. Healing.
Stephen Covey
There are important issues to be addressed. Many are already flying around the blogosphere/web/water cooler with increasing urgency. Stephen Covey would counsel us to seek first to understand the other before pressing our own point. That is uncommon wisdom. The marketplace rewards drama. Ratings drive programming; us-vs-them theater brings in revenue.
Us-vs-them is also a lot more fun, if we are to be totally honest. What possible gain do we as a society enjoy by staring at Jerry Springer’s latest “Transgender Nazi Steelworkers Face the WWII Veterans’ Association” episode? Yet millions of eyes glaze over to reruns of such spectacles, while uninsured children suffer without care and global security concerns remain hazy to the average citizen.
Don’t we prefer to naysay, rather than consider? (If you spontaneously said “No”, I would ask you to think about your answer in context of the question.) When a hot issue arises, energy rises likewise in the adversaries…not for a breakthrough solution to the crisis, but to more firmly resist the other. We should harness that energy.
Think about bipolarized “news” programs such as Hannity and Colmes. (No offense, gentlemen, I do watch your show.) These are often little more than verbal tag-team wrestling, in which one host supports a right-leaning or left-leaning guest and the other attacks. Each makes excellent points from its perspective, but the middle ground is as unfriendly as a DMZ. When is the last time such a program ended with consensus? We’d love to see one relieved handshake and, “You know, you’ve really opened my eyes on this issue!” It can’t happen. If consensus rises, ratings fall; sales are close behind.
This forum won’t point out how unbelievably stupid the “other” is (to the left from the right and vice-versa, to the male from the female and vice-versa, to the European from the American and vice-versa, etc.) Rather, it seeks the common ground we too casually ignore. Solutions are to be found in mature dialogue, with all parties capable of listening and conceding within their respective and respectful comfort levels.
Our energy should pool into solution finding, not dissipate into soundbites of pop culture. Instead of hand-wringing between sitcoms over issues of terrorism and its roots, instead of waiting for our weary military to solve the problem by shooting every last one of “them”, instead of evading unpleasant facts (how about the concept of accountability on all sides in every conflict?)…why don’t we wade in and begin to unravel the snarl of hurts and hatreds? The world would call Americans cowboys. Well, let’s cowboy up.
The stakes are high.
Please don’t discount this blog as a bleeding-heart soapbox. I’ve paid my dues over a (more or less) honorable US military career including years as a commando and experience within the intelligence, diplomacy, security, and cultural-linguistic realms. I’ve held both extreme liberal and extreme conservative views during seasons of my life. I’ve lived among foreign nationals in over thirty nations. More importantly, I’ve listened to the best and worst of what they had to say about their view of the world and of “us”. Most importantly, because I listened, I’ve been heard as well.
We have entered the third millennium, all six billion of us together. Remember what they say: “Third time’s a charm!” This might be seen as an unprecedented time in history to develop evolved, human-based conflict resolution.
You never know. We might start an intercontinental grassroots movement that values and incorporates all sorts of dissimilar members into a functional, citizens’ United Nations…global peacemaking from the people up.
Copyright © 2008 by Jack Oatmon. All rights reserved.
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I love every sentence of this post. If acceptance and willingness to be changed were easy, our species would have achieved it by now. It is MUCH easier to see the flaws “in the other side” than to allow ourselves to question what we think we know.
I was once asked by a Japanese Dojo Cho: “What would be a very impolite prayer to God?” I said, “Okay, I know this one — asking for a million dollors for my own comfort?”
“Even more impolite than that,” she said, “would be praying for world peace.” Obviously, I was a bit thrown.
“Do you ever judge others?” she asked. I looked at my watch. “Since what time?” I asked wittily.
“Yes,” she said. “It is VERY hard never to judge. But judging others and then praying for world peace is like stealing and then praying that there be no jails.”
Peace is a daily and challenging practice. I fail at it moment to moment. But I keep trying. It is easier since I began surrounded myself with more deeply loving people. (And why not make the work easier if and when you can? Life will throw difficulties at you no matter what. Good to have a bit of a safety net.) May I recommend a great practice? Use the wristband from AComplaintFreeWorld.org. It’s an excellent start on the discipline of taking responsibility for your own negativity.
Thanks so much for this deeply thoughtful post.
(This Comment posted by Powerful Peace as received via email – too good to pass up!):
(“Bob & Karen” to me)
“Mr. Powerful Peace–this is the first blog I have ever visited. I was so impressed by the content that I wanted to leave a public viewer message or note of support and encouragement. However, dinosaurs will out, and I soon found myself asea in the uncharted waters of technology, and was forced to revert to my sole claim to techno-competance, the email. And since I am still not entirely clear with whom I am communicating, Powerful Peace, fellow blog readers, or digital masses as yet unnamed, I will simply say that it is refreshing–and hopeful–to hear such an insightful voice of reason, especially from one who has been there, as you obviously have. Your message is critical for the world to hear. For God’s sake, keep up the good work.
Your family must be very proud!”
Prevailing in a world like ours is a non-issue. Who do we know that has prevailed? Maybe won a medal, an award, a country, but in world-prevailance (I make up words if it isn’t one) no time in history has there been a prevailanteer (see) on everything. The best isn’t ever the best at everything, even Jesus decided to lose a few arguments, for argument’s sake.
With my keen sense of observation (and this is the only world I’ve observed but not very closely at that) I’ve come to the conclusion that I can’t be all-knowing or all-fill-in-the-blank because I’m really really focused on work. And the brilliant minds I follow got many comforting links closed from help through many other brilliant minds.
Every historical and current move has always been accomplished with support. If your a chess master, probably someone manufactured your chess board besides you, or at least the clothes or eyeglasses you might be wearing. No one I can find really did anything alone.
As most people experience, little stuff happens on big scales and big stuff happens on little scales. As ants build big sand piles, people build big metropolis’s. Something about trade is ringing in my ears…hmm~ we’re bound to figure out that we need to work together on a much bigger scale, on a much smaller scale.
Oh, that’s what your doing, huh. So why again are we fighting? Which one is so right?