Community, not society

So, from 5000 miles away, all I’ve been hearing about from home is how six people were killed by a hateful, mentally-disturbed man at a public meeting.  And now, in response to the shootings?  Bitter, furious ranting about the cost of vitriol.  Do you not see the irony?  I am all for fighting for causes you believe in, but I’m not behind this brand of finger-pointing.  It’s not productive.  Maybe someone should consider using the national attention to this tragedy to bring up a conversation about gun control.  Want to be angry and bitter and talk about something?  In the most recent study I could find, the United States ranks fourth in the world for murders using firearms.  The second amendment says, and I quote, “A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the People to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.” (emphasis mine)  Does this mean anyone has the right to buy any kind of gun anytime they want?  I would argue no.  The closest thing to a well-regulated militia I’ve seen lately are some of the gangs in the inner cities.  I think it’s worth a discussion, at least.  But I’m not writing this to get on my high horse about gun control.  I’m writing this to get on my high horse about power. And I'm not just talking about the U.S. anymore.  I'm talking about everywhere.

I think all the politicians love this debate.  Even the ones who are now being accused of being responsible for the shooting.  Why?  It’s in their interest for people to believe they are indispensible, that they are responsible for something, that if we could only get the right ones in office, they can make things better.  Because if they can’t convince us of that, they have to go and get real jobs.  They spend more time trying to convince us we need them than they spend actually doing anything useful.  Imagine if we lived in a place, a time, where services were traded instead of money.  Who would we value most?  Doctors, sure.  Teachers, trash collectors, farmers.  Politicians?  Bankers?  Lawyers? (sorry, friends, but be honest, most of you hate being lawyers anyway…)  These are phony, invented jobs created to deal with what is essentially an invented, fraudulent concept: wealth.  And what does wealth mean?  What is money?  If it were real, it would be impossible to spend more of it than we earn.  It’s an imaginary concept that people live and die for so that others can have control.  Why are so many places in the world becoming ugly and unmanageable and hateful? Because there are people who have power, and they want to keep it just for the sake of having it. 

Southern Sudanese people have been voting in a referendum all week, regarding their independence from the government of Northern Sudan.  Prior to the 2005 peace treaty, over 2 million people were killed in a long civil war, because the government wanted to try to keep this separation from happening.  Why?  Why would you kill or die to keep people tied to you when they don’t want to be?  Oh, that’s right.  Oil.  Money.  If you really needed the oil, and not just the power to control it, wouldn’t friendly trade be a wiser option?  Less costly, in any way that matters?  There is a new hope now in Southern Sudan.  But it’s not the end of the violence.  People will still fight, and die for that oil.  Over the  drawing of a border.  And it’s nothing new.  Europeans did it to Native Americans, Americans did it to Africans, England did it to Ireland, India, well…just about everyone, and Americans are doing it to Iraqis today. 

People say we need governments to keep the peace, to protect us, but I’m not even so sure of that any more.  This week, in Egypt, thousands of Muslims, dressed in black, turned up to serve as human shields at a Coptic Christmas Eve mass after recent violence against Christians.  Please read about it.  It made me cry.  I think this is the real human nature.  People will step in and take care of each other, if they aren’t being  poked and prodded into feeling threatened all the time.  If they stop to think about how everything you really need, you can have without needing to steal it from someone else.  If they don’t have politicians to tell them that they are on opposite sides, and that someone is trying to “take what is theirs.”  Basically, we need to change our minds and hearts about what’s important.  Networks wouldn’t be selling “vitriolic discourse” if people weren’t buying it.  Complaining about hate-filled rhetoric and pointing fingers isn’t going to change anything.  It  is only selling the same product to the other half of the population.  Why not just turn it off?  Get away from your TV, get away from your job, and talk to people.  Help someone.  Find something, anything, to really love in the world, and stop worrying about what you think someone else has.  If more people take productive steps, I think we really could see change.  

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