I would not want to be Norm
It has been quite a while since I've been able to post, and perhaps this isn't the best item to come back with, but I am moved by it. I would not want to be this Iraqi, but I would rather be the victim than the Marine perpetrator of the act.
Why did he miss ...twice? Could it have anything to do with the prospect of killing an already severely wounded and downed man, weighed against the cheers of his buddies?
Look at the Marine who made the kill. Perhaps that is his first confirmed kill. Perhaps that is what the cheers are about. "Go Norm!" But he is not cheering. He is motionless, suspended. His is the face of conscience. He will relive this moment until he dies. There will be no escaping his thoughts. He will have to live with himself, he will have to die with himself. How will he find absolution for this moment?
This too, I lay at the feet of George Bush, for he has created a new generation scarred by war, and haunted with memories of their participation as mercenaries in his private army, wreaking unnecessary death and ruin upon the people of Iraq. This as much as anything is the root of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
Compassion today, for the killer. I would rather be the victim of any crime than the perpetrator. But this compassion is yet founded in the illusion of the duality of the killer and the killed, which is itself the fundamental cause of war. So a higher philosophy must be cultured and lived by those in America, the most powerful nation, if we are to solve the problem of war. It is a waste of the gift of our power at this time in human history if we do not show the way to world peace.
War divides, peace unites. The dispelling of that illusion of us and them, you and I, slayer and slain, is the role of the peacemaker. America must become that peacemaker.
WARCRIME
How many times must you watch this video before you begin to associate the image of the US soldier with such atrocities? Once? Perhaps you are already sensitive to the plight of human suffering. Twice? What, weren't you paying attention the first time? Ten times? Twenty? Has it sunk in? Can you let go of that football game mentality and see the real death and ruin in this unnecessary war Bush is waging? (Yes, how like football players do our boys look in their modern uniforms, helmeted and padded, and bulked up by kevlar. Look at Norm's boyish, skinny fingers, and soft childlike face, though. And think about what we have made him into.)
Further reading:
Maharishi's Absolute Theory of Defense
Victory Before War
BTW, Juan Cole is writing again. Informed comment it is.
Juan Cole's website
Juan Cole at Yahoo Groups
Why did he miss ...twice? Could it have anything to do with the prospect of killing an already severely wounded and downed man, weighed against the cheers of his buddies?
Look at the Marine who made the kill. Perhaps that is his first confirmed kill. Perhaps that is what the cheers are about. "Go Norm!" But he is not cheering. He is motionless, suspended. His is the face of conscience. He will relive this moment until he dies. There will be no escaping his thoughts. He will have to live with himself, he will have to die with himself. How will he find absolution for this moment?
This too, I lay at the feet of George Bush, for he has created a new generation scarred by war, and haunted with memories of their participation as mercenaries in his private army, wreaking unnecessary death and ruin upon the people of Iraq. This as much as anything is the root of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
Compassion today, for the killer. I would rather be the victim of any crime than the perpetrator. But this compassion is yet founded in the illusion of the duality of the killer and the killed, which is itself the fundamental cause of war. So a higher philosophy must be cultured and lived by those in America, the most powerful nation, if we are to solve the problem of war. It is a waste of the gift of our power at this time in human history if we do not show the way to world peace.
War divides, peace unites. The dispelling of that illusion of us and them, you and I, slayer and slain, is the role of the peacemaker. America must become that peacemaker.
WARCRIME
How many times must you watch this video before you begin to associate the image of the US soldier with such atrocities? Once? Perhaps you are already sensitive to the plight of human suffering. Twice? What, weren't you paying attention the first time? Ten times? Twenty? Has it sunk in? Can you let go of that football game mentality and see the real death and ruin in this unnecessary war Bush is waging? (Yes, how like football players do our boys look in their modern uniforms, helmeted and padded, and bulked up by kevlar. Look at Norm's boyish, skinny fingers, and soft childlike face, though. And think about what we have made him into.)
Further reading:
Maharishi's Absolute Theory of Defense
Victory Before War
BTW, Juan Cole is writing again. Informed comment it is.
Juan Cole's website
Juan Cole at Yahoo Groups
posted by Threshing Machine | 8:47 PM
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