The tragedy in New Zealand this last week made me spiritually sick. Several times I tried writing something and several times I deleted it, there’s just nothing I can say about it. No word (monster, terrorist, psychopath) comes close to how I feel about the people that did this- or continue to execute such horrific things world-wide.
That demon (still not close enough) wants us divided. It’s in his manifesto how he wants to incite war under the guise of “revolution”.
At a time like this, we want to blame people for their contributions. This weekend I saw a 16 year old smash an egg into an Aussie senator’s head over his ill-advised commentary. Normalizing the actions of a terrorist is horrible, but the senator wasn’t the first person to say this kind of stuff is expected- Sadiq Khan of London said it in 2016 following an NY bombing. The senator, who was completely insensitive, and the “EggBoy” represent 2 different prospectives that have had enough and want to fight. They represent the war that the terrorist was hoping for.
In contrast, I saw another video of a woman telling Chelsea Clinton off. Where the Australian incident represents the war, the woman and Clinton represent the challenges of communication. Not long ago, Chelsea verbally attacked a US senator, of Islamic background, stating Omar is anti-Semitic. In fairness to Omar, I think Chelsea missed the mark and Omar’s point. In either case, the young woman that told Chelsea off, fell into the same trap Chelsea did- looking at a situation from a prospective of upset.
It’s our attachments that cause so many problems in the long run. We get attached to our emotional patterns and fall into tunnel vision. “EggBoy”’s emotions led to violence, Senator Anning’s to say insensitive things during a crisis so he could further his agenda, Chelsea to respond with an inflammatory tweet, and an attendant to an NYU vigil for victims to respond with her voice to the pain she felt seeing Chelsea. In truth:
1) EggBoy’s heart is in the right place. He’s sick of seeing horrific acts be normalized and made to be political trophies.
2) Senator Anning’s heart is in the right place. He’s sick of seeing people get hurt and believes the solution lays in isolating.
3) Chelsea’s heart is in the right place. She’s sick of watching Nazi Germany pervade the world.
4) The Muslim woman’s heart is in the right place. She’s sick of watching her people get demonized and attacked.
Your heart can be in the right place, but your actions, thoughts and ideas completely out of harmony with the heart’s hopes and dreams. So while you think on the solutions to this crisis- let us not forget:
The Fire blazes and burns everything to the ground to start fresh. But for it to accomplish anything nothing in its path can remain.
The Raging Storm (Air) tears everything in its path apart, and you must pick through the wreckage to find what is valuable.
The Earthquake rips into the ground and swallows land, often leaving nothing in return.
The River has patience, using only what it is given to erode the surface and produce the most beautiful of structures.
Of the four, the Jedi should be represented by the River. Are you there yet?