Reason 87 to blog4peace: stop the name calling!

Let me start with a disclaimer, or a confession, or whatever this is:  I am a Democrat.  I live in South Carolina and I'm old enough to remember when there was (for all practical purposes) ONLY a Democratic Party in SC.  I am a "yellow dog" Democrat, which means, I'd vote for a yellow dog if he ran as a Democrat.  My mother told me that if I voted for a Republican, hair would grow on my palms.  I have since found that that isn't necessarily true, but I've had very few temptations to test the threat.  One time someone said to Mom, "I'd bet you'd vote for Satan if he ran as a Democrat."  She thought a minute and said, "Well, yeah, but not in the primary."  This is where I come from. 

Now, let me say that I am very tired of name calling and bad rhetoric on ALL sides of what passes for political debate.  Governor Perry calls a respected economist and member of the Obama administration a "traitor" and laughs when people get upset.  But what does that mean, dude?  Don't you know that treason is a federal crime punishable by death?  You are accusing a man of a federal crime simply because you disagree with him.

And "Nazi."  Can we quit calling each other Nazis?  Do we have no idea what that word means?  Do we have no idea of the eerily efficient bureaucracy of death associated with that party?  We trivialize horror when we speak of "food Nazis" (who are really offensive, but not eerily efficient bureaucrats of death.)  Someone disagrees with us and we compare them to mass murderers.

The same thing applies to all of the words: communist, fascist, traitor, insane, criminally stupid.  Perfectly fine words that are trivialized while the rhetoric of CIVIL POLITICAL DEBATE is twisted into ever escalating words of hatred and separation.

Pull back people.  I'm not saying don't disagree.  I'm not saying don't articulate your points of disagreement.  I'm saying... I'm PLEADING:  Don't use angry emotion-laden key words as symbols for what pass as ideas.  ARTICULATE.  I know you can.  Please.

And Thank you.

Reason 88 to Blog for Peace: Stubborn acceptance of gladness

I am behind again, which is not a problem for me.  The problem has been the intrusion of life on my meditations on peace.   The intrusions of the wars, the riots, the famines; but also the intrusions of changes at work, my son starting a new school, and a high school reunion.  The World has been overwhelming me for the past week or so.

Then my O magazine came in the mail, and I finally sat down and turned to Martha Beck, my favorite columnist, and guess what she is writing about this month?  Stubborn acceptance of gladness.  She writes about how our storms of negativity coming from our fear incite storms of negativity in others.  When we are scared, we are scary. 

While reading this, I realized that I have been both a victim and a source of these storms of negativity.  I am feeling overwhelmed and helpless in so many areas.  And thinking about World Peace in these times can bring impotent rage.

But that's not the point of this exercise.  The point is Peace --- internal & external.  Peace with justice, peace with quiet, peace with joyful noises.

And so, for now and for the next few "days" (or however long it takes me to catch up and keep going), I will blog about peace to glorify the oasises of peace, love, kindness, and hope in this world.

As Pablo Neruda wrote (and I'm borrowing from Martha Beck's column):

Take bread away from me, if you wish,
take air away, but
do not take from me your laughter.
...it opens for me all
the doors of life.

Peace be with you.

Reason 89: Never again

Reason 90 that I blog for peace: I hope therefor I am