No Answers

I don't have any answers. None. Zero. Zip. A big fat goose egg.

I know a couple of things that are NOT the answer.

One of those things is more war. More bombing. More death.

You don't cure cancer with more cancer. If someone has lymphoma...leukemia isn't the cure.

The other thing that is not an answer...and this is the one that will cause the most controversy...is your beliefs.

Your chosen faith. The religious beliefs that you profess....will not stop the killing.

I am not trying to belittle your faith. I know that it is a source of comfort for you. I know that it is how you identify yourself to the rest of the world. I know it's a reservoir of strength that you draw from on a regular basis with others who share the same faith. It is a special and wonderful thing.

But it is a personal thing. It is unique to you and those you worship with.

I have friends who are Christian, Muslim, Hindu. Buddhist, Agnostic, Atheist, and followers of the Flying Spaghetti Monster. I respect them all. I love them all. But none of their beliefs or lack of beliefs will stop the killing. It works for you. Great! But if you think the way we stop the killing is for the rest of the world to worship the same god that you do, then you are almost heart-breakingly naive.

Now, if I may switch gears...I have a question.

Why do the terrorists hate us?

I don't have an answer for that, either, but I have an idea. And it's not, "They hate our freedom." What does that even mean? 

The reasons they hate us are many and complex.

But, I'm pretty sure that one reason they hate us has nothing to do with "our freedom" and everything to do with the fact that we, America, are the country that sends flying death robots to reign fire down from the sky. A fire that murders their children. And if you think that our drone strikes, which are carried out with our tax dollars so that the blood on our hands is evenly distributed, ONLY kill the targeted terrorists, then you have been suckered. Just a few weeks ago, we, THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, bombed a Doctors Without Borders hospital, killing everyone inside and the response from our military was, basically, "Oops! Sorry we fucked up."

At this point, there may be a mother reading this who is thinking to herself, "Why should I care what happens to those people over there? My son, my daughter, died in that desert hell hole fighting for our country. Why would I ever care about those people or what happens to them?"

And my response to that is...you have ever right to feel that way. I cannot imagine how intense the sadness is or how profound your loss.

But...

Are we so calloused that we can pretend that the Muslim mother who lost her child because of our actions has lost any less or doesn't grieve just as intensely?

Like I said at the beginning, I don't have any answers. I spend most of my time telling dick jokes. You don't have to listen to me. 

But...

I have a question that I think is worth asking.

It's this:

What if...somehow...the American mother who lost her child to war in the Middle East, could...somehow...connect with the Muslim mother who lost her child to a U.S. drone strike?

What if they could connect and come to the realization that, even though they are from different cultures and have different religious beliefs, that they, in fact, as mothers who love their children, have more in common with EACH OTHER, than with the people in power who wage these wars?

What if that happened over and over again?

What would our world look like then?

I don't have the answer, but I think the question is worth asking.

Because, after all, there are more of us, the ones who feel powerless, than there are those who are in power.

I don't have any answers.

But, as long as I have the breath...

I'm not going to stop asking questions.

Why?

Because if we don't have life...what do we have?

Dad, Can I Borrow a Few Shillings?

I've always thought that one of the best ways to study history is to read the actual words of the people who inhabit the past, such as letters, journals, etc. I once got into an online debate with a gentleman who was defending Christopher Columbus and his eponymous holiday. I was arguing that Columbus was one of the worst humans in a history full of worst humans.

The other gentleman was having none of it.

He asked, “How do you know that for sure?”

“Because we have his diaries. He didn't try to hide his murderous, raperous, and generally horriferous ways!”

His response stuns me to this day...

“Well, THEY SAY those are his diaries.”

Ah, yes, the mysterious “they.”

“They” are always saying “something” that the willfully ignorant among us can use to shut down any meaningful dialogue that we “smart asses” try to have. It's almost as if they perceive intelligence as something we aquire for the sole purpose of contradicting them or making them look foolish or to set their brains abuzz with a big ol' swarm of the cognitive dissonance.

In truth, that's only PART of the reason us “smart asses” like to get smarter.

Earlier today, I read a letter at http://colonialnorthamerican.library.harvard.edu/

written by one James Otis, Jr. He was a lawyer in colonial Massachusetts who coined the phrase “taxation without representation is tyranny” back before we went to war with the British.

The letter was one that a college-age James wrote to his father because...

wait for it...

he wanted his dad to send him money. He needed 15 shillings for belt buckles, 15 shillings to print his thesis (at Ye Olde Houfe of Kinko, I'm assuming), and some extra for “any manner of entertainment” after commencement at Harvard (translation: ale and weed).

That's right, the man who would go on to write words that are still uttered today (usually by Tea Party types who want to burn our entire government down, but still) was a normal college student who hit his old man up when he was strapped for cash.

Reading the actual words of historical figures humanizes them and shows us how little the human condition changes over the centuries. I'll take what the real people said over what “They” say any day. (I'm really sorry that last part rhymed.)

The Conservative Beattitudes

Matthew 5 :
The Conservative Beatitudes
He said:
3 “Blessed are the rich, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven (and Earth ).
4 Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted ( as long as that mourning doesn't involve mourning over the victims of gun violence by even mentioning guns ).
5 Blessed are the meek, as long as they pull themselves up by their boot straps, even if they are too poor to even afford boots, much less fancy boots with straps.
6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled, because it's easier and more cost efficient to fill them with righteousness instead of food, because you can eat prayers, right?
7 Blessed are the merciful, as long as their mercy is aimed at the right people. And gay couples wanting to get married are NOT the right people.
8 Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will not need expensive medical procedures, because healthcare is a privilege NOT a right ( especially for those lazy "meek" assholes I mentioned earlier ).
9 Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God...GOTCHA! Haha! I'm kidding...BOMB EVERYONE! And if innocent civilians get in the way, remember: YOU'RE AMERICAN and that makes it okay ( Look, I realize you guys don't know what America is, because it's a country that's going to be founded in the future, but trust me, it's going to be GREAT! Me and Moses are even going to write their Constitution! )
10 Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness...and their whiteness, because white Christians in that future America place I just told you about are going to be the most historically persecuted people in history. No, seriously, they're going to have to deal with people who believe differently than they do and say evil, satanic things like "Happy Holidays!" It's cool, though, my Father adds another wing to the mansion-in-heaven of every white person who shares a meme ridiculing poor minorities on welfare or votes for people like Matt Bevin in my name ...for theirs is the white American Christian kingdom of heaven.