drawing by marguerita A culture Soaked in Blood
There is no way to overstate the horror of gun violence in America.
Roughly 16,000 to 17,000 Americans are murdered every year, and more than 12,000 of them, on average, are shot to death. This is an insanely violent society, and the worst of that violence is made insanely easy by the widespread availability of guns.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/
NOTE:
I am always reading and questioning the roots of violence in America.
Violence....
It is a pervasive state of mind.
The guns are one of the mediums,but I believe the culprit is the mind.
I cannot help to remind whoever I can, that being the daughter of two remarkable individuals,my parents,who suffered so much,witnessed how Man is capable to descend beyond what Dante imagined in the Divine Comedy.
Both,one an Auschwitz survivor and the other in a Russian gulag,surfaced from the horror they endured ,with their beliefs and teachings they received from their ancestors and parents.
Their minds were not corrupted,their vision of life was to continue with the same consciousness,of their upbringing,and transfer to me their legacy.
To live on this Earth,wherever we find ourselves with a sense of Beauty and Joie de Vivre.
The Violence in America, comes from the distorted and emptiness in individuals who have no respect to Life.
Life is not about Money and Power.
The power is within us,to have empathy and realize that our existence is limited to a pass we receive at birth.
That is the challenge.the ticket we must honor.
To spend our time here with harmony,cherish every moment,watch the Sun,the Moon and the Stars.Observe the birds and flowers and live by how the Latins conjured ,Memento Mori.
Violence can and must be stopped. The way is to be in touch with your inner self,and think of the soul we carry within us. To nurture our feelings with tenderness.as Otis Redding sings,
look at the marvels of Nature,who herself will shake up anyway with earthquakes and thunder storms.
Where are in Nature's domain,where Humans have to learn and drink from.
We are entitled to get upset,distraught,but in no way do we have the right to hurt,injure or kill.
That is Death' job and we should never be her ally.
Marguerita
And here:Actor Samantha Morton tells of teenage criminal record | Society | The Guardian
Saturday, April 25, 2009
America the Beautiful,In Violence Veritas
Posted by marguerita.com@gmail.com at 4/25/2009 08:48:00 PM
Labels: America, American Culture, Bob Herbert, state of mind, violence
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3 comments:
Hey Marguerita-
Thanks for this timely and insightful post about violence. I completely agree that the issue at hand is that of "violence", and not just violence related to guns. However, I suspect you already know that the solution you propose - "to be in touch with your inner self,and think of the soul we carry within us. To nurture our feelings with tenderness." - is no where as near as easy to do as it is to say.
I recall a Buddhist retreat several years ago where I came to a similar realization, and then felt tremendous sadness and compassion for the millions/billions of people who would never get the instruction to develop the skills they need to learn this for themselves. "Peace in our hearts before peace in the world."
I hope you will join me in supporting creation of a U.S. Department of Peace (http://www.thepeacealliance.org). The legislation contains an education component about empathy and nonviolent conflict resolution. I think this is the best channel for getting this knowledge into young people before they develop the dysfunctional problem-solving skills that show up today as violence.
Thank you for your response.
Please let me know how to contribute.
I am on.
Marguerita
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