OW Portland Iconic photo
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"There must be those among whom we can sit down and weep and still be counted as warriors."
Adrienne Rich
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The Tools of Fear
Weapons are the tools of fear.
A decent person will avoid them
except in the direst necessity
and, if compelled, will use them
only with the utmost restraint….Our enemies are not demons
but human beings like ourselves.
The decent person doesn’t wish them personal harm.
Nor do they rejoice in victory.
How could we rejoice in victory
and delight in the slaughter of people?
Enter a battle gravely
with sorrow and with great compassion
as if attending a funeral.The Tools of Fear | Inward/Outward
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"Everything you can imagine is real."Pablo Picasso [Fr] (via artchipel)
2 comments:
Thank you for this today, Beth. There is some synchronicity at work here.
Was just working on a post in a similar vein after watching an old episode of Kung Fu (from the last years of the Vietnam War) called "The Demon God." It's on YouTube).
I was startled, in light of current events, to hear Caine say:
"You are the enemy who is not the enemy. We are of the many, not of the few. We are necessary and useful."
He says this to the scorpion who stung him earlier--the scorpion whose life he saved later and who then showed him the way out of the place where he was trapped.
Thanks for your comment - yes this stuff churns up the memories of wars and battles past .... and with Thanksgiving upon us, returning home to visit and remember old "battles" that still resist any real resolution. It's made me contemplate again and again what it is, what it means to be a peacemaker, how we might embody that, live into that. Thinking of you - prayers for you as a "lightbringer" and for all those people of goodwill who are in this struggle with us.
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