Greetings my gentle readers to this weeks installment of the "Be Yourself, Often" Blog. A time when we can step back and reflect and look at all the positives that have transpired over the course of the week and feel good about living life on life's terms. This is and can be found at www.joelwlamoure.com and an audio version at http://www.spreaker.com/show/tuesday_prescribing_spiritual_hope .
Today has brought to an end the 2012 Olympic summer games in London, England. This is a time of peace and harmony when brother competes against brother and sister against sister in the field of sports. This is not war or fighting or posturing of swords and sabers, but rather a time of brotherhood. A time where over 190 countries can peaceably assemble and bring for the shining light of the Olympic flame.
That peace is not always what it appears on the surface, despite the 5 colours of the Olympic flag that denote representation from every flag in the world and every race and nation. Look to Munich of 1972 to see the harm and damage than man enacts against man. The drama that unfolded and tragic loss of life was a public display of hatred and lack of understanding that took a very sad, human toll. Since then, with the exception of the Atlanta Olympics, there has not been a loss of life secondary to terrorism, however at a great cost for security and policing.
So why DO we need such an expression of force at a "peaceable" event? The conspiratists may say it the Orwellian fate that was predicts it Orwell's 1984, which was written 67 years ago, and published in 1948 in the shadow of the Cold War and the aftermath of World War Two. Some may say it keeps us safe and is essential to demonstrate peace and harmony. Likely a balance of the 2 is needed and accurate. But do we really know what we really need? Has it been so clouded and made so complex that we have lost the simple interfaces and facets that exist in life?
Maybe the most important question here is that why do people judge other people and their sins and forget their own dirty laundry in their closet? Why is it so difficult for us as humans to simply get along and collaborate? To share the peace and harmony and be able to survive within the Ten Commandments that we have been given? Are we so entrenched in our beliefs that we forget others have their beliefs? In the form of group hysteria that can grip a nation (at least 4 times since 1928), are we just animals with a mob mentality?
Is life so bad that we would rather not learn from a different religion, culture, belief and political system but rather destroy them and be at war? This means to me that we have not captured the non-man made elements of life, which evolve and revolve around spirituality and inter-connectedness. Shame isnt it? We are so advanced in our technology and wrapped up in the trimmings of the day that we feel we are able to hate and pass judgment. The armchair warriors dont just exist in sports my friend.....
There are over 7 billion people on this planet and like the Zen statement that goes that every snowflake falls in exactly the right spot, so we are woven into the tapestry of life and share so much with our brothers and sisters.
Haters for some reason have to hate and at the end of the day, wonder why their life is depressing and despondent and then turn to more hatred and become a tyrant and despot. I would rather step back and see what people have to learn, share that and apply that learning liberally and translate across the spectrum of humanity. You have to start with you... aint nobody going to fix the demons and the monkey on that back besides insight and awareness and work. No pill will cure THAT ill.
I believe if we can do that, you might just be yourself, often.
--- Rev. Dr. Joel Lamoure August 2012
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