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Don't
Get Even, Get Odd!
By
Swami Beyondananda
Forget about getting even. If the Law of Karma is right, odds
are it will all even out in the end anyway.
Swami Beyondananda
Politics
As Unusual
Yes, these
are indeed serious times we live in, and the world is facing some serious
problems – most of them caused by serious foolishness. It was Albert
Einstein who said that a problem cannot be solved at the level at which
it was created, so maybe serious problems have humorous solutions. For
levity can help us rise to the occasion and see the situation from a higher
perspective. Gravity only brings us down.
Chain
of Foolishness
A look at
history reveals a chain, chain, chain of foolishness dating back to the
first dysfunction at the junction. Cain slew Abel. Over what? A guy preaches
love thy neighbor, so they hang him on a cross. What's so smart about
that? And those of you who think that sage burning is a new age Native
American practice should have been around during the dark ages, when they
burned sages as a ritual to keep everyone else in line. And it persists
today. We still have the ire in Ireland, the hurts in Herzogovena, the
mess in Mesopatamia and a Holy War over possession of the Holy Land. I
mean, think about it. A Holy War in the Holy Land... holy shit!
In
Odd We Trust
So how do
we break this chain of foolishness? Well, first thing is to laugh heartily
at the foolish habit we have of getting even – and start getting
odd instead. An eye for an eye guarantees continued blindness. On the
odder hand, every positive change or great innovation has come from some
odd individual with a wild, crazy and laughable idea. Humans flying like
birds... HA! An end to slavery... HA! Women voting... HA! An upstart start-up
nation insisting on inalienable rights... HA! Guaranteed, when humorologists
go back far enough in history to find the first laugh, it was probably
at the oddball nutcase who invented the wheel!
A
“Just” War is Still... Just War
Meanwhile,
we accept the most blatant insanity as sane and normal. Like war. Think
of how many years the U.S. stayed in Vietnam to save face. I guess it
takes an oddball to point out that war isn't face-saving, it's
ass-losing. We stayed there to save face, and we ended up losing our ass
instead. Take a look at the faces of those in charge. Would you lose your
ass to save their face? And forget the idea of a “just war.”
Every war is justified as just... and that's what we've been left with:
Just war.
Here's
An Odd Idea: Let's Declare CODE GREEN
In the wake
of the 911 attacks, Americans have been terrorized not just by terrorism,
but by the war on terrorism. Our Department of Homeland Insecurity has
even color-coded danger, to make sure we “see red” when they
need us to. But all this code-dependence has made most Americans sad and
scared. Swami says, “What if we combine the yellow of fear and the
blues so many people feel to get the healing color of green? Instead of
fomenting anger and an emergency mentality, why not foment love and creativity
and an emerge 'n see mentality instead? Time to emerge from the habit
of getting even and see the odd solution that is just ridiculous enough
to work! Let's declare Code Green!”
One
Plus One = ONE
Here's
another odd idea: To transform the fear and sadness associated with 9/11,
let's declare January 11th as a worldwide day of affirming that we're
all in this together... and celebrate 111. I'm one, you're one,
and together We are One. Remember E Pluribus Unum? Each of us has been
given a special gift – just for entering. You already are a winner!
And each of us is totally unique, just like everyone else. So you can
be all that you can be – without necessarily joining the army. Code
Green is an invitation to use that unique gift to do what has not yet
been done... to weave a web of mass construction, and reap a world win!
(c)
2003 Steve Bhaerman. May be circulated with appropriate attribution. To
join the Right To Laugh Party or help create a job description for California's
Governor, call (800) SWAMI-BE.
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Swami
