I think Bush is immature and cocky...at least, that is the persona he presents to the media. He is over-passionate, like me. He is illogical, like me. He is tunnel-visioned, like me. He's melodramatic and stirs people up. He defaults to trying to define the Moral Conscience for everyone, like me.
Which is exactly why I didn't vote for him.
OK, OK, perhaps down deep he may be a good man Mr/Mrs. Moral Majority, but that is for God to judge--and ONLY for God to judge. In the here and now, we must analyze and assess people by their actions, not their worded values.
The day after the elections, I spoke with an American friend of mine. She said she had woken up with the feeling that there had been a second terrorist attack on America. I think that is what many of us are feeling.
President George W. Bush, LISTEN, LEARN, and GROW UP. Swallow your arrogance and pray that you are on God's Side, not that S/He is on yours. As you continue to lead this nation and lead the congress--be neutral, be wise, be stronger than might, money and power.
Having said that, I will make a renewed effort myself to be a better American--to the best of my conscience, to the best of my logic and to the best of my actions.
We've all got a lot of work to do.
Saturday, November 06, 2004
Monday, November 01, 2004
natural and unnatural disasters...plus an election
I was in Akihabara, electronics capitol of Tokyo, when the big earthquake hit last week--the one that has created so much devastation in Niigata. I was sitting on a curb talking on my cellphone in a covered, well-lit alley way when the street began to roll and the walls and shop signs started to sway--with the clang of metal on metal, I raced out onto the street turning to watch the awnings and hanging lights shutter.
Severe aftershocks and torrential typhoon rain has kept many of those in Niigata staying in shelters away from their homes. One particular story that has gotten a lot of coverage was that of a mother and her two young children whose car was buried by a landslide. The youngest, a boy of around 2 years old, survived in the rubble for four days. The mother and her daughter weren't so lucky.
Their story headlined the evening news for several days this past week. Then came the news of the Japanese backpacker, Shosei Koda, the new hostage in Iraq. Horrifically followed by the discovery of his decapitated body. People here have asking, almost flippantly..."But what in the world was he DOING there anyway?" The footage of him held me; he could have been one of my students. Yet he had what I press and press to get out of my students every day. Curiosity. Yes, the obvious comes next, wry and cynical, "Curiosity killed the cat" afterall. We probably will never know why he was there, but I've backpacked around into unknown places and I do understand the desire to be where things are happening, to want to know first hand what is going on in this crazy, insane world. The desire to get beyond someone else's camera and see reality for what it is. I can understand this. Sometimes, sitting in my office and flipping through textbooks, I feel numbed by the system and wonder if I have become part of the numbing process by default. On those days I want to scream and break free, running...ANYWHERE to be beyond the humdrum, the daily grind, the systems of dispassionate logic which seem to control my life. Perhaps young Mr. Koda just had a passion to KNOW more about the people, the place and the culture of a corner of the world that is beginning to look like is becoming the birth place for the next paradigm shift in the modern world.
Terrorism vs....everyone and everything else.
And after yesterday's news about Shosei, I really started to wonder if, Bush or no Bush, Kerry or no Kerry, Pandora's box has just been flung too wide open. How can we forge ahead to conquer such an enemy without becoming like the enemy? Is it possible?! Or do we just keep creating bigger monsters?
We need a new paradigm...a Second Coming would be nice. The Second Chance. This chaos must stop for everyone's sake.
So I really don't know what Prayers to send out to the Universal Network for tomorrow's election...all I know is that we all need something BETTER, MUCH BETTER than all of THIS.
Severe aftershocks and torrential typhoon rain has kept many of those in Niigata staying in shelters away from their homes. One particular story that has gotten a lot of coverage was that of a mother and her two young children whose car was buried by a landslide. The youngest, a boy of around 2 years old, survived in the rubble for four days. The mother and her daughter weren't so lucky.
Their story headlined the evening news for several days this past week. Then came the news of the Japanese backpacker, Shosei Koda, the new hostage in Iraq. Horrifically followed by the discovery of his decapitated body. People here have asking, almost flippantly..."But what in the world was he DOING there anyway?" The footage of him held me; he could have been one of my students. Yet he had what I press and press to get out of my students every day. Curiosity. Yes, the obvious comes next, wry and cynical, "Curiosity killed the cat" afterall. We probably will never know why he was there, but I've backpacked around into unknown places and I do understand the desire to be where things are happening, to want to know first hand what is going on in this crazy, insane world. The desire to get beyond someone else's camera and see reality for what it is. I can understand this. Sometimes, sitting in my office and flipping through textbooks, I feel numbed by the system and wonder if I have become part of the numbing process by default. On those days I want to scream and break free, running...ANYWHERE to be beyond the humdrum, the daily grind, the systems of dispassionate logic which seem to control my life. Perhaps young Mr. Koda just had a passion to KNOW more about the people, the place and the culture of a corner of the world that is beginning to look like is becoming the birth place for the next paradigm shift in the modern world.
Terrorism vs....everyone and everything else.
And after yesterday's news about Shosei, I really started to wonder if, Bush or no Bush, Kerry or no Kerry, Pandora's box has just been flung too wide open. How can we forge ahead to conquer such an enemy without becoming like the enemy? Is it possible?! Or do we just keep creating bigger monsters?
We need a new paradigm...a Second Coming would be nice. The Second Chance. This chaos must stop for everyone's sake.
So I really don't know what Prayers to send out to the Universal Network for tomorrow's election...all I know is that we all need something BETTER, MUCH BETTER than all of THIS.
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