Mermaids & Babies

“Oh say can you see its really such a mess
every inch of earth is a fighting nest
giant pencil and lip-stick tube shaped things
continue to rain and cause screaming pain
and the arctic stains
from silver blue to bloody red ….”
Jimi Hendrix; 1983 (A Mermaid I Should Be)



I just got home from an AAU girls basketball tournament. Family members are tired out, and so everyone else here has gone to bed. I thought that I'd relax a bit, and so I clicked on the Democratic Underground, to do a quick check on today's news.

Having been a participant on this forum since 2003, nothing should surprise me. Right? Not just crazy news, either: even the strangest responses to crazy news can be expected, sometimes, on this often curious forum. And I'm not referring to simply strong disagreements on political and social issues, for those discussions and even arguments can be both interesting and valuable. But tonight really had me shaking my head.

People can hold very different opinions on events in Libya, without it being a clear case of “right” versus “wrong.” But when babies and little children are killed by giant pencil and lip-stick tube shaped things, it would seem that all people should feel ill, and step back to reassess the situation that our nation is actively involved in.

I am not an apologist for – much less a supporter of – the brutal dictator of Libya. I believe that he is evil in the context that Dr. Michael H. Stone spoke of in his book “The Anatomy of Evil,” which discussed violent criminals. This is distinct from George W. Bush's babblings about “evil-doers.” As Onondaga Chief Paul Waterman noted in our last interview, shortly after 9/11, in order for Bush to attack those he identified as his enemies, he would have to become like them; by this, Chief Waterman meant Bush would engage our nation in actions that killed and injured large numbers of innocent people. Including babies and children.

Bush, of course, famously pretended to be influenced by religion. Yet, a general familiarity with that “good book” that Bush claimed to channel would suggest that our unelected president placed no value on the teaching of Matthew 18:6-7, which specifically states that anyone who purposely does harm to a child will pay a heavy cosmic penalty.

Indeed, the concept that children reflect a higher cosmic consciousness is documented in Psalm 8:2, a message that Jesus quotes in Matthew 21:16. In more recent times, Gandhi noted this, too, when he said, “From my experience with hundreds of children, I know they have a finer sense of honor than you or I have. Jesus never uttered a loftier or grander truth than when he said that wisdom cometh out of the mouth of babes. I believe it.”

In other sections of the Bible, such as Isaiah 3:4 and Luke 10:21, that same general concept is found. This isn't just a religious or spiritual belief. Almost everyone recognizes the innocents of babies and little children. Indeed, it is only that select few types that Dr. Stone called evil, who are incapable of grasping those human concepts.

Perhaps it is the length of the current struggles, and the harsh difficulties these have inflicted upon people, that have so worn people down that they are numb to the horrors of war, and the deaths of innocents who happen to be near where a bomb drops. That, of course, is mere speculation on my part.... because I do not understand, and do not want to understand, the thought (or lack thereof) behind some of the things I've read here tonight.

Peace,
H2O Man