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Sunday, April 06, 2003
Cimatu: War is bigger than us (or U.S.)
By Frank Cimatu
WE ARE living in interesting times. We had been warned that this is a Chinese curse.
"Interesting" entails being embedded in the annals of history and History is blood and gore. In ancient China, trying to look at the body of Genghis Khan while it was being paraded into your town means painful death.
History forgets the common soldier or peasant. The movie "Hero" points it out to us courageously. "Nameless" decided not to kill the terrible Emperor Qin even if he killed not only a lot of people but entire races because he is the only one who can unite China.
"I hope Bush will not get ideas," a friend said in the middle of the movie. "What made you so sure that Saddam will also see himself as the Emperor," I told him.
The trouble with "Hero" is that it spotlights the war to only a few people: the Emperor and the assassins. That is also the thing with the current war. Bush and the American media want to say that the only objective is to oust Saddam. Saddam said that the only problem with the war are the Bushes.
I searched for answers and found it in a weblog with a wonderful name: www.beneathbuddhaseyes.com.
Here is his log last March 31:
WAR IS GOD
"What do you think we should DO to end this insanity if not protest?" Lee Flemming asked me this question as part of her comment on my last blog, "Letter to My Country."
Lee's question gets right to the heart of the matter. But I am not quite sure what we should do. I don't claim to have the answer. I had to write two books just to begin to answer the questions I had about Vietnam, and having done that, I still don't have all the answers.
The only thing I am sure of is, this thing called war is way, way bigger than any of us. A week ago I was being interviewed on a local news show when the anchor asked me what was the main thing I remembered about being in the Vietnam War. The answer shot out of my mouth like an artillery shell, completely bypassing my thought process. "The noise." I went on to say, "Whatever a person's expectation, war turns out to be much, much bigger and more powerful."
War is frightening. War is awe-inspiring. War is bigger than any one of us. War is like God because it has the power to change the lives of anyone involved. It has power over life and death. The word "War" should be spelled with a capital.
And it is because of my awe of it, that I cannot get it out of my mind. Although I hate the idea of it, mainly because I know what it does to people, the only way I can imagine avoiding it is by finding Love in my heart, not War.
I know that within my own heart that I can either be at peace or at war. If I choose peace and learn to live in that peace, I am not contributing. And that is my contribution, "not to contribute."
I firmly believe that human actions are infinitely powerful. If I am promoting peace in my heart, that has a powerful effect on the universe. It is more powerful than if I protest because if I do that then I am contributing to protest or resistance.
Until I find a better way to end war, I'm going to continue to look for peace in my own heart where I know I can find it".
(April 6, 2003 issue)
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