Letters to the Editor
Tragedy
Because the spiritual foundation of Twelve Step programs is anonymity, I can’t sign this letter; but I feel compelled to share my thoughts in the face of this national crisis we’re facing. I’m convinced that the media can be both good and evil. I was brought to tears by the news of the heroic acts, heartfelt anguish and sincere show of support all over the globe in the face of the September 11th tragedy. It gave me great hope for the spiritual transformation that can emanate from such a disaster. I also acknowledge that if it weren’t for excellent reporting (OITM being a prime example) our Civil Union Law might never have passed.
On the other hand, if it weren’t for our sick attachment to viewing all the horrors of the planet on our little screens every night, terrorism would never be able to get a foothold in society. Watching this latest atrocity on our own soil felt eerily familiar, like viewing a grade B movie — planes crashing into tall buildings, bodies falling out of skyscraper windows, people in New York City running panicked in the streets glancing at the mayhem behind them. And now the threat of seeking revenge on civilians from tiny, third-world countries like Afghanistan in some sort of bombing campaign for another one of our infamous military “operations” promises to “entertain” us with more thousands of hours of media “adventure.” I am not exempt from this pull as I felt myself drawn into the information web in order to get a handle on this trauma. Still, I am profoundly frightened of this media monster we have created.
And yet we are an open society which is probably why we are so vulnerable to nasty men with knives who can sneak into our airports and in one half hour, snuff out the lives of untold thousands. There is no winning this war. There is no way we can stop the media from reporting these wars. We need to cling to freedom of speech as one of our precious rights.
So if I believe that lashing out at more poor people in foreign countries (like the tens of thousands we killed in Iraq during “Desert Storm” or the thousands we massacred in Vietnam) is not the answer, what are my suggestions for resolving these conflicts short of blacking out the media during periods of national crises and developing less sensational (infinitely dull) ways of communicating vital information which sidestep drama-rama? How about communicating to our leaders that it’s OK to admit we are powerless over terrorism and that our country has become unmanageable? That only calling upon the potential of goodness within all of us can restore us to sanity. That we need to turn our knee-jerk desires for retaliation over to the care of those in our midst who have the courage to respond non-violently (like Ghansdi, Mandela, King). That we do a fearless and searching moral inventory of our past mistakes, confess them honestly to each other, find support in changing these devastating patterns. That we make amends to those we have harmed and spend the rest of our lives focusing on helping others so we don’t sink into greed, self-absorption, self-pity and rage which will lead us back to our addiction to domination. Admittedly, I’m grasping at straws, but sitting here three days after the attack, I can’t come up with any damn suggestions other than the spiritual principles I try to live by in my own life which have definitely led to a modicum of serenity in the midst of chaos.
Anonymous
VT