right here, right now...
May. 19th, 2004 12:43 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
brightbluegirlI feel inundated with violence.
Violence violence everywhere. On tv. In the streets. More war footage. Sonia Gandhi stepped down. I don't know. It's every fucking thing.
I'm not making sense. Some days I feel like the level of violence has stepped up several notches. Some days I think I'm just paying more attention.
It doesn't really matter. Either way, the violence is there. And I'm so fucking sensitive to it, that it rocks me. Even the stuff on tv shows and in books. It blows my mind. Freaks me out. Always has.
It may not sound right to you that I, the girl who trained for 11 years in Karate, and received my first degree black belt at 18, after a 3 hour gruelling physical test (wherein my left shoulder was separated and my left bicep strained), the same girl who's nose was broken when I was kicked in the face in a karate class when I was 17, find violence extremely distasteful. But it does make sense to me.
I'm incoherent. I can't begin to put down on paper what I want to convey here.
Well, maybe I can.
Look at the next person who crosses your path. Imagine a mother that loves him or her. Imagine a daughter. Imagine friends that meet at the pub, a dog that wags it's tail when they get home. Imagine an ok life, with ups and downs. Imagine them weeping in sorrow. Imagine them laughing. Imagine them in love. Imagine them sitting on the toilet and reading a funny comic. Imagine them.
And then do it to the NEXT person.
And the next.
And maybe next time someone treats you a little differently than you wanted, or they cut you off in traffic, or whatever the hell it is that sets people off, REMEMBER.
And maybe that will cause you to pause, just a little. Maybe instead of yelling, or swearing, or hitting, or whatever, maybe then you'll be able to smile, or speak softly, or even ask them out to lunch.
We CAN start it RIGHT NOW. Let's decrease the violence in the world the only way I know we can - by decreasing the violence in our everyday lives. By increasing our knowledge, understanding, and compassion for our fellows on this planet.
Oh please. Lets. RIGHT NOW.
Violence violence everywhere. On tv. In the streets. More war footage. Sonia Gandhi stepped down. I don't know. It's every fucking thing.
I'm not making sense. Some days I feel like the level of violence has stepped up several notches. Some days I think I'm just paying more attention.
It doesn't really matter. Either way, the violence is there. And I'm so fucking sensitive to it, that it rocks me. Even the stuff on tv shows and in books. It blows my mind. Freaks me out. Always has.
It may not sound right to you that I, the girl who trained for 11 years in Karate, and received my first degree black belt at 18, after a 3 hour gruelling physical test (wherein my left shoulder was separated and my left bicep strained), the same girl who's nose was broken when I was kicked in the face in a karate class when I was 17, find violence extremely distasteful. But it does make sense to me.
I'm incoherent. I can't begin to put down on paper what I want to convey here.
Well, maybe I can.
Look at the next person who crosses your path. Imagine a mother that loves him or her. Imagine a daughter. Imagine friends that meet at the pub, a dog that wags it's tail when they get home. Imagine an ok life, with ups and downs. Imagine them weeping in sorrow. Imagine them laughing. Imagine them in love. Imagine them sitting on the toilet and reading a funny comic. Imagine them.
And then do it to the NEXT person.
And the next.
And maybe next time someone treats you a little differently than you wanted, or they cut you off in traffic, or whatever the hell it is that sets people off, REMEMBER.
And maybe that will cause you to pause, just a little. Maybe instead of yelling, or swearing, or hitting, or whatever, maybe then you'll be able to smile, or speak softly, or even ask them out to lunch.
We CAN start it RIGHT NOW. Let's decrease the violence in the world the only way I know we can - by decreasing the violence in our everyday lives. By increasing our knowledge, understanding, and compassion for our fellows on this planet.
Oh please. Lets. RIGHT NOW.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2004-05-19 01:27 pm (UTC)And, as a side note, it's Sonia Ganhdi who refused the PM-ship (but didn't step down as President of the Congress Party). Indira has been dead for years.
Which, come to think of it, would be a good reason to step down. ;)
no subject
Date: 2004-05-19 01:38 pm (UTC)Yes, a sense of humour definitely helps! Good point. Too much serious is bad.
no subject
Date: 2004-05-19 01:43 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-05-19 02:07 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-05-19 01:55 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-05-19 07:43 pm (UTC)No. You are right. It is worse now than it's been for a long time.
And the thing that is really getting under my skin is the way that it's being reported/talked about... Every night on CBC they lament that another "coalition" soldier or two was killed. I heard someone from the US military being interviewed last week. In the past six weeks, the US has killed 3500 Iraqis (there was no count of the number wounded...). That was a *US* spokesperson, and they were more than happy to talk about it.
And don't get me started about the Israeli/Palestinian conflict! Or the genocide in Sudan. Or the war in the Ivory Coast. Or the Columbian guerilla war. Or the... etc.
There is a leadership vacuum on Earth right now that needs to be filled. Europe seems to be sorting itself out, maybe they can figure it out... who knows.
I'm feeling pretty glum myself these days about it all.