Holidays as an Opportunity for Healing and Our Legacy in Iraq - 11/22/05

Spiritual Meaning of the Thanksgiving Holiday

It's Thanksgiving week here in the US, which basically means that we Americans take Thursday and Friday off, hang out with our families, and engage in the national ritual of turkey eating and stuffing our faces with pie.

It's a good holiday.

Ostensibly, we're supposed to be celebrating our European forefathers and their first friendly encounters with the Indians, who gave them important tips on farming and hunting so they could survive in this New World.

Of course, after that, those same folks were rather mean to the Indians.

So, for me, the larger theme of Thanksgiving is one of how trust is a fragile thing, and it must be continually reearned in order for lasting peace to manifest. When you're busy slaughtering your neighbors or turning their country into a radioactive waste dump with depleted uranium munitions (as we did in Iraq the first time and continue to do now,) I'm not sure forgiveness and trust are easily reached. The numbers of deformed babies being born in Iraq rose exponentially after our first jaunt into that country under Senior Bush. I'm sure our recent military actions have multiplied that.

What Is a True American?

What's sad is how this current Administration has bullied the press into spewing this continual stream of propaganda about how, if we oppose these ludicrous invasions into the Middle East, then we're not American.

I like to think that true Americans are those who adopt the spirit of the early Puritan settlers. No, I don't mean running around with dour black clothing, repressive attitudes towards women, and a severe inability to have fun - which the Pilgrims suffered from. (Come to think of it, they sound like your average Republican. Hmm.)

I'm talking about what they are best known for - sitting down with the Indians and sharing a meal together in momentary peace and mutual respect.

We don't seem to be able to do that very well anymore.

I'm not sure where we got off track.

Maybe it comes down to taking a hard look at these bodies we're all walking around in. Last time I checked, I had two arms, two legs, one nose, and one head.

Whaddya know? Iraqis and Afghans do, too.

Well, many of them do, at least the ones who weren't born into horribly deformed bodies because the Americans' Luciferian weaponry polluted their environment and gave them terrible birth defects. Those poor souls have mutilated-looking bodies, hardly recognizable as human. The terror of women in Iraq has been ongoing since the early 90's since a high percentage of their pregnancies produce horribly deformed children.

And the US bears the full brunt of responsbility for that, God love us.

Dehumanizing Others

We have this tendency to completely dehumanize others. We do this to the people of other nations and religions. We do this to drivers who cut us off on the highway when we're trying to get somewhere in a hurry. We do this to anyone who threatens our sense of control, our narrow and misguided belief that we are Gods and have every right to have all of our desires satisfied, all of the time. And God help anyone who has a different lifestyle or point of view, because, well, obviously, they are demon spawn, they are in our way, and they must be eliminated. Resistance is useless!

When I was in school I felt like I was living in hell because the kids were so immature and nasty to each other. Every year, I kept thinking my fellow students would start to grow brains and learn to have some kindness and conscience, discovering their ability to be caring towards others as they matured.

It never happened.

Nothing has really changed now that I live in the, um, "adult" world. The same lack of regard for the well-being of others permeates our society like a psychic poison. The children are running the playground. Only this time they have access to weaponry that has permanently damaged the earth, the balance of nature, and the collective psyche of the human soul.

I think it's time to grow up.

People tend to think that as long as they love and honor their immediate family members and a few friends that they are "good" people.

Even the most repulsive and inhumane ax murderer sitting on Death Row for multiple homicides loves his mummy. Are we no better than Manny the Mangler? Isn't our moral sense slightly more evolved?

When are we going to realize that it just doesn't cut it, spiritually, to care only about those in our immediate circle and remain blind, dumb, and desensitized to the suffering of others? What has conditioned us to believe that it is okay to tolerate another person's suffering?

This spiritual sleep that has us in its grip will eventually end, and people will wake up.

But it's up to each of us to set our own alarm clock.

Here's to a Thanksgiving of spiritual sobriety and compassion for others, the true enduring lessons of this holiday.