I do not pretend to understand all the complexities of the unrest in the Middle East. I take no sides. I am a lover of people. My thoughts are more based on a long-time leadership career, compassion, common sense and logic. I am a humanitarian without care for parties or politics.
When Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice called the mass bombings and loss of life in the Middle East --- the "birth pangs" of a new Middle East, I was stunned by her insensitive rhetoric about something so precious as human life. She doesn't yet know what a "birth pang" is for a mother, or the pang of grief when she loses her son or daughter --- or she would be doing every she could to STOP the bombing immediately.
It was also appalling when I heard her and other administration officials suggest there should be no "cease-fire" because it might be a false promise. Things have to be worked out so a "cease-fire" will hold. WHAT???? ...and meanwhile women and children are terrorized, burned, killed by bombs and destruction of their cities and homes.
What is in their hearts in Washington? How easy it seems for the slick words of the last few days to roll off their lips as they sit in their safe and secure comforts, while their inaction condemns the innocents on both sides to carnage, destruction and continuous terror. I don't understand this logic. The way you stop bombing is to STOP IT! If is starts again, you STOP IT AGAIN! It makes no sense to continue killing and destroying. Leaders don't kill and destroy. They lead people. They are suppose to be looking for people.
Even more disturbing, after watching all that proven to be leadership ineffectiveness in diplomacy in dealing broadly across the Middle East ---and even in places at home like New Orleans ---- is to now think that the same ineffective "leaders" are the ones entrusted to help bring peace to this WORLD CRISIS. How does this take place with a "self-proclaimed war president?" PEACE has not been on the agenda so far.
It is also notable that it appears that those at the top, supporting further bombing and destruction as a means of bartering for peace, have never gone to battle or sent their children to be part of their great wars ---- how do they so easily risk and use the lives and well-being of others' children and families? Very shameful.
It is also notable that these same people make frequent reference to their faith. "Your everyday human relationships are the most inescapable proofs of your Christianity. 'He that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?' --- John Homer Miller 1943.
What is in their hearts in Washington? How does the conscience of most powerful leaders in the world allow them to put human life on the table as a negotiation tactic. I know this isn't the first time. However, I am just coming awake enough to notice. I see this happening in other stories we've all heard this year --- in Africa and Nigeria and Indonesia. Have you noticed? Our neighbors are in distress, serving as chips in a poker game by those in control. What if it was happening in your city? What if it was happening to YOU? It is shameful.
I just watched a story on CNN about a father who was killed, trying to get his young child and baby out of harms way. The bomb that hit them in Lebanon had burned the baby's little body all over and the young boy too--- they were crying in anguish --- it was hard to watch ---- reportedly it was an Israeli bomb with chemicals in it. Does it really matter who sent the bomb or who was first? What matters is that we need to stop hurting one another. What if this was your child???
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. left us with this human truth that applies here too:
"It really boils down to this: that all life is inter-related. We are all caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied into a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. We are made to live together... We aren't going to have peace on earth until we recognize this basic fact of the inter-related structure of all reality."
Tonight I pray for PEACE. I pray for comfort for our neighbors who are scared and living in terror. I pray for all of us that we might find it within ourselves and busy lives to use our voice and influence to STOP the bombings of innocent people
ARE YOU READY FOR A CHANGE?
ARE YOU READY FOR A WORLD THAT WORKS FOR ALL ITS PEOPLE?
Debbe
Debbe Kennedy
Founder, Global Dialogue Center
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