Guilt

Presented at PUUF on Memoral Day 2004 as part of a service called "Remebering War, Hoping for Peace"

I want to talk about guilt:

• Survivor guilt, guilt for killing, guilt for asking for killing, guilt that someone from our country killed someone...
• But also guilt and justice: Who is Guilty? And why?

In the Gulf War, I blamed the killing on my country: How could my government, my people, send me over here and order me to do this?

Now that I'm back here, I'm a part of that country. The finger of guilt has a way of traveling in large circles and returning to point back at the source. Am I guilty?

In Mark Twain's War Prayer, he points out that with each persons prayer there is also the unspoken prayer. The unthinking prayer. "If you pray for the blessing of rain upon your crop which needs it, by that act you are possibly praying for a curse upon some neighbor's crop which may not need rain and can be injured by it. " (copies outside, please read it)

Is Bush guilty? Is the "Military / Industrial" complex to blame? Am I at fault. Is there anything I could do?

• People tell me I should vote. But that is a trap. Voting is a release from liability. "Don't blame me, I voted for...." It allows "we the people" to have plausible denyability. "Had I known that he would... I never would have voted for him..."
• It doesn't matter who gets elected. In the end, all goverments must bow to the will of the people. GW bow down to me? Ahhhnold on his knees?
• Yeah. They need the profits from what we buy. They need us. What does GW or Ahhnold want from me?
  • Dependance on, and support for, our "economy."  (I want to be self sufficent)
  • They want me to get up early each morning. (Even on days when I don't feel like it)
  • Eat the breakfast I purchased from the supermarket (Not eggs and fruit from my own back yard)
  • Food that was transported many miles from factory farms, chicken mills, canabalistic cows. (I'd rather not eat franken foods, thank you)
  • For them, I must brave the morning commute. (I wish I could stay at home and work in the garden)
  • Ahhhnold wants me to drive an H2. GW just wants to make sure I drive something that burns gas. (I'd love to try out bio-diesel from discarded resturant oil)
  • They want me to feel like I need to earn money so I can keep up with the Jones's (They they rent the house next door and just bought two new cars)
  • My wife should work too, because the kids would be bussed to school for half the day anyway. (We homeschool but I miss them)
  • I should eat a hearty "supersized" lunch at McDonalds. (My colesteral is 272, I weigh 190 pounds, I take zantac for acid reflux and zoloft for mood swings)
  • Health insurance is a must so that if I get cancer, modern medicen can spend millions to extend the quantity, if not the quality of my productive life. (Instead of dying a quiet death with my family)
  • Home owners insurance is required by my mortgage lender. My trampoline is a "attractive nucence" and even if a kid breaks down our fence to get to it, any injuries are our fault. (I think my kids should be responsible for thier own actions)

• What choice do I have? Well, after growing up in Oregon amid the hippies and the survivalists; laughing at their paranoia, devoting my life to industry, automation and technology, I find that I am happiest when I am gardening.
• Hey man! If you are not part of the solution, you are part of the problem. Tune in, turn on, drop out. Just because I'm paranoid, it doesn't mean they're not out to get me.
• The path to freedom is in not participating. And it can be done. There is a family in Panadina who grow most all their own food on a suburban 1/5 acre lot. Their car runs biodesiel. go see www.pathtofreedom.com
• Ok, let me make a less radical suggestion. If you are not ready to drop out all the way, at least stop buying bananas.
  • Bananas? Why bananas? Bananas taste great, are good for you, and are available at low prices in every store in the USA
  • Yeah, but: Bananas don't grow well here. They're grown in... well, banana repulblics.
  • They're shipped thousands of miles in ships of foriegn registry with NO emmision laws.
  • So low cost bananas depend on low cost fuel oil. You want nice bananas? You have to burn fuels. God forbid we should use nuke powered freighters.
  • <HICK ACCENT>You want low cost oil? You have to dominate those "A-rabs" who "stole" our oil and hid it under their desert. And thems are 'onry little cusses. They get all sort of ideas in thier little heads, 'bout making us pay more. Sometimes, you have to set an example and kill some 'um 'em.</HICK ACCENT>

• If we take the time to think about the unspoken part of each of our prayers, and act accordingly, we could break this machine... this system that feeds on death. "Who can destroy a thing, owns that thing."

Yes, our president is guilty. Our military is guilty. Our industry is guilty. We are guilty. I am guilty. Hey, I like bananas.

"It was believed afterward that the man was a lunatic, because there was no sense in what he said. "

Also:

• "War" Pictures: A slide show.

Election Questions:

• 9/11 is NOT a significant loss compared to other things: How many of you lost someone in 9/11 vs How many of you lost someone in a gasoline powerd automobile?
  • 50 to 60 THOUSAND people die on the freeways each year

  "Naturally, the common people don't want war, but after all, it is the leaders of a country who determine the policy, and it is always a simple matter to drag people along, whether it is democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. This is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in every country"
  -- Hermann Goering, Hitlers Reich-Marshal at Nuremburg after WWII. (This is true: check snopes: http://www.snopes.com/quotes/goering.htm )

"If you think you are too small to make a difference, try sleeping with a mosquito." -- the Dalai Lama

Does the USA enforce OPEC prices?