Political Cortex: Brain Food for the Body Politic

On the 25th anniversary of John Lennon's death, I wanted to reflect on the nature of assassination and fear. A couple of days ago, I caught a repeat of George Carlin's recent HBO special, and it produced the perfect quote with which to open my thoughts. It also got me to pondering the essence of Carlin's provocative proclamation.

I began to wonder: why do we kill the peacemakers? What is it about them that others reject or abhor or fear so much that they need to destroy them so?

One researcher has noted recently that in the past 4,000 years there has been less than 300 years of world peace. Why are there wars in the world? Why does world peace seem to elude our government leaders? Why are there at least fifty civil wars going on all the time in various parts of the world?

Jesus is not referring to peace-keepers but to peace-makers in Matthew 5:9. He said, "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God." The difference is a peacemaker actively overcomes evil with good. Some people are never happy unless they are fighting with someone. A peacemaker on the other hand finds great satisfaction in removing hostilities and effecting reconciliation between enemies.

Most world leaders won't acknowledge it but the Bible tells us the answer is sin--old fashioned selfishness. Our problem is human greed, lust and selfishness, not political, economic or social. Those are symptoms of a deeper problem. It is sin and depravity in the heart of man. Until there is a change in the heart there will never be any solutions to the problems on the surface. The source of the problem is within man. Nothing but a new heart, and new man, will bring peace. What is in the heart of man inevitably comes out of him.

Greed. Where objects and things for some on earth are much more valuable than living in harmony and unity and love and respect. People and things are only there to exploit. For gain. Not good.

That's the thinking of some. Most thankfully, not all.

Peace is much more precious than a piece of land...let there be no more wars. - Anwar Sadat

But, it's more than simple greed. Greed is only one part of it.

Fear is, I believe, a most effective tool in destroying the soul of an individual - and the soul of a people. - Anwar Sadat

Fear is a weapon used by the powerful to lord over the meek. From the lonely room of an abusive household to the grand stage of national and world affairs, fear is used to destroy or control others.

The terrorists use it against us. Foreign nations use it against one another. And since the beginning of time, governments have - in one form or another - used it against their own people. Most often when they begin to fear them and wish to control them.

A nation that is afraid to let its people judge the truth and falsehood in an open market is a nation that is afraid of its people. - John F. Kennedy

Peacemakers are heroic. Some are stoic -- others passionate. They all, however, understand that they have the truth on their side. They stand up against the intimidation and injustices of their time, pressing themselves and those in their midst forward to a better world.

Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope. - Robert F. Kennedy

The peacemaker's strength is truth, not fear. Their strength lies in notions that perversely sound dangerous in a world overflowing with aggression.

When I despair, I remember that all through history the way of truth and love has always won. There have been tyrants and murderers and for a time they seem invincible but in the end, they always fall - think of it, ALWAYS. - Mahatma Gandhi

Love. Acceptance. Tolerance. Why should they be such scandalous notions?

Nonviolence is the answer to the crucial political and moral questions of our time; the need for mankind to overcome oppression and violence without resorting to oppression and violence. Mankind must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression, and retaliation. The foundation of such a method is love.  - Martin Luther King Jr.

As strange as it may seem, there really are those in this world who don't want to live together peacefully. They fear the rise in acceptance of these notions. Where would they fit in? What would their world look like if not filled with greed, war, selfishness, corruption? What would become of them? What would they have to give up living in this strange new world?

Military glory--that attractive rainbow, that rises in showers of blood--that serpent's eye, that charms to destroy... - Abraham  Lincoln

They become fearful.

So very strangely, they fear a peaceful world. And so, they do the only thing they know how: lash out. Remove all obstacles to the violent status quo. Assassination. War. Destruction.

The chain reaction of evil--wars producing more wars -- must be broken, or we shall be plunged into the dark abyss of annihilation. - Martin  Luther King, Jr.

The dichotomy in the world around us and in ourselves is that we can choose which direction we take. We can choose to be peaceful as a human race - or we can choose to war with one another.

We have no desire for revenge. We harbor no hatred towards you. We, like you, are people who want to build a home, to plant a tree, to love, live side by side with you - in dignity, in empathy, as human beings, as free men. We are today giving peace a chance and again saying to you: Let us pray that a day will come when we will say, enough, farewell to arms. - Yitzhak Rabin

It's all within our grasp. We have the tools to go either way.

Peace is a daily, a weekly, a monthly process, gradually changing opinions, slowly eroding old barriers, quietly building new structures.  - John F. Kennedy

We only need look inside of ourselves - rather than outside - for the answers. We need only look to the words of the peacemakers.

I believe in God, but not as one thing, not as an old man in the sky. I believe that what people call God is something in all of us. I believe that what Jesus and Mohammed and Buddha and all the rest said was right. It's just that the translations have gone wrong. - John Lennon

Let's keep working to make the translations right.

Peace.