Not in my back yard.

[dave29]

We have quaint ideas about property and security. We put up all these boundaries... borders, fences, walls... be they geographical, religious, physical or emotional. Of course we have no control over those who may wish to cross these boundaries if it is truly their intention to do so. So, we have deterrents, laws for example, and for the most part they work well, but they do break down, since everyone's boundaries do not match up.

So here we are on this little blue green earth pretending little pieces of it belong to us, for whatever reason.

Maybe you have been ethnically categorized, and "your people" have suffered generation after generation of persecution, ethnic cleansing, and general suspicion. Maybe you are blamed by some for everything that goes wrong in society. Perhaps one of your own had a hand in the death of a figurehead from another religion. Perhaps you were blamed for the black death, and thousands of your kind were burned at the stake. Maybe millions of you were humiliated and slaughtered by those who deemed you to be a disease rather than a person. You may find yourself wishing you had a secure place you could call your own. A place you could defend with ferocious determination. A place that has a strong connection to your faith, where you would be free of those who would kill you and your family.

Maybe you have a different story. Maybe you are a people that nobody seems to care about. You have lived in sub-standard conditions for thousands of years, and can't seem to get support from people whom have claimed to be your friends. Maybe you have had those who you see as your mortal enemies placed in your backyard, which is still your home. And still, nobody seems to care. You throw rocks in your rage at a world that has no mercy or understanding for your condition. People talk about lifting you up, but you seem to be sinking, fast. All you want is a place to call your own, a place that has a strong connection to your faith, and to be free of those who would kill you and your family.

Maybe you are a child, and you have no opinion on any of this, before a bomb rips through your home and blows off your legs, blows out your eardrums, and kills the rest of your family. You are now deaf, unable to walk, and have no family. You thought the world was a safe place, but it is not.

There is no such thing as a border that cannot be broken.

We are living through all of this bullshit because we have yet to accept as a species that our only true home is this earth, and we have to share it. Not one particular slice of it. All of it. This means we have to learn how to get along. This would include not killing people as a central tenet. It would involve tolerance and teamwork. It would involve sacrifice. Most importantly, it would demand forgiveness, and a realization that we must reach a sense of humble spirituality about the planet we live on, so that we can share, at least in some way, a central core of gratitude for the miracle that it is.

[Cerridwen]

1. I agree.

Though I think many here on DU will give you a good drubbing for this.

Just wanted to let you know there is at least one other here who agrees with you.

:hi: :hippie:

[McKenzie]

2. The dead are all on the same side

I came in just to agree with your sentiments. I am sick and tired of watching good people fall out with each other because of this stupid paradigm of “us and them”. While we bicker the bastards who fund both sides are pissing themselves laughing. As long as we argue amongst ourselves the men behind the curtain (and they are mainly men…Bob Marley referred to them as “the baldies” which is particularly apt) will continue to fund whatever is profitable. Research the funding of both World Wars and see just how these amoral creeps operate.

Sure, we have our differences but they pale into insignificance when one considers the corollary to the funding of wars. When all is said and done it doesn’t really matter whether one is pro or anti whatever because, as I say in my headline, the dead are all on the same side.

Peace and love to every one of you and good luck. We are going to need it in the months ahead because we are staring into the abyss right at this moment. Once the shit hits the fan, if I may mix my metaphors, the small differences we hold are going to pale into insignificance. The oil supply has, or has nearly, peaked, global food supply is in decline, the planet is heating up, access to water is becoming a big issue and economic meltdown is a distinct possibility. Once those demons start getting together the little differences will seem irrelevant as everyone wonders WTF to do as the system slowly collapses. And big politics won't stave off the inevitable either irrespective of who gets into power; the laws of nature don't respond to politics.

I am really glad that I don’t have children to worry about. And if I’m wrong, and it all turns out to be “and they all lived happily ever after”, the drinks are on me.

Sorry for the melodrama in my tenor but I have never been so worried in my life. We are up shit creek methinks.