An Interesting Thought Experiment

Are you a good lover?

Sorry, I'm not referring to anything sexual here.

It's something I've been thinking about. I guess you would call it LOVER in the spiritual sense.

It's easy to love someone like say, Mother Theresa, isn't it?

But here's the real challenge. Try to love someone you think is hateful... maybe like Osama Bin Laden (or pick your own bad guy).

Now before you get the wrong idea, I'm not saying to love what he thinks or does, or become an Al Qaeda sympathizer and head off to a training camp.

I'm asking you to take a minute, suspend judgement, and try to understand what made him the person he is today. What did he experience in his life? Are you able to "walk a mile in his moccasins"? Would you make the same decisions if you had similar experiences?

And finally, could you love him as a human being, however misguided his ideas and mission?

Can you do it?

Then one final idea to consider.

How is your hate different from his?

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Think the Unthinkable

We must dare to think "unthinkable" thoughts. We must learn to explore all the options and possibilities that confront us in a complex and rapidly changing world."
– James William Fulbright

Peace on Earth Goodwill To Men

As the Holiday season approaches here are some ideas to reflect on... no matter what your faith or beliefs.

"Wisdom is better than weapons of war..." - Ecclesiastes 9:18

"I hope... that mankind will at length, as they call themselves responsible creatures, have the reason and sense enough to settle their differences without cutting throats..." - Ben Franklin

"America does not go abroad in search of monsters to destroy." - John Quincy Adams

"We Americans have no commission from GOD to police the world." - Ben Harrison

"We have guided missiles and misguided men."
"Wars are poor chisels for carving out peaceful tomorrows." - Martin Luther King Jr.

"Permanent good can never be the outcome of untruth and violence." - Gandhi

"Force always attracts men of low morality."
"Nothing will end war unless the people themselves refuse to go to war." "Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex,and more violent. It takes a touch of genius, and a lot of courage, to move in the opposite direction."
- Albert Einstein

"That cannot be a true religion which needs carnal weapons to uphold it." - Roger Williams

"Non-violence is not inaction. It is not discussion. It is not for the timid or weak. Non-violence is hard work." - Cesar Chavez

And here's my favorite from George W. Bush. "When we talk about war, we're really talking about peace." WHAT!??!!!?

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The Iraq War

"The Bush administration said it would lend $17.4 billion to General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC, buying them a few weeks of financial relief..."

Compare that number to the steady increase of the Iraq war as reflected in the new war cost counter I added in the sidebar.

Herbert Hoover said, "Blessed are the young for they shall inherit the national debt."

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I'm really confused...

Maybe someone will explain this to me.

With all the crap going on in the world...

Why does a story about three goofy teenage girls using the sink at a KFC as a hot tub end up on the Drudge Report? (No... I refuse to supply a link to the story.)

Ok, now they've had their fifteen minutes of fame (infamy). We need to stop making such a big deal of insignificant crap.

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