I am adding my voice to the chorus of others worldwide, in protest against the violence of the tragic shootings in Tucson, prayer for the healing for all those injured (families and friends), and condolences for those who have passed on.
Many express shock! But yet...
What is of deep concern to me is that few seem to note how this is reflective of the tone of the larger culture. I echo the call for soul searching and hope that it goes far deeper than just our political arena to the greater culture in the USA, and globally.
Our society has grown mean-spirited, nastier, crueler, and more violent in quantum leaps. There is a scarcity of civility, empathy, kindness, gentleness and respect for the dignity of all life. And we have all borne witness to this for decades.
Perhaps human beings have always been violent. But the evolution from rocks and clubs to the hi-tech guns and armaments of today is vast -- vast in the severity and breadth of damage they inflict.
To channel surf on any night or attend the cinema reveals this. With the exception of Public Television, the dedicated documentary or the occasional inspirational film, the norm is riddled with bloody gratuitously violent films, petty, gossip-infused mini-series and ill-intended, caustic reality shows. The tone and the mega pace is uber-aggressive, threatening, with advertising, and the so-called news mixing confusingly with fictitious programming.
The population has been, and is, being subtly conditioned to accept this hyper-nastiness, the violence. as the norm. Addicted to the consequent adrenalism, we demand a higher and more intense dose to be affected emotionally. The culture has gone callous and the true threat as in this tragedy, becomes the ability to emotionally distinguish the fiction from the reality!
Now, borne of this tragedy, we have the opportunity for a teachable moment.
We must demand responsibility -- from the entertainment-film and television -- industry and media.
And we must insist on the same degree of responsibility from our selves and our associates.
We must become more mindful of our every action and word.
It is our duty, as a citizen of the earth, to be true to our deepest humanity, to project peace and love, in every action, deed and thought-energy.
For years, there are those who have been seriously doing this nurturing, peaceful, consciousness-building, transformational work. Whether it be Dr. Wayne Dyer, Donna Karan through her Urban Zen Foundation, or Rainbow Hawk and Wind Eagle - teaching the respectful Native American philosophy -- that we are all one. Let us be inspired to expand this important work.
As President Obama wisely reminded at us in the conclusion of his speech at the Memorial this evening, "What matters is how well we have loved, and what small part we have played in making the lives around us better."
(c) Jill Lynne, January 12, 2011
PHOTO: Rainbow Hawk and Wind Eagle Leading a Peace Circle