Go Tell It On the Mountains
It's funny, Lori L. commented on my last post about the title, and how she thought it might be about something, or someone, else. We've been having lots of good conversations at our house lately about that "something else." Like kids all over, my own children have been seeing a lot on the news about the death of Osama Bin Laden. We've discussed the basic premise that, we don't ever celebrate someone's murder, even if they're a bad person. On this point, we're all agreed.
It's a little harder to talk about what makes a person a good person or a bad person. Or to figure out whether revenge is ever okay, or what justice is. Ali is reading Animal Farm, Lord of the Flies and Julius Caesar, all texts that address these issues of the strong exploiting the weak, the noble ideal vs. the real, fear vs. love. The death of Osama Bin Laden, the chaos of the Middle East, the daily news all provide worldly venues for the ideas to manifest in actual life. The times we live in put our ideals and our verbalized beliefs to a test - can we practice what we preach? Can we conquer hate with love? Can we mourn the death of a bad man, while feeling grateful that an evil is removed? Do we really believe that this one man's murder will make the world a safer place?
These are hard conversations to have with my children, but to me the most important thing, the triumph and hope is that we have the conversations. At least my kids are thinking about these issues, are grappling with questions that will help them lead deliberate lives.
"For hatred can never put an end to hatred.
Love alone can. This is an unalterable law."
It's a little harder to talk about what makes a person a good person or a bad person. Or to figure out whether revenge is ever okay, or what justice is. Ali is reading Animal Farm, Lord of the Flies and Julius Caesar, all texts that address these issues of the strong exploiting the weak, the noble ideal vs. the real, fear vs. love. The death of Osama Bin Laden, the chaos of the Middle East, the daily news all provide worldly venues for the ideas to manifest in actual life. The times we live in put our ideals and our verbalized beliefs to a test - can we practice what we preach? Can we conquer hate with love? Can we mourn the death of a bad man, while feeling grateful that an evil is removed? Do we really believe that this one man's murder will make the world a safer place?
These are hard conversations to have with my children, but to me the most important thing, the triumph and hope is that we have the conversations. At least my kids are thinking about these issues, are grappling with questions that will help them lead deliberate lives.
"For hatred can never put an end to hatred.
Love alone can. This is an unalterable law."
—Dhammapada 1:3-5
Darkness cannot drive out darkness;
only light can do that.
Hate cannot drive out hate;
only love can do that.
Hate multiplies hate,
violence multiplies violence,
and toughness multiplies toughness
in a descending spiral of destruction....
The chain reaction of evil --
hate begetting hate,
wars producing more wars --
must be broken,
or we shall be plunged
into the dark abyss of annihilation.
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
only light can do that.
Hate cannot drive out hate;
only love can do that.
Hate multiplies hate,
violence multiplies violence,
and toughness multiplies toughness
in a descending spiral of destruction....
The chain reaction of evil --
hate begetting hate,
wars producing more wars --
must be broken,
or we shall be plunged
into the dark abyss of annihilation.
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Strength To Love, 1963
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