Good Medicine for Ending War
Monday, 15 September 2014
"There is
perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits
than this distant
image of our tiny world.
To me, it
underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another
and to preserve
and cherish the only home we've ever known."
~ Carl Sagan,
scientist (1934-1996)
in The Small Blue Dot
"Go forth and
transform your personal relationships, your community, your world.
We are all agents
of transfiguration."
~ Desmond Tutu (San Francisco, 06 March 2011)
War
is Bad Medicine
Let each
citizen among us begin the new, needed conversations, even in our grief and
stress over today's events.
Why war -- mostly crimes -- with us and them so quickly throwing fierce, barbarian
death at one another?
Let's be clear.
We and they behead each other and arrogantly plan to "decapitate"
one another's leadership.
Some use swords and watch.
Others don't, but from safe distances trigger ungodly explosives that
eviscerate and dismember limbs, organs, and heads from children, woman, and men
-- innocents, increasingly.
Pretending to be civilized, they and we are not.
But we could be.
Good
Medicine for Ending War
All is One
This
singular fact of our existence requires respect.
Only together, interdependent will we live and survive humankind's
shared challenges on Earth.
Let's be clear again.
Each person's body parts do not survive without the others -- heart, kidneys,
liver, vessels, fluids, hormones, biological and emotional nourishment.
There is no individual survival.
And so it is with our human community.
Also a living body, we exist to cooperate and improve together.
Ways are discoverable -- life rewards determination with prescriptions for
health.
SEE two videos:
The Pale Blue Dot
4-min video -- Carl Sagan,
scientist
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=923jxZY2NPI
One Planet -- Together We Can
Live
Cheryl Melody's peace anthem
4-min music video
http://cherylmelody.com/peace-programs-adults/one-planet/
First, do no harm.
Healthcare
students worldwide are taught "primum non nocere" -- first be sure that intervention has minimum
risk of making conditions worse and further harming the patient.
Our first responsibility is to choose time-tested treatment, after
diagnosing the root cause of the patient's disease.
For war, Nigerian Dr. Emmanuel Ande Ivorgba defines war's root cause as a disease worse the
HIV/AIDS.
It is HRV -- Human Relationship-Deficiency
Virus pictured at http://traubman.igc.org/nigeriahrv.pdf
The preventive and antidote is face-to-face engagement with
Sustained Dialogue, Ivorgba says.
Multi-lingual graphics to assist this curative for war are at http://www.masterpeace.org/blogs/post/useful_graphics_on_change_communication_and_relationships_of_peacebuilding
People practicing good medicine
1. During
summer 2014 a new social media campaign calling for tolerance began building, even as
millions went online to share information about the Gaza devastation.
Jews and Arabs around the world continue sharing
loving images of coexistence and using the hashtag #JewsAndArabsRefuseToBeEnemies in an effort to change the
discourse online.
BBC Trending met the people behind the campaign.
Jews and Arabs refuse to be
enemies
BBC NEWS Magazine -- 23 July
2014
2-1/2 min video
http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-28439551
2 Eighteen American,
Palestinian, and Israeli teens ages 13-18 gathered at Bard College at
Simon's Rock for the 2014 MiC International Youth
Summit in August 2014.
During eight days they worked, lived, and played
together, collaborating to write and record an original song and produce a
music video that speaks their collective voice and message.
Through communication, cooperation, respect, trust,
and understanding these youth discovered their differences and found their
commonalities and translated those into the song an video presented here.
The inter-cultural, multi-faith experience and their
commitment to working together represents their vision of a world where change
is possible.
LEARN MORE about Music In Common at http://www.musicincommon.org.
SEE their video:
The Change We'll Bring
Music in Common International
Youth Summit 2014
4-min video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1obs36_Q2LQ
3. Musical artist Mira
Awad, a Palestinian Israeli, describes how to
walk on one's tightrope of life, being true to our personal destiny and
principles while transcending cultural influences that can distract us from
being ourselves.
Singing "There Must Be Another Way,"
in 2009 Mira partnered with Jewish Israeli singer Achinoam
Nini to represent Israel at the Eurovision Song
Contest.
Always expanding her identification, Mira describes
her journey from childhood in an Arab village to the world stages.
WATCH Mira's story:
Mira Awad
-- Bahlawan (acrobat)
An appeal for tolerance and
being oneself, walking the tightrope of life
TEDx Talk -- 06 May 2014
12-min video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5iqZzi9mj4M
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These and hundreds of other success stories are preserved at http://traubman.igc.org/messages.htm