With significant humility, I venture to express I thought the Pope saying that human rights was the key to stopping war and poverty was pretty interesting, something to consider in the midst of all the anguish that has become our accepted standard of 'daily news.'
None of us will ever be the elected leader of one billion believers, so some amount of humility is appropriate, even if a skeptic or not quite in tune with all the pomp and liturgy of the Catholic Church.
His concern for those "affected by drug and substance abuse, homelessness, poverty, racism, violence and degradation," I also found admirable as well as his emphatic opposition to the Iraq War and torture
Human rights was a fair enough suggestion for a cornerstone of a new and improved world, a world that would thus be without war or poverty (the Pope said).
Love, too, I thought had been a good idea.religious
On my own I once came to think that just plain and
simple truth would
help us out a lot. Just image a world without lies or deception!
Then I realized that Jesus Christ had suggested love was the answer.
But despite the emphasis of "love your neighbor," by Jesus Christ himself, there was no end to war nor poverty. So what can we expect from this latest Pope's UN pronouncements?
Alas, a famous quip by Russian dictator Stalin points to another major obstacle in any such good suggestions for Utopia. When told of the Pope's views about certain world and Russian issues Stalin said:
"The Pope? How many divisions has he got?"
Greeted with Scottish bagpipes, Afro-American Gospel choir,
soft rock 'n' roll, New Orleans jazz, Mozart and Gregorian chant
the Pope seems to enjoy his visit to America.
Many reported feeling 'comforted,' by his appearnace at events and felt it was a special once-in-a-lifetime experience they would never forget.
I had a great buddhist martial arts teacher who said "respect," was the key to peace and co-existence. You didn't actually have to "love," everybody, you just had to respect them. That seemed more realistic.
BTW, A nice, realistic, flip side of this coin was that you also had a right to such respect and if that was violated, well, if that was violated then you had a right to defend yourself.
Of course an even better solution was to walk away, avoid the confrontation; although sometimes that couldn't be done and sometimes you just had to stand up to challenges.
Respect seemed a lot more honest and real-world then the cliche of Christians saying 'turn the other cheek,' when most of them don't believe in that fairly tale anyhow; it's just sweet talk for the pulpit.
The Dalai Lama was also in the news this week and he said he was against violence but then also said he wasn't going to give in to any more concessions to China.
So what's he going to do if China keeps on the path of domination, incorporation and control of Tibet? Stop them with prayers?
The Islamic cleric, Moqtada al-Sadr, was a little more emphatic in his views: If the current Iraqi government and the U.S. didn't back off, he and his supporters were going to war --- realizing, at least, that prayers meant nothing to Dick Cheney and Exxon.
Former President Jimmy Carter had the idea this week of at least talking to our perceived 'enemies,' while others said there should be no such talk at all. And sometimes talk and treaties are just false words from A to Z.
It seems highly doubtful everyone will ever come to agree or act in perfect harmony and the gap between high ideals and hopes versus the harsh realities of the world can be huge.
It might not even be natural to be in 'peace and harmony all the time.
We don't live in Utopia; we live in an often imperfect world.
A World with competition; changes. challenges. different opinions. differenta agendas...different cultures in this one world
It's doubtful if we could even agree what a Utopia, heaven or prefect world would be.
Plus we often feel we are paragons of virtue while all the faults and problems lie with other people and other nations.
Another final flaw in having a Utopia is that some folks just don't give a damn and some folks are just mean or greedy, or in a bad mood, and -- gasp! -- no one is perfect, certainly not all the time.
So maybe we can't even get there from here. Maybe there is even the eternal paradox that we need armies to ensure peace, like we need a police force, fire department, hospitals, etc. in civil society.
Or ,maybe we need weapons and violence to overcome evil, as the comment of dictator Stalin implied.
But maybe not.
Yet, there can certainly be 'quality differences,' in what type of armies, what type of police,what type of leaders we have. Maybe voting in a democracy can do it. Maybe appreciating that we live in a pluralistic world. Maybe social action, human rights, love, respect, truth, social compassion or some other virtue can do it.
Maybe even a little prayer or preaching can help. Or putting out 'good wishes,' or talking up hope.
One thing for sure,
We always walk in our own shoes, we choose what path we're on, we decide how to spend our own time and resources. We choose our own friends. We pick our own communities. We shape our own lives in many ways. If we can't get to Utopia, one thing for sure, we can never run away from
ourselves. So being straight and true to ourselves and working and shaping the person we want to be is one good certainity we can build. As we then move forward in this world some words from the last statement of the 'Pope of Hope," might be useful: "Don't lose faith, even in the face of adversity, opposition, slander or scandal." i.e., keep on
keeping on even if not a perfect nor easy trip.
