by Ethan NichternI thought this was a good patriotic quote for Veterans Day:
For hatred does not cease by hatred at any time:
Hatred ceases by love alone, this is an eternal law.
-The Dhammapada
Sayings of the Buddha
My Thought of the Day: Let's not forget that while we honor all current and past veterans for their sacrifice, that we might also hope eventually our society stops creating more veterans. Honoring veterans is a great and meaningful act, but one I truly hope no longer exists in 100 years, for lack of former soldiers to honor.
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concur 100% with Jerry's comment above. Well said.
Call it compassion, then. These recent stories about Thomas Dyer, our first Buddhist military chaplain, have been very challenging for me to read. Thanks for these thoughts, Ethan: Tricky to love the soldier and hate the war. =)
Good to see you at Sit Down, Rise Up this weekend! Hope you're recovered.
Did you know Veteran's day was celebrated in October?
How do you feel about all the fallen soldiers.I just read it in this article and found it most informative.
http://ketiva.com/Politics_and_Government/the_history_of_veterans_day.html
As I said on Greg's post, it would be nice to think that there will be a time that there are no more wars, but show me even one really practical way in which all war will be ended. I'm sure the Pentagon would love to hear it. I'd love to hear it. Some people have calculated that in the last almost 3500 years of recorded history, only 260-odd years were without a recorded war. Factor in the tribal peoples who did not write down their history, but were constantly at war (in a different fashion) and you get a figure of closer to 10000 years since the last time there was no war. That's a lot of history to go against.
I support the ideal of the end to war, but as no one has ever been able to produce a real, solid method, process, or plan to really stop war (including LeShan, whose work on the Psychology of War makes a valiant effort), I'd have to be convinced that it is possible in the first place.
This is something I struggle with, honoring veterans. At the end of the day, soldiers sign up and agree that they are willing to kill other humans if needed. I realize it's much more complex than that, but essentially, this is what happens. Then when they day, they are noble and heroic. Somehow that doesn't add up for me. It's one thing to be compassionate to all beings, and that certainly includes soldiers - but to set aside a day to honor them seems cynical to me.
Where's the day honoring all the civilians killed by Americans during the many wars we've fought?
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