My last blog entry, Violence
& Addiction, described the tragic
massacre/suicide of 28 people at Sandy Hook Elementary School. I
observed that our society promotes addictive tendencies that isolate
us from one another and erode compassion. These dynamics create
fertile soil for violence like that of Newtown, Connecticut.
Since then the violence has
continued: Two young men exploded bombs at the Boston Marathon,
killing three and injuring hundreds. These men later shot and killed
a policeman and wounded another before they were both hit by gun
fire, one killed and the other apprehended.
A fire and explosion at a
fertilizer plant in West, Texas killed 15 and wounded 200, many of
them first responders coming to put out the fire. Records indicate
that the owners of the plant had violated safety regulations for
years.
A building housing a
clothing factory, collapsed in a Bangladesh. Reuters reported1:
The
factory collapse in Bangladesh that killed over 300 people this week
is a stark reminder of the risks in the global retail
industry's search for cheap production. . . About
18 months before the previous big tragedy in Bangladesh - a fire in
November in a textile factory that killed 112 people - shareholders
at Wal-Mart
Stores
Inc had the opportunity to weigh in on the safety question. By a
nearly 50-to-1 margin, they rejected a proposal to require suppliers
to report annually on safety issues at their factories. In arguing
against the proposal, Wal-Mart's management made its reasoning clear:
Having suppliers compile such reports "could ultimately lead to
higher costs for Walmart
and higher prices for our customers. This would not be in the best
interests of Walmart's shareholders and customers and would place
Walmart at a competitive disadvantage," the company said in
proxy materials.
Disasters
such as the April 24 collapse of an eight-story factory building in
Bangladesh have not changed the calculation for apparel makers and
retailers. Cheaper products appeal to shoppers. And the taint, if
any, appears to be manageable.
Recently
two articles appeared in the national press marking the tenth
anniversary of the second Iraq war. The articles, written by US
Servicemen who served in Iraq, describe this war as a foreign policy
blunder and a human tragedy of monumental proportions.
One,
officer John A. Nagl states:2
The
costs of the second war, which began 10 years ago this week, are
staggering: nearly
4,500 Americans killed
and more
than 30,000 wounded,
many grievously; tens
of thousands of innocent Iraqis
wounded or killed; more than $2 trillion in direct government
expenditures; and the significant weakening of the major regional
counterweight to Iran and consequent strengthening of that country’s
position and ambitions. Great powers rarely make national decisions
that explode so quickly and completely in their face.
The
other, Thomas Young speaks more personally:3
The
Last Letter
To:
George W. Bush and Dick Cheney
From:
Tomas Young
I
write this letter on the 10th anniversary of the Iraq War on behalf
of the 4,488 soldiers and Marines who died in Iraq. I write this
letter on behalf of the hundreds of thousands of veterans who have
been wounded and on behalf of those whose wounds, physical and
psychological, have destroyed their lives.
. .
I write this letter
on behalf of those veterans whose trauma and self-revulsion for what
they have witnessed, endured and done in Iraq have led to suicide and
on behalf of the active-duty soldiers and Marines who commit, on
average, a suicide a day.
.
. . I want to make it clear that I, and hundreds of thousands of my
fellow veterans, along with millions of my fellow citizens, along
with hundreds of millions more in Iraq and the Middle East, know
fully who you are and what you have done. . .
I
would not have to lie in my bed, my body filled with painkillers, my
life ebbing away, and deal with the fact that hundreds of thousands
of human beings, including children, including myself, were
sacrificed by you for little more than the greed of oil companies,
for your alliance with the oil sheiks in Saudi Arabia, and your
insane visions of empire. . .
Last month, the United
States Senate defeated two legislative proposals: 1) that would
require universal background checks of all people purchasing fire
arms and 2) that would limit the size of ammo clips that could be
attached to guns. This was done, knowing these measures were
supported by the majority of voters, and after hearing the tearful
pleas for passage by the parents of the children killed in Newtown.
They apparently acted in this way fearful that the NRA would mobilize
against their re-elections.
What is it in our national
spirit that allows us to sanction the injury and deaths of hundreds
of thousands of people to provide us with gas for our cars, cheaper
clothes & food, and the right to carry military weapons on our
streets?
These sacrifices of human
life are horrendous. We barely take notice; feeling little
connection with those who suffer for our life style and political
decisions. In most cases we aren't even aware of these people. They
are killed and maimed by institutional structures (governmental
policies and corporate actions) that isolate us from the carnage.
The people killed and maimed are no more than statistics reported on
the daily news along with sports scores and weather predictions.
In ancient times, such
national behaviors were challenged as idolatrous. The people of
Israel were condemned by the prophets for worshipping the false gods
of money and domination rather than Yahweh, the God of mercy, justice
and love. The people were instructed to repent in sack cloth and
ashes to avoid judgement. In our post-Christian and post-religious
society, such images carry little weight. The idea of fearing the
wrath and judgement of God seems almost laughable in our present
culture.
Because of this reality, I
am choosing to discuss these issues using the language of addiction
rather than religion. We live in an addictive and addicted culture.
These addictive qualities affect and infect the very structures of
our society.
Let me remind you of the
dynamics of addiction. Addiction is the compulsive acting out of
behaviors in the irrational belief that these behaviors will allow us
to feel worthy and whole. These behaviors, whether they involve
alcohol and other drugs, over-consumption, sex, food or domination,
are incapable of providing a sense of wholeness and self worth. The
opposite is often the case. After acting out, the addict feels
shame, remorse & guilt that increase a sense of self loathing and
that further erode a healthy self image. Even so, the addict
continues to repeat the behaviors in the insane belief that the next
compulsive round will make things better.
The deeper a person descends
into the addictive cycle, the more s/he denies and rationalizes what
is happening. “My behavior is not out of control.” “I can
stop if I want to.” As the denial and rationalization increase,
the addict withdraws from reality into his/her own little world.
S/he begins to lead a double life – a normal life with family, work
and friends and a secret life driven by the compulsion to act out.
Unless the addict faces the fact that his/her life is out of control
and that s/he needs help, the result will be personal catastrophe and
even death. The greatest tragedy in all of this is that the
addictive compulsion separates the addict from the very life force
that s/he so desperately wants to experience.
The
addictive dimensions of a culture are even more difficult to define
than personal addictions, because everything is once removed. Denial
and rationalization are almost a given. We say, “It is not my
actions
that are problematic. It's the actions of big corporation or big
government.” “I want to get a bargain on my clothes, but I'm not
personally responsible for how clothes are manufactured.” “I
don't want gasoline rationed. But
I'm
not wasting gas.” “I want reasonably priced fruit, vegetables and
meat, which take fertilizer; but I don't waste food.” “I want
the right to carry a weapon if that make me feel safe.” We say
these things, and we mean them.
Because
most of us are not personally addicted, it's difficult to identify
our cultural patterns as addictive. We have grown accustomed to our
life style, and we are unwilling to change it. It is tough to face
the fact that our life style is precipitating cycles of violence and
suffering in the world.
We participate in a national belief system, or
faith if you wish, which professes that personal and societal
wholeness and happiness are dependent on material possessions and
personal autonomy. We honestly believe that personal wealth and
independence lead to happiness. Our corporations participate in the
same belief. Their managers assume that the more wealth they can
acquire through technology, production and unrestrained growth, the
healthier and more beneficial the corporation will be.
It's not that material possessions and autonomy
are bad in themselves, anymore than food, drink, sex, or personal
independence are bad. It's only when these things are pursued as a
substitute for that which gives life its fulness and meaning that
they are destructive. Just like the alcoholic whose drinking leads
to family problems and loss of a job, our cultural addiction is
leading to unhealthy consequences and national decline.
Some
signs of this decline include the increase in violence at home and
abroad resulting from our political and economic policies; the
dysfunction in our political system that is driven by party loyalty
and the desire to be re-elected rather than to serve the citizens;
economic deterioration; environmental degradation - particularly
global warming, and excessive consumption of global resources that
leaves the majority of people in the world living in illness and
poverty.4
As with the individual, our addictive cultural
patterns creep up on us, denied and ignored, until we face a crisis.
In fact, our cultural compulsion to accumulate and control resembles
the patterns of drug addicts who steal even from family members to
get another hit.
We
are still the most powerful nation in the world. And we are in
jeopardy. We lack a national vision and sense of purpose. We throw
our weight around to prove our superiority. We dominate and control
so that we can consume and live as we choose, in the insane belief
that this will make us happy.
How
can we, as a nation, come to our senses and realize that things are
beyond our control? We can't fix ourselves, even through
legislation. We need to tap into that spirit and vision that made
our nation great. This vision
is stated eloquently in
the words of Emma
Lazarus, inscribed on the Statue of Liberty:
Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses, yearning to breath free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore,
Send these, the homeless, tempest tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door.
Your huddled masses, yearning to breath free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore,
Send these, the homeless, tempest tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door.
There
is something of great power deep in the American spirit that must be
re-engaged in these times. The faith as stated by our fore-mothers
and fore-fathers has little meaning for many of us today. It is our
task to restate this faith for our times, to engage something deep
within ourselves that enables us to work together for a global
society where there is “liberty and justice for all.”
In
our increasingly interdependent world, it is essential that we look
to our better angels5
and rely on a power that transcends that which is consuming us. We
need to discover again what it means to Live With Soul.*
* I
will write more about this in my next reflection.
- Reuters - Analysis: Bangladesh still works for retailers, despite disasters - Nivedita Bhattacharjee and Jessica Wohl - Sat Apr 27, 2013 9:05am EDT
- The poorest 40 percent of the world’s population accounts for 5 percent of global income. The richest 20 percent accounts for three-quarters of world income. http://www.globalissues.org/article/26/poverty-facts-and-stats
- "better angels" used in Abraham Lincoln's first innagral address
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