My Country Right Or Wrong

Opening Words

Adapted from an essay by Rabbi Michael Lerner

"Imagine if the bin Ladins of the World had to recruit people against America at a time when:
"America was using its economic resources to end world hunger and redistribute the wealth on the Planet so that everyone had enough.

"America was the leading voice championing an ethos of generosity and caring for others-leading the World in ecological responsibility, social justice, open-hearted treatment of minorities and rewarding people and corporations for social responsibility.

"America was restructuring its own internal life so that all social practices and institutions were being judged "productive or efficient or rational" not only because they maximized profit, but also to the extent that they maximized love and caring, ethical/spiritual/ecological sensitivity, and an approach to the Universe based on awe and wonder at the grandeur of creation.

"Think it's naive and impossible to move America in that direction? Well, here are two reasons why, even if it's along shot, it's an approach that deserves your support.

"It's even more naive to imagine that bombings, missile defense systems, more spies or baggage searches can stop people willing to lose their lives to wreak havoc and capable of airplane hijacking, chemical assaults (like anthrax), etc.

"The response of people to the World Trade Building collapse was an outpouring of loving energy and generosity, sometimes even risking their own lives, and showing the capacity and desire we all have to care about each other. If we could legitimize people, allowing that part of themselves to come out without having to wait for a disaster, we could empower a part of every Human Being which our social order marginalizes. Americans have a deep goodness-and that needs to be affirmed.

Reading

Adapted from a letter dated Sat, 22 Sep 2001, from Sylvia Perera -
A Trauma Councilor in New York City.

"Let's look at the symbols

"I spewed this forth last night when I came home among a sea of American flags from the hospital where I have been working after hours. After listening to the news rehash of reactions to the talk of war around the country, I read three e-mails from friends."

"It is heartwarming to feel some understanding responsiveness to the larger issues in the midst of so much miscomprehending rhetoric from media and political spokespersons. Like all of us here, I have lots of conflicting feelings: shock, helplessness, fear, outrage, admiration for the courage of our new heroes, and grief, grief beyond grief. Trying to hold all these emotions together since I am also working as a trauma counselor in New York, I am struck with wonder at the resilience and depth of individuals and whole groups in this city which I love. I am also beginning to wonder about other things as the talk of WAR rattles through the streets and on the news. I thought about the Black shoestore salesman I had met earlier in the day who was ready to export all" Arabs" as enemies. Similarly minded crowds are gathering in many cities to shake the flag at their Muslim neighbors.

"Why, I wonder, is no one taking seriously the symbols that were destroyed? Aside from reacting to the disaster and the cruel murder of women and men and the families they belonged to, I think we need to look at those symbols as a real and intended message.

"Too few of us seem able publicly to separate from identification with those symbols as if they truly represented the core of American society. Are we forgetting our authentic reality, or, perhaps, swept into herd agreement with the slogans we are hearing? People say "it is an attack on America." I feel profoundly sad to think those symbols represent America.
...............

"There are many good reasons for us to consider the meanings of the symbols that were attacked. I fear it is compounding the tragedy if we fail to look at all the ways the activities represented by those symbols have horribly affected the world and made people hate us enough to join power-hungry fanatics and commit unspeakable criminal acts.

"To me the towers and the Pentagon do not represent America. The Bill of Rights is a far taller monument to America and its ideals of freedom than those buildings and what they symbolize to many people around the world. Maybe we should be waving copies of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights not the banners of warlike enthusiasms that make the issues seem so simple-just for us or against us like a horrible, competitive game. It is far easier to clamor for war against an outer enemy. Aren't we forgetting how hard it is to defend the Bill of Rights among ourselves?
..................

"I pray that we will urge each other and our congresspersons and executive branch to do the same regarding the issues represented by the symbols that the terrorists attack, even as we rigorously pursue the terrorists themselves as criminals."

Reading

Following these readings, the choir will sing "Give me your tired your poor" written by Irving Berlin with the text taken from the poem by Emma Lazarus written in 1883. It is called "The New Colossus". This is what is inscribed on the pedestal of the Statue:

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name,
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
"Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she
With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

I quote this poem here because is speaks to the high ideals on which this country was founded. It would be good to listen carefully as we sing.

Speaking of symbols, it is significant to note that the Statue of Liberty was never even thought of as a target of terrorism.

Sermon

My Country Right or Wrong

We are gathered here this Sunday morning just a little over four months since September 11, 2001 when we were so violently thrown out of our comfortable belief in our invulnerability to the events of the larger world.

Many of us have been directly or indirectly impacted by those events. Many of us still feel the pain, anguish, and loss, for it is all still too fresh in our minds and hearts.

Many things have happened since 9/11/2001. As a nation - that is to say our leaders acting for us - have reacted. We have violently struck back at those whom, we are convinced, were responsible for the terrible events of that day that no one will forget.

We have dropped millions of pounds of bombs and used many specialized weapons to ensure minimum collateral damage and maximum effectiveness. We have enlisted the support of the nations of the world and particularly those immediately surrounding our target nation, Afghanistan, in what our leaders have called a war against terrorism.

As this so-called war has progressed over the past three months, we have seen many images of bombs supposedly hitting targets, of people who have been injured or killed, of buildings destroyed and military equipment and facilities wrecked.

With help from our bombing campaign, our Afghan compatriots in this effort have succeeded in capturing much ground and many Talliban and Al Qaeda fighters. These Afghan fighters apparently do not conform to the Geneva Conventions since their treatment of their "detainees" has been at best violent and sometimes deadly. Through torture they have obtained much information that has been very valuable to them.

In the last two weeks we have succeeded in breaking up the Talliban and killing or capturing many of their fighters and members of the Al Qaeda terrorist network. We have even killed them or driven them from their hiding places in the rugged mountains of the Eastern part of that country.

However, by breaking up the Talliban that had ruthlessly ruled the country, we have also caused some of the old ways to return, behavior that we don't like either. For example, in Jalalabad, the New York Times reports that there is corruption on a scale seldom seen elsewhere. The food being sent by the Red Cross is hijacked and used in the tribal leader's hotel, in which all travelers must stay or suffer dire consequences. There is a thieves' market where you can buy anything. In short, the city has become a den of thieves.

More troubling are the reports in the NY Times that some of the important leaders of the Talliban have been allowed to slip into the countryside. The Secretary of Defense says that he has been unable to verify these reports. This sounds like a reasonable response to a difficult issue that he just as soon not address.

The whole scene in Afghanistan appears to be quite unstable. The shifting allegiances of individuals and of tribal chieftains is legendary. Also legendary, is the powerful desire on the part of each individual tribal chieftain to garner as much land, power, and influence as he can.

We have embedded ourselves in a swamp. To hear Donald Rumsfeld tell it, our objective is to drain the swamp. Obviously, he has not heard the familiar story around the Pentagon. It goes like this: "When you are up to your ass in alligators, it is difficult to remember that your original objective was to drain the swamp." Watch out Donald.v But all of this is merely to bring us up to the present. As you heard in the readings I have chosen, I do not subscribe to the approach we have chosen. I am convinced that we will not accomplish our final goal through violence against others. It simply doesn't work. While we have broken up the Talliban and Al Qaeda forces we have not captured their leaders nor have we really stopped their activities. We have only succeeded in scattering them into the countryside and to other countries.

You cannot eliminate cockroaches by swatting at them. You cannot even eliminate them by gassing them. You can only eliminate them by cutting off their food supply or by living with other bugs that eat cockroaches. Similarly, you can only eliminate terrorists by robbing them of their food. The food of terrorists is the pain and suffering of many people who see no alternative to escape their condition except to resort to violence. In this belief they are probably correct, for it seems that no one is really interested in listening to their stories.

Many years ago, I became a member of a movement called Beyond War. It was very important to me and I still meet with a group of people who were part of that movement. We learned many truths and one of the most important ones was the true nature of violence.

A good working definition of violence is the avoidance of conflict. This may seem like a very strange definition, so let me give you an example of how this can be applied.

Over the life time of our marriage, Lucile and I quite often would engage in mutual verbal assaults on each other that were usually initiated by some event or perceived failure. Since we love each other and we are both heavily committed to each other's growth, we took our problem to a person who works with couples. She worked with us for about 15 months and we finally succeeded in being able to really listen to each other without slipping into a defensive posture that would certainly lead to another round of angry words.

We learned to confront our conflicts and work through them in stead of resorting to violence. We learned to do this because we are committed to not resorting to violence - for verbal battles are certainly a form of violence. Now when we fail to address a conflict we are having, guess what, we automatically resort to the old familiar pattern of violence. We can then immediately go back and employ the techniques we have learned to successfully address the conflict in a reasonable manner.

Another truth about violence that we learned in Beyond War, is that it only breeds more violence. As I pointed out in my sermon in October of last year, violence never leads to peace; the only path to peace is to address the conflicts within a controlled atmosphere of negotiations.

So long as we go on doing what our weapons make possible we will eventually destroy ourselves and our planet. To stop short of using nuclear weapons is a very difficult, if not impossible, thing to do. The only thing which can save us from this terminal condition is a change in our mode of thinking from that which accepts violence as a means of resolving conflicts to one which recognizes that violence is no longer a viable means of resolving conflict. If we do not make this fundamental change in our thinking and in the patterns of our behavior our mutual destruction seems to be inevitable.

The present conflict between India and Pakistan is an example. If they engage in a war, what is to stop them from using their nuclear weapons?

Our mourning for the victims of September 11, 2001 and our anger and pain at finding ourselves so vulnerable has been directed by our leaders down the dangerous path of what they call a war against terrorism. My fear is that this so-called war is going to turn out to be just like all of the other so-called wars that have been spoken about over the last 50 years, none of which have ever achieved their stated aims. We have not eliminated drugs, or crime, or drug use, or poverty. All of these are still with us and still we seem to fantasize that war is a viable answer. To use the word "war" with these contexts is to create false fronts, behind which all manner of nefarious plots can be hidden.

Our leaders wish us to follow the path of super patriots. They would be happy if we all shouted "My Country Right or Wrong." They want us to blindly wave flags and not ask questions.

I will not comply with this. I do not accept the opinion of Attorney General Ashcroft that anyone who questions our actions is giving comfort to the enemy. We need to question. This is a fundamental part of our Republic. We fail as citizens if we blindly accept what we are fed.

We also need to look further into this statement. It is a perfect example of a badly misused quotation. The complete quotation is "My country Right or Wrong. When right to be kept right. When wrong, to be set right." This complete quotation is something to which I can pledge my allegiance.

If you have your eyes and ears open to other news sources you will know that while our leaders are pursuing this new so-called war, which has not been declared by Congress, millions of people around the world are in sympathy with us. But rather than supporting our warfare, they want to reach out to us in compassion. They recognize that there is a need for a fundamental changed in our thinking.

Rabbi Michael Lerner puts it this way.

"The central struggle of the post September 11th period is this: Will we see the world through the prism of the terrorists? Or will we see it through the prism of goodness and generosity demonstrated by the firemen, police, and citizens who risked (and in many cases lost) their lives to save others? It is a battle of fear versus hope. If fear wins, the world will revert to an endless battleground of all against all. We will find ourselves surrounded by people who feel that we must constantly defend ourselves from the dangers lurking at every turn-and this will become self-fulfillingly true. Or we can acknowledge the shadow elements in the world and in ourselves, guard ourselves from danger to the degree that we are able by taking sensible precautions and police actions, but consciously choose to focus our energies on building trust, love, and goodness in the world. And that path will itself be self-fulfilling: the more generosity and open-heartedness we show to the rest of the world, the more it will be reciprocated by others and the safer we will be. The greatest security will not come through armies or counterviolence, not through revenge or hatred, but through building a world of love and open-heartedness, a world in which the recognition of the sanctity of everyone on the planet shapes every economic, political, and social institution. We choose hope over fear not only because it is more consistent with who we really are as embodiments of the sacred, but also because it is the path that will lead to greatest security."

I don't think that I can add much to what Rabbi Lerner has staid here. We have a clear choice to make. The choice is between fear and love.

Fear is the source of anger. Love is the source of goodness.

Closing Words

These closing words are taken from a letter from Neale, Marianne, James, James and Doreen written on September 11, 2001.

Dear Friends around the world,

"The events of this day cause every thinking person to stop their daily lives, whatever is going on in them, and to ponder deeply the larger questions of life. We search again for not only the meaning of life, but the purpose of our individual and collective experience as we have created it-and we look earnestly for ways in which we might recreate ourselves anew as a human species, so that we will never treat each other this way again.

"The hour has come for us to demonstrate at the highest level our most extraordinary thought about Who We Really Are.

"There are two possible responses to what has occurred today. The first comes from love, the second from fear.

"If we come from fear we may panic and do things-as individuals and as nations-that could only cause further damage. If we come from love we will find refuge and strength, even as we provide it to others.

"This is the moment of your ministry. This is the time of teaching. What you teach at this time, through your every word and action right now, will remain as indelible lessons in the hearts and minds of those whose lives you touch, both now, and for years to come.

"We will set the course for tomorrow, today. At this hour. In this moment.

"Let us seek not to pinpoint blame, but to pinpoint cause.

"Unless we take this time to look at the cause of our experience, we will never remove ourselves from the experiences it creates. Instead, we will forever live in fear of retribution from those within the human family who feel aggrieved, and, likewise, seek retribution from them.

"To us the reasons are clear. We have not learned the most basic human lessons. We have not remembered the most basic human truths. We have not understood the most basic spiritual wisdom. ...

"The message we hear from all sources of truth is clear: We are all one. That is a message the human race has largely ignored. Forgetting this truth is the only cause of hatred and war, and the way to remember is simple: Love, this and every moment.

"If we could love even those who have attacked us, and seek to understand why they have done so, what then would be our response? Yet if we meet negativity with negativity, rage with rage, attack with attack, what then will be the outcome?

"These are the questions that are placed before the human race today.

"They are questions that we have failed to answer for thousands of years.
Failure to answer them now could eliminate the need to answer them at all.

"If we want the beauty of the world that we have co-created to be experienced by our children and our children's children, we will have to become spiritual activists right here, right now, and cause that to happen. We must choose to be at cause in the matter.
.........

"Look to see, now, what it is you wish to experience-in your own life, and in the world. Then see if there is another for whom you may be the source of that.

"If you wish to experience peace, provide peace for another.

"If you wish to know that you are safe, cause another to know that they are safe.

"If you wish to better understand seemingly incomprehensible things, hell another to better understand.

"If you wish to heal your own sadness or anger, seek to heal the sadness or anger of another.

"Those others are waiting for you now. They are looking to you for guidance, for help, for courage, for strength, for understanding, and for assurance at this hour. Most of all, they are looking to you for love."

Benediction

May the Love which overcomes all differences, which heals all wounds, which puts to flight all fears, which reconciles all who are separated, be in us and among us now and always.