Be sincerely kind, not in appearance only

“Soon will your swiftly-passing days be over,

and the fame and riches, the comforts, the joys provided by

this rubbish-heap, the world,

will be gone without a trace. . . .

Be ye loving fathers to the orphan,

and a refuge to the helpless,

and a treasury for the poor,

and a cure for the ailing.

Be ye the helpers of every victim of oppression,

the patrons of the disadvantaged.

Think ye at all times of rendering some service to every member of the human race.

Pay ye no heed to aversion and rejection,

to disdain, hostility, injustice:

act ye in the opposite way.                                                

Be ye sincerely kind, not in appearance only.”

‘Abdu’l-Bahá 

This was written before the first World War, before the Second World War, before Korea, before Viet Nam, before any issues arose in the Middle East involving scud missiles or young people blowing themselves up.  It was written before nuclear weapons were used.  Before a country could shut down the internet.  Before the internet. 

This directive has a finger in the face feel.  It was obviously ignored by a lot of people who went on to engineer the collapse of the housing market. It has been ignored by some of the wealthiest people, some of the poorest people, some of the smartest and some of the most ignorant of people.  We’ve all had better things to do, like ruining the environment, destroying indigenous peoples and their cultures, keeping children from learning their true potential and convincing ourselves how right we are about every little thing.

This is not a particularly appealing message.  Following it doesn’t land us on “Dancing with the Stars” or on the cover of the National Enquirer.  It doesn’t ensure happiness or a job. 

It says, “do a lot of work, find the neediest and don’t just help them, but BE the refuge, BE the treasury, BE the cure.”  It says to be helpers of every victim of oppression.  How will we do this unless we go looking for them?  How can we be patrons (NOTE: not patronizing) of the disadvantaged unless we know who they are?  People don’t wear badges saying “Hi there, my name is: VICTIM OF OPPRESSION.”  We have to know their true names and sit in their kitchens and wash dishes with them. 

It says that aversion, rejection, disdain, hostility and injustice are evidently waiting for us to show up.   Those bad boys have pushed our buttons for a very long time and now we are directed to pay them no never mind. 

You may be thinking you just can’t do that. Remember that death thing?  (i.e. soon will your swiftly passing days be over…)  You’re going to think you can’t do that either.  As it turns out we can all do it.  (As in, we have no choice.)  We can be grand and heroic at the last (truly) and we CAN change the world by following the few simple steps listed above.  And by not giving power to the bad stuff that happens to us personally.  

(here’s the rest of the paragraph…)

Be ye sincerely kind, not in appearance only. Let each one of God’s loved ones centre his attention on this: to be the Lord’s mercy to man; to be the Lord’s grace. Let him do some good to every person whose path he crosseth, and be of some benefit to him. Let him improve the character of each and all, and reorient the minds of men. In this way, the light of divine guidance will shine forth, and the blessings of God will cradle all mankind: for love is light, no matter in what abode it dwelleth; and hate is darkness, no matter where it may make its nest. O friends of God! That the hidden Mystery may stand revealed, and the secret essence of all things may be disclosed, strive ye to banish that darkness for ever and ever.

Slaughterhouse-Five : a quote

"Slaughterhouse-Five /or The Children's Crusade/ A Duty-Dance with Death/ by Kurt Vonnegut/ A Fourth-Generation German American/ Now Living in Easy Circumstances/ On Cape Cod/ [And Smoking Too Much]/ Who, As An American Infantry Scout/ Hors De Combat/ As A Prisoner Of War/ Witnessed The Fire-Bombing/ Of Dresden, Germany,/ "The Florence of the Elbe,"/ A Long Time Ago/ And Survived To Tell The Tale./ This Is A Novel/ Somewhat In The Telegraphic Schizophrenic/ Manner of Tales/ Of The Planet Tralfamadore,/ Where The Flying Saucers/ Come From./ Peace."

A quote from the book:

"It was a movie about American bombers in the Second World War and the gallant men who flew them. Seen backwards by Billy, the story went like this:

American planes, full of holes and wounded men and corpses took off backwards from an airfield in England. Over France, a few German fighter planes flew at them backwards, sucked bullets and shell fragments from some of the planes and crewmen. They did the same for wrecked American bombers on the ground, and those planes flew up backwards to join the formation.

The formation flew backwards over a German city that was in flames. The bombers opened their bomb bay doors, exerted a miraculous magnetism which shrunk the fires, gathered them into cylindrical steel containers, and lifted the containers into the bellies of the planes. The containers were stored neatly in racks. The Germans below had miraculous devices of their own, which were long steel tubes. They used them to suck more fragments from the crewmen and planes. But there were still a few wounded Americans, though, and some of the bombers were in bad repair. Over France, though, German fighters came up again, made everything and everybody as good as new.

When the bombers got back to their base, the steel cylinders were taken from the racks and shipped back to the United States of America, where factories were operating night and day, dismantling the cylinders, separating the dangerous contents into minerals. Touchingly, it was mainly women who did this work. The minerals were then shipped to specialists in remote areas. It was their business to put them into the ground, to hide them cleverly, so they would never hurt anybody ever again.

The American fliers turned in their uniforms, became high school kids. And Hitler turned into a baby, Billy Pilgrim supposed. That wasn't in the movie. Billy was extrapolating. Everybody turned into a baby, and all humanity, without exception, conspired biologically to produce two perfect people named Adam and Eve, he supposed."

Vonnegut described Slaughterhouse-Five as a novel he was compelled to write, since it is based on one of the most extraordinary and significant events of his life. During World War II when he was a prisoner of the German Army, Vonnegut witnessed the Allied bombing of Dresden, Germany, which destroyed the city and killed more than one hundred thirty-five thousand people. One of the few to survive, Vonnegut was ordered by his captors to aid in the grisly task of digging bodies from the rubble and destroying them in huge bonfires. Because the city of Dresden had little military value, its destruction went nearly unnoticed in the press. Slaughterhouse-Five is Vonnegut's attempt to both document and criticize this event.

Raising Beauty from the ashes: Japan and the wish for Peace

Sadako Sasaki (佐々木 禎子 Sasaki Sadako, January 7, 1943 – October 25, 1955) was two years old when the atomic bomb was dropped on August 6, 1945, near her home by Misasa Bridge in Hiroshima, Japan.  

Sadako was at home when the explosion occurred just one mile from Ground Zero. In January 1955, she was diagnosed with leukemia (her mother referred to it as "an atom bomb disease").  She was hospitalized on February 21, 1955, and given, at the most, a year to live.

There is an ancient Japanese story that promises that anyone who folds a thousand origami cranes will be granted a wish by a crane.  Sadako decided to use her remaining time folding cranes and wishing for peace in the world. With her family around her, Sadako died on the morning of October 25, 1955 at the age of 12.  Some histories have her completing her work, while others state that she was only able to complete 640 cranes and that her classmates made the rest after her death.

Sadako's friends and schoolmates raised funds to build a memorial to her and all of the children who had died from the effects of the atomic bomb. In 1958, a statue of Sadako holding a golden crane was unveiled in the Hiroshima Peace Memorial, also called the Genbaku Dome. At the foot of the statue is a plaque that reads:

"This is our cry. This is our prayer. Peace on Earth."

Sadako and her thousand cranes have become a symbol of both the impact of nuclear war and the hope for peace. August 6 is celebrated in Japan as Peace Day, and Sadako is remembered for the wish she made.

This video shows (in a VERY slow way) how to make a paper crane.

The Girl Effect

Some simple things can help establish peace.  Universal education is one, and if there is a choice between educating the son or the daughter, we must educate the daughter, because she is the first educator of the next generation.

To Fight Poverty, Invest in Girls

By NANCY GIBBS Monday, Feb. 14, 2011 (from Time Magazine)

We know what the birth of a revolution looks like: A student stands before a tank. A fruit seller sets himself on fire. A line of monks link arms in a human chain. Crowds surge, soldiers fire, gusts of rage pull down the monuments of tyrants, and maybe, sometimes, justice rises from the flames.

But sometimes freedom and opportunity slip in through the back door, when a quieter subversion of the status quo unleashes change that is just as revolutionary. This is the tantalizing idea for activists concerned with poverty, with disease, with the rise of violent extremism: if you want to change the world, invest in girls.

In recent years, more development aid than ever before has been directed at women — but that doesn't mean it is reaching the girls who need it. Across much of the developing world, by the time she is 12, a girl is tending house, cooking, cleaning. She eats what's left after the men and boys have eaten; she is less likely to be vaccinated, to see a doctor, to attend school. "If only I can get educated, I will surely be the President," a teenager in rural Malawi tells a researcher, but the odds are against her: Why educate a daughter who will end up working for her in-laws rather than a son who will support you? In sub-Saharan Africa, fewer than 1 in 5 girls make it to secondary school. Nearly half are married by the time they are 18; 1 in 7 across the developing world marries before she is 15. Then she gets pregnant. The leading cause of death for girls 15 to 19 worldwide is not accident or violence or disease; it is complications from pregnancy. Girls under 15 are up to five times as likely to die while having children than are women in their 20s, and their babies are more likely to die as well.

There are countless reasons rescuing girls is the right thing to do. It's also the smart thing to do. Consider the virtuous circle: An extra year of primary school boosts girls' eventual wages by 10% to 20%. An extra year of secondary school adds 15% to 25%. Girls who stay in school for seven or more years typically marry four years later and have two fewer children than girls who drop out. Fewer dependents per worker allows for greater economic growth. And the World Food Programme has found that when girls and women earn income, they reinvest 90% of it in their families. They buy books, medicine, bed nets. For men, that figure is more like 30% to 40%. "Investment in girls' education may well be the highest-return investment available in the developing world," Larry Summers wrote when he was chief economist at the World Bank. Of such cycles are real revolutions born.

The benefits are so obvious, you have to wonder why we haven't paid attention. Less than 2¢ of every development dollar goes to girls — and that is a victory compared with a few years ago, when it was more like half a cent. Roughly 9 of 10 youth programs are aimed at boys. One reason for this is that when it comes to lifting up girls, we don't know as much about how to do it. We have to start by listening to girls, which much of the world is not culturally disposed to do. Development experts say the solutions need to be holistic, providing access to safe spaces, schools and health clinics with programs designed specifically for girls' needs. Success depends on infrastructure, on making fuel and water more available so girls don't have to spend as many as 15 hours a day fetching them. It requires enlisting whole communities — mothers, fathers, teachers, religious leaders — in helping girls realize their potential instead of seeing them as dispensable or, worse, as prey.

A more surprising army is being enlisted as well. A new initiative called Girl Up aims to mobilize 100,000 American girls to raise money and awareness to fight poverty, sexual violence and child marriage. "This generation of 12-to-18-year-olds are all givers," says executive director Elizabeth Gore, the force of nature behind the ingeniously simple Nothing but Nets campaign to fight malaria, about her new United Nations Foundation enterprise. "They gave after Katrina. They gave after the tsunami and Haiti. More than any earlier generation, they feel they know girls around the world."

And so the word goes out, by text, by tweet, on Facebook, that coming soon to a high school gym near you may be a Girl Up pep rally, where kids can learn what it feels like to carry a jerrican of water for a long distance, or how sending $5 to Malawi can stock a health clinic with girl-friendly materials or buy school supplies. Or how $5 to Ethiopia can make the difference in a girl's not being married when she's 10. And one at a time, a rising generation of American girls helps create the next generation of leaders, for the coming quiet revolutions.