Every life matters. The environmentalists or ecologists would say, this particular animal may be dangerous to humans, but we shouldn’t kill to make it endangered spies. The balance in the ecosystem is important. In other words, everything matters to the environment and thus matters to humans. It goes without saying that humans matter to each other.
In the wild, animals typically do not kill one of their own. They may fight, but they don’t kill each other. Humans kill each other frequently.
While many things matter, the influence by our leadership obviously matters very much. That’s why I say words matter, gesture matters, voice matters and choice of words matter. If you see Hitler’s speeches – and the way he spoke — certainly contributed to the rise of German nationalism that ultimately translated to hate crime killing of Jews during World War II.
What an irony! After nearly 75 years later, the Jewish community has to face a similar tragedy on the soil of their refuge in Pittsburg. One of the rationalities of the shooter is that this minority community helps other refugees. Imagine that: Helping someone else is considered a crime! What an irrational man!
In the synagogue killing, the man used three pistols and a semi-automatic assault-style rifle, which was also used in the Orlando nightclub massacre. Can’t we do something or ban this semiautomatic assault-style rifle for a limited time? There are still suggestions that the churches, synagogue, temple and mosques should be decorated with guns so that the society becomes survival of the fittest. Is this being civilized?
Our choice of words obviously matters. In addition, in this internet age, tweets matters just as much. The spoken and written words used matter very much for community leaders, religious leaders, celebrities and obviously the leader of a country.
One time around 2002, the phrase “axis of evil” was frequently repeated and used to demonize a handful of countries. I am not sure whether these extreme words were absolutely necessary to identify the countries of different views at that time.
According to the New York Times, the suspect in the recent mail bomb incidents used to live in a van plastered with hate words and photos of the targets. How do things like this van exist? Who supports people like this guy? One might say this guy or the Pittsburg shooter is a mental patient. Then my question is what are the mentally sound people doing to prevent these occurrences?
During the 80’s for the first time, I heard Reverend Billy Graham’s speech in a Christian congregation. I wish political leaders of the world took notes on the way he talked.
Dispatch readers may find always that I refer to ancient religious quotes, though I am not entirely a religious person but rather diehard believer in humaneness.
I believe how you greet others matters. In Indian culture, a greeting word is ‘Namaste’ and you have to unite two hands, which is a part of yoga posture that comes from your soul. In this turbulent world, soul to soul to connection may be more important to reduce tension and to appreciate life.
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