Wisdom grows from thinking, acting and interacting!
This is how change for the better actually happens…on the human interface, one to one, one with one and many together.
The need to protect family, friends, community and Mother Earth is not about killing…yet we have been brainwashed to believe that soldiers fight for peace!
Countries rarely, if ever, invaded by a foreign army, need to invade other countries to keep the peace in their own.
Madness… total, irrational madness!
The War machine is the biggest industrial complex upon this Sacred Earth.
The War Machine is driven by the elite and the puppets of the elite, all bought and paid for with blood money!
Shame on us all!
Even Neutral Ireland, while we held the Presidency of the EU, and could have led a motion to stop sanctions against Iran, did nothing!
Iran has not invaded another country in over 300 years!
Shame on me!
I could have protested and demanded our leader, Enda Kenny, did something, anything…I did not…
The children, sick and vulnerable continue to die, as they did in Iraq!
Over 500,000 children died in Iraq because of sanctions!
World military expenditure in 2012 totalled $1753 billion, around 2.5% of world GDP.( http://www.sipri.org/research/armaments/milex )
If one percent, just one percent of that money, had been spent on planting trees worldwide, every human being on this planet would be better off and looking at a future!
Damned Shame!
I would have to say Colette that I don’t think governments have ever protected us, at least not in Britain. It is the politicians, who should feel the shame. Why oh why is Tony Blair still walking free after his involvement in Iraq?
Whilst it is true that Britain has treated other countries appallingly, including Ireland, what isn’t generally known is that they treated their own countrymen no better. Most people have heard of the highland clearances, where Scottish people were turned off their lands to make way for sheep. The history books don’t record it, but exactly the same thing happened throughout England. That is what the enclosures were all about. Whole villages of people were turned out for sheep, and thousands were left to roam the countryside. Many died of starvation. Oliver Goldsmith wrote a poem called “The Deserted Village”, a lengthy piece, but well worth a read.
Mick Aston, an archaeologist, sadly died recently. He had an interest in this history and rightly felt angry that the history books make no mention of these clearances. Many aristocrats built their miserable fortunes on the backs of sheep, the Spencers being the largest of the farmers to do so.
There are governments that do better for their people, Norway, Denmark, and New Zealand come to mind.
Reading this reminded me of when I lived in Sutterton, a little village in the Fens, one of many beautiful villages in that part of England. The spires of churches rose from the centre of each village, some of which were a mere mile or two apart. These exquisite churches are now monuments to the incredible wealth of the day, built, as I learned in school, on the Woollen trade. I knew more about the Fens and the great Woollen Trade, than about where I was born and raised in Omagh, in the North of Ireland. So this addresses several of the interesting points you raise…history and who writes it, education and who decides the Curriculum and, of course the money trail, for that usually says more about the status quo than either of the previous points. I include the disgrace that goes by the name of Tony Blair…much wealth accrued from such humble beginnings!
I have read Goldsmith and often called to mind Sweet Auburn when spinning wool and how it has all come full circle, as we find the wealth of nations where it truly does reside. John Clare also wrote movingly about the enclosure of the commons…we continue to have commonage here in Ireland, usually found in the uplands.
This link defines some of what this was about… http://www.thelandmagazine.org.uk/articles/short-history-enclosure-britain
I am going to look up Professor Ashton, (Part of the TV programme “Time Team” at one point) and delve more into this.
As always, much of what the subscribers to Bealtaine have to say proves more interesting and thought-provoking than what I write. There is a much bigger picture!
Blessings to you Polly on this lovely morning!
Colette
It is your writing and beautiful photos that inspire us all to achieve more Colette. For instance this year, I realised I could squash extra tiny beds into my garden by making little dry stone walls, or builders bricks around the edges, all inspired by your photos.
Bless you Polly…that’s lovely to hear!
I do love to read comments that provoke a look to the bigger picture and thanks for that!
I have protested every war since our intervention to “save” Kuwait…my government ignored me. Bush/Cheney dismissed such as me as “focus groups” and beat the drums harder. I feel no shame, I’ve tried in every way I can, failure is sad enough without shame. Obama dismantles the protections of the Constitution, to my grief, since I voted for him over the lunacy of the Republicans; but he has drank the “wine of violence” and the “Kool-Aid of
Fear” and believes those who tell him it is all “necessary.”
Yes, I agree with you for not feeling shame, when you have exhausted all avenues of protest and articulated your opposition to the war machine. I see that. Somehow though, my feeling today is of a collective sense of shame and I feel very much a part of that, even though, like you, I have protested from CND, Greenham Common and all since. I actually left Britain in 2004 following the Iraq invasion, determined that none of my money be used for killing. Ireland is a neutral country, yet still contributes to the terror and inhumanity of global war in Shannon being used for war planes etc. I feel shame and anger and indignation…and a deep sense of powerlessness.
Blessings X
Please be wary of shouldering shame that is not yours to own. Frankly, I think governmental figures LIKE to dump it upon the shoulders of willing citizens who have done their personal best; that way, when the folly is clear later, politicians can say “Well, shame on YOU for “letting” us do it.” I don’t recall getting that choice in actual practice!
Something to ponder on…and certainly a conversation too many of us avoid, because, yes, it is not a comfortable zone to be in. You have added food for thought!
Blessings
Colette
You are 100% correct. What is there to do when even as the voices of the America people are raising against this wickedness… it don’t seem to be enough to stop the aggression and meddling in other countries affairs in order to control their resources. The people no longer have a voice in matters of government. The governments do as they will and harshly punish those that dare challenge them.
What you say is true…where once, governments protected us, they now dismiss us and even threaten us.