Why a Spot on the Ground?

Last week, I watched a movie called Encounter Point. It's excellent. It discusses the little seen viewpoint of peacemakers in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The film examines 5 stories of people who are working in their way to bring peace by communicating with each other. Instead of bombs and violence to separate people, the subjects of the film are getting Israeli's and Palestinians to talk to each other, and see that they both have the same hopes, dreams, shortcomings, stregnths, weaknesses, and desire to see an end to the conflict. Of course, these people don't agree on everything, but they do agree that nothing is worse than war. THere's nothing worse, and sons and daughters losing their lives over what amounts to a spot on the ground. Throughout history, wars have been faught over what I call spots on the ground. We believe someone was born here, or died here...this ground is sacred to us...no it's sacred to us...you can't have it, we have it...we want it...

So why do we care so much about a spot on the ground? What makes the ground so sacred? Hindus and Muslims kill each other over a spot in Ayhodhya, where it was said that Krishna was born. It's not the town that's disputed...it's a spot on the ground upon which a mosque was built. What's the difference? The essence is still the same, right, but we as human beings have an attachment to the ground. It's not the same as ownership of a piece of land, or the quality of the land...there are people who fight over spots in the most worthless parts of the world.

My thought is what if the importance of the ground could be considered to be in the air? I undersatnd that the air is transient, which might be precisly why we want to have sacred grounds...yet, what if it could be changed? What if people could believe that the essence of what they believe in is held in the air. The air spreads, and it reaches everywhere. So for us to breathe history, and breathe our beliefs, we just have to breathe the air around us.

Maybe it's silly...but what if...how much of a change would we see...

9/11...

So earlier today I started a conversation amongst some of my friends about why there are no lesbian bars around...having gone to a gay bar as a part of the weekend...

After several amusing emails back and forth, I decided that it's time to reflect on one date of the year that most people in the world recognize simply by the month and day. As most American's, I remember where I was...my living room at college turning on the TV news while eating my cereal...running to the bathroom, banging on the door...yelling that the World Trade Center is on a fire...my roommate and I standing, dumbstuck and with tears in our eyes as the first of the buildings came down...trying to figure out what the hell was going.

That singular month and day that will be apart of history...lauching us into a different world...one where these eyes saw unity I never thought I would see on my college campus, one where these ears heard questions like "Are you Muslim?," and this mind struggled to say "No, but that doesn't matter," because it did, and this heart felt anger, sadness, hatred, and happiness all at once...

A world that is embroiled in war...war against terrorism, war against hatred, war for our way of life, war with guns, war with words...war for thoughts, war for minds, war for oil, war for money, war for God...war with love, war where anyone can be involved, war that has no honor...

It's a world that will take us to the future, one that may be better than those of days past... it's a world that we take for granted, so soon after it was changed...it's a world where one we try to understand all, yet there are some we never will.

So at the end of this month and day, these finger type out thoughts...easily, comfortably, kept safe for the night...this body knowing what tomorrow brings, and hoping to help keep it that way...