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Articles:
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Around the Plenty Net
| July 1, 2002 Dear Friend of Plenty, The other day I overheard the U.S. President say in a speech he was making, " If you want to help in the war on terrorism, do unto others as you would have them do unto you." Never mind that the last time I heard him speak, the line was closer to "Do unto others before they do unto you." I’ll go with the latest version. It’s always encouraging when a politician says something true and useful. More than a quaint homily, the "Golden Rule" is a very practical instruction, given the immutable laws of karma— cause and effect. Soon after the tragic events of 9/11/01, many people tried to warn of the consequences of a violent response. Many of these people were family members of the victims of the 9/11 attacks. ‘Violence only breeds more violence’ was the universal refrain. At worst they were shouted down, at best ignored. After the US started bombing Afghanistan, the American public was treated to a steady news diet of smart bombs, cluster bombs, daisy cutter bombs and accidental bombs, while the bodies piled up in a country most Americans had never heard of before. Now we learn from the latest FBI report that "major" crime (up 2%) and especially homicide (up 3.1%) grew in the last year for the first time in 10 years. America became a little meaner. Not only are we not paying attention to history, we don’t seem to be learning from our own mistakes. Sadly we are now failing to connect the dots and heed the handwriting on the wall of Mother Earth where species are disappearing at a faster rate than any other time in history, and global warming and climate change threaten the world community with disasters that can be expected to dwarf all the terrorism that all the "axes of evil" could ever muster in a thousand years. Meanwhile, poverty traps a billion people without adequate food and clean running water, for no good reason. I don’t like to rant, especially about issues that have become so imbued with politics (yes, we believe food and water security are political issues), but if politics is distorting reality to the point of endangering life on the planet, it’s past time to start speaking out. The planet can no longer afford war, so war is not an option. We need to get serious about poverty and we need to get serious about the environment. If anyone asks, we’re doing as the U.S. President advised, but taking it one important step further—doing for others, as we would have them do for us. This is a test of our species’ ability to adapt and respond for the greater good, for future generations. The consequences of failing the test will be borne by our children and their children. We take comfort in the fact that you already know all this, as does everyone you will read about in the new Plenty Bulletin. You’re part of the solution. We mostly just want to say thank you, again and again. |