[Peace-discuss] Fwd: [ufpj-activist] Mea Culpa

[Morton K. Brussel]

FYI.

Begin forwarded message:

> From: <jgainza at vtlink.net>
> Date: December 16, 2012 8:33:20 PM CST
> To: "Holger Terp" <holgerterp at pc.dk>, "Jay Wenk" <jaywenk at verizon.net>, "Eleanor Ommani" <ellieomm at optonline.net>
> Cc: UFPJ Activist <ufpj-activist at lists.mayfirst.org>
> Subject: Re: [ufpj-activist] Mea Culpa
> 
> Friends, here is a letter I sent to President Obama and several newspapers. Perhaps we could all send similar letters at this time when people may be open to calling for grounding all the drones which kill indiscriminately. Joseph
> President Barak Obama,
> The White House
> Washington, DC 20500
>  
> Dear President Obama,
> Thank you for expressing your grief over the killings at Sandy Hook Elementary School. Your eloquence touched me and, I am sure, most Americans as we try to come to terms with this latest tragedy. I was particularly struck by your mention of how you and Michelle will hug your daughters more closely, and tell them you love them. It is obvious that you feel deeply the senseless killing of these children and school staff. You spoke as a man and as the president of a nation in shock.
> While listening to your remarks, I could not help thinking about Tuesday mornings at the White House when you meet with your staff to discuss who to add to your list of people to be assassinated by US airborne drones. I could not help thinking of those men and women, and sometimes children, who are caught up in your policy of killing people you perceive as enemies of this country. I wonder if you think of them with children or parents they hug. I want to believe you think killing these people will protect people in this country. If you do, you are wrong.
> Just as I cannot imagine the pain and anger of those parents whose children were killed at Sandy Hook, so too I cannot fathom the reaction of the loved ones of those killed by the drones you let loose in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia and the Philippines. I suspect that they react in ways very similar to the people in Newton, Connecticut. Many of them probably want to avenge the deaths. Who else will die in the US and abroad as a reaction to the assassinations you have warranted?
> You clearly, and rightly, feel for the lost lives in Newton; those children were cut off before their precious lives could be fully lived. Do not the people you intend to kill, and the people who happen to be near them and die, also have precious lives? Do you have a hierarchy of precious lives; are there those whose lives are somehow less precious and not worthy of your human feeling? Might that kind of hierarchy also exist for those you target? If so, how do you propose to end this cycle of death?
> Yours truly,
> Joseph Gainza
> 495 John Fowler Rd.
> Plainfield, VT 05667-9307
>  
>  
> Joseph Gainza
> Vermont Action for Peace
> Producer & Host - Gathering Peace
> WGDR 91.1 FM WGDH 91.7 FM
> www.wgdr.org
> 802-522-2376
> jgainza at vtlink.net
>  
> From: Holger Terp
> Sent: Sunday, December 16, 2012 6:40 PM
> To: Jay Wenk ; Eleanor Ommani
> Cc: UFPJ Activist
> Subject: Re: [ufpj-activist] Mea Culpa
>  
> Dear friends,
> In connection with the school shooting in Newtown, I propose that it is important that there are some effective arms control measures in the United States. The best way to limit the private weapon proliferation is to raise taxes in connection with the acquisition of weapons and ammunition. There is nothing in the Constitution about the weapons which may be purchased for self-defense must not cost anything corresponding to a farm.
> Sincerely
> Holger Terp, editor
> The Danish Peace Academy
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Jay Wenk
> To: Eleanor Ommani
> Cc: UFPJ Activist
> Sent: Sunday, December 16, 2012 11:51 PM
> Subject: Re: [ufpj-activist] Mea Culpa
>  
> If only Americans would learn to empathize with people all over the world who's children we kill regularly.
> On Dec 16, 2012, at 5:24 PM, Eleanor Ommani wrote:
> 
>> Thank you, Tarak!!  My last statement in the comment section is expressing your point also:
>>  
>> <260610_100001141947376_3161156_q.jpg>
>> Eleanor Ommani And Yes, Carolyn, the corporate media has made this tragedy another 3 ring circus, and instead of pursuing the discussion on GUN CONTROL, they are fast pushing that issue into the background while they cry crocodile tears for victims. I must ask: Where were the tears and the pain on national television when the Israeli Army killed over 1400 unarmed and innocent men, women and children in Gaza in what they admitted was a genocide to punish the people for the resistance of Hamas, whom they had elected into power?  What hypocrisy!! Makes me sick to my stomach!! 
>>  
>> From Zheila Ommani
>> Dear Human Kind,
>> 
>> I am not special in any extraordinary sense of the word. This message will not be received world-wide, or even nationwide, I'm sure. But I need to make it.
>> 
>> I am a New Yorker living in California. I wept all day at the events of today. And even now, at 5:30 AM, I cannot sleep because I am profoundly affected by Connecticut's terrible events. I could make some statement about how my friend's parents live in Sandy Hook or I know someone who personally knows a parent of one of the murdered children (saying that in and of itself is professing those things, I realize). But these things are unimportant and this message is not for me.
>> 
>> Maybe my deep grief is because I lost my brother in a tragedy (not gun related) or because his death was unanticipated, as it was for the people of Newtown. I don't know. What I do know is that I cannot post on Facebook and I cannot profess grief without attempting to draw some meaning from these horrific events.
>> 
>> I am devastated thinking of the aching of the parents and families who lost children and loved ones. I wish I could wrap my arms around the shattered people whose lives will never be the same and tell them, "You won't get over it; but you MAY learn to live with it one day." I wish to comfort the parents whose children lived through this and will be affected for years to come. I want to assuage those who hug their children tonight, across the nation, and pray that this will never happen in their schools or their communities. Most of all, I want to hug the murdered children and let them know their lives were not lost in vain.
>> 
>> I don't know your names, I don't know your families, and I don't know what color your eyes or hair or skin was. What I do know is that you are beautiful. If only because you are children who gave a nation a reason to come together. A reason to say, enough is enough; mass murder is something we will not accept and we are people who will do anything to fight for that, whether in Connecticut, in America, or across the globe.
>> 
>> Beautiful children: We would never have met, you wouldn't know I exist and I wouldn't know your beauty...but you are children who will be remembered and treasured throughout the United States. I can only offer this one source of sense, a platitude I admit, but the only love I have to give:
>> 
>> Please, young babies, keep in your silenced minds, that the world is not a terrible place and the violence inflicted upon you is not the way that the world always operates. I am tempted to talk at length about gun control and mental illness and the struggles of our society and many other things...but instead I will keep it to this:
>> 
>> I am sorry you died.
>> 
>> I am so sorry you died. Human beings have the capacity to feel for you and feel for so many others, worldwide, to stop senseless murders. And we, as a collective unity of human beings, not separate nations, not specific people, but purely as evolutionarily developed beings on the planet we call Earth...WE pledge that this is unnecessary and we will do anything that is possible to stop murdering one another.
>> 
>> I beg the parents (and any others) of this world, PLEASE, make your voices heard, stand for your morals and values, and don't let this be another forgotten tragedy in a long line of tragedies globally, that rips through our people but is soon left behind for the next current issue.
>> 
>> The babies who died do not have to have their deaths be in vain. The same as the babies in Africa, South America, the Middle East, or any other area of the globe that is affected by tragedy daily. WE ARE HUMANS...and we are the only ones equipped to stop other humans from destroying the beauty we have built.
>> 
>> Please Like or Share as you see fit.
>> 
>> You are all my mothers, my fathers, and my children and I love you all the same.
>> 
>> With Immense Love and Compassion,
>> a child of humanity,
>> Z
>> "}">Like · 
>> Sima Mayahi, Keith Watkins, Diana Santos Lyons and 5 others like this.
>> <371966_16107526_87203305_q.jpg>
>> Zheila Ommani U sent that to CNN?
>> "}">Like · Reply · 1· 12 hours ago via mobile
>> <370815_685775025_229152023_q.jpg>
>> Diana Santos Lyons What a true testament to your character Zhee. You are brilliantly insightful and such a eloquent writer! Truly BEAUTIFUL!
>> "}">Like · Reply · 1· 4 hours ago
>> <371966_16107526_87203305_q.jpg>
>> Zheila Ommani Thank u so much diana! Sorry we missed each other at thanksgiving but I am off til feb. So I'll pvt msg u and see what ur sched looks like. Maybe I can visit. Plus Brian is out here for good now so u can meet him if we can get together.
>> "}">Like · Reply · 3 hours ago via mobile
>> <260610_100001141947376_3161156_q.jpg>
>> Eleanor Ommani Yes, Zhee, I did send your post to CNN. I thought it was so kind and respectful and human that I wanted more people to see it and think about your words. I didn't ask you for permission because you said it was ok to share with others. 
>> "}">Like · Reply · 2 hours ago
>> <275869_1137472189_2261263_q.jpg>
>> Carolyn Adessa While a beautiful and very special human being like Z is expressing thoughts of grief, compassion and love, a three ring circus is being made of this by those who benefit from a circus. Consequently, there were a number of [less deadly] shootings in public places today; along with plots, threats and the uncovering of a planned mass murder at a high school in another state. A Catholic Church in Newtown had to be evacuated after a threat came in by telephone, indicating that there was going to be more of the same as had already happened at the school. It was, no doubt, a prankster with a sadistic streak. The monster is hungry, and the more we feed it the bigger it grows.
>> "}">Like · Reply · 40 minutes ago
>> <260610_100001141947376_3161156_q.jpg>
>> Eleanor Ommani Absolutely Correct, Carolyn!! Unfortunately, the monsters are the NRA supporters and the hate-filled dangerous militias across this country (I call them 'terrorists' because in the face of the on-going killings - 33,000 individual - ANNUAL victims of gun shots in the U.S.) are gearing up for confrontations with the rational majority of the U.S. public who WANT greater gun control and an end to the sales of assault rifles. We heard NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg on an interview on CNN this morning who is crystal clear about the necessity of passing gun regulation legislation and while I adamantly oppose his NYC police spying on Muslims in mosques and places of schooling, he was correct on the issue of gun control.http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032608/vp/50215671#50215671
>> <safe_image.php>
>> Meet the Press
>> www.msnbc.msn.com
>> Meet The Press is the longest running show on television. If it’s Sunday, it’s M...
>> See More
>> "}">Like · Reply · Remove Preview · 1· 10 minutes ago · Edited
>> <260610_100001141947376_3161156_q.jpg>
>> Eleanor Ommani And Yes, Carolyn, the corporate media has made this tragedy another 3 ring circus, and instead of pursuing the discussion on GUN CONTROL, they are fast pushing that issue into the background while they cry crocodile tears for victims. I must ask: Where were the tears and the pain on national television when the Israeli Army killed over 1400 unarmed and innocent men, women and children in Gaza in what they admitted was a genocide to punish the people for the resistance of Hamas, whom they had elected into power. What hypocrisy!! Makes me sick to my stomach!! 
>> "}">Like · Reply · 5 minutes ago
>> <260610_100001141947376_3161156_q.jpg>
>> 
>>  
>>  
>>  
>> Peace Through Justice!
>> Eleanor Ommani
>> ellieomm at optonline.net
>> Co-Founder - American Iranian
>> Friendship Committee (AIFC)
>> www.iranaifc.com
>> Working for Peace,
>> Socio-economic Justice 
>> Cell: 914.589.0744
>> Home: 914.273.8852
>>  
>> On Dec 16, 2012, at 3:51 PM, Tarak Kauff wrote:
>> 
>>> Very nice but as long as the AWOL (American Way of Life) exists based on the cult of individual effort and accumulation, profit and wealth, material prosperity for the few and poverty for the many, which is what our system is based on, the "fever" will return time and time again until it kills the patient. All diseases have root causes and as long as the symptoms or effects are treated and not the causes, the disease will return, ever stronger each time. 
>>>  
>>>  
>>> On Dec 16, 2012, at 2:13 PM, <people4peacejustice at gmail.com> wrote:
>>> 
>>>> A friend from People for Peace and Justice/ St. Augustine wrote this. She began this before the latest mass shooting.
>>>> Marilyn/PPJ
>>>> Mea Culpa
>>>> 
>>>> By
>>>> 
>>>> Mary Lawrence
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> To my sons and daughters,
>>>> 
>>>> My raging fever of the last dozen years has broken, but just for a moment I fear, and while I have this time, I need to confess what I’ve done to you, beg for your forgiveness and ask you for your help.
>>>> 
>>>> I used your unconditional love for me years ago during the height of my fever, after September 11, 2001, to trick you into dangerous invasions of far-away places with shabby or non-existent protection and no real plan. Even though I had          millions of antibodies fighting for me all over the world, it wasn’t enough to stop the disease. I said it would be easy, a “cakewalk”, and cried with pride when you signed up and went to “defend” me.  The fever made me delusional. Four decades ago, I was stricken with the same illness but I was allowed to see you nightly and it gave me strength to fight off the fever. This time, I wasn’t allowed to see you except in sanitized stories. They wouldn’t even let me see your flag draped coffins coming home for years and years. I know I wasn’t providing the best opportunities for you here and many of you had desperate reasons to go this time, even if you were doubtful or scared of my reasons. Now you’re coming back to me and I can’t seem to find the strength or the will to heal you from the horrors I put you through, both physically and mentally. All those ribbons and flags I stuck all over myself, those “thank you for your service” paeans, they’re just Band-Aids and you’re killing yourselves in despair and disappointment. Some of you made it back whole and some of you made it back broken in spirit and body. The courage you used to get through the old horrors may be running out and I don’t know how to fix that. It is weakening me.
>>>> 
>>>> And I’ve long been too weak in not fighting against this violence based disease that lets weapons proliferate throughout my system. Now you’re coming back to me and the same fear and uncertainty: that danger lurks everywhere, behind a normal face, in public places like malls and schools greets you. Your younger brothers and sisters have been infected. They believe violence solves everything. They watch shows and play games with instruments of killing. It’s in their blood now too. And somehow the disease has mutated into sterile, remote, and impersonal game-like forms of armed drones killing people we don’t even know.  Like an antibiotic-resistant disease, I can’t rid myself of the violence, hatred and fear in my blood. There doesn’t seem to be a single cure for what I have but I keep hoping, someday, enough of you will be the antibodies that save my life and restores me back to the strong and compassionate being I once was. You are my young and brave hope.
>>>> 
>>>> I’ve already asked too much of you but if you still love me, I beg you to help me get strong again. Forgive me for lying to you, for teaching you violence is the answer, for betraying you by lies and patriotic slogans, for allowing fear of “the other” to infect your souls and for putting you in harm’s way for no moral reason. Help cure me by standing up for what is right and just and demand the treatment that will kill this disease inside me. I’ll be strong again and able to take care of you and those you love. I will protect you and show you opportunities you haven’t even dreamed of. I need you, for real this time. Hurry, the fever’s coming back.
>>>> 
>>>> Your country,
>>>> 
>>>> America
>>>> 
>>>> _______________________________________________
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