PEELING THE ONION

Retaliation

Onions add flavor— sautéed they are mouth-watering, appetite enhancing. Some people eat Vidalia onions like fruit, (or so they claim). But consider the onion of retaliation— the never-ending cycles of pain and suffering, delivering no aroma but only the stench of death and the pain of destruction.

Yesterday, the news reported on exploding pagers and walkie talkies. The targeted individuals were killed along with family members. So, another onion begs peeling…

This is the endless peeling that burdens human experience, exiles us from our oneness as human beings, and brings eternal misery. And this applies not only to Palestine, any segment of news reflects this struggle, especially as we approach our November 5 election.

In his comment to my post The Colors of American Success, Colin MacRae has this powerful line:

“We may be surrounded by people whose political views we disagree with, and those may be in our workplace, our community, even our family. And if a view has come to be in someone’s heart and mind, it’s because something has ‘fed’ that view. Nothing survives without food. A view has been fed by algorithms and search results, by news feeds and clicks.”

Yesterday I read the Daily Meditation from the Center for Action and Contemplation. John Dear discusses the challenge before us, which is that there is great respect for Mohandas Gandhi, and I along with many others seek to emulate his actions, but in the face of the reality of confronting evil actions, violence has a strong pull on us. It is an in-built response. How do we reconcile that?

Gandhi had this to say in Harijan, on March 14, 1936, “Non-violence is the greatest and the most active force in the world.... One person who can express Ahimsa in life exercises a force superior to all the forces of brutality.” Do we have the courage to live that?

In Matthew 5:38-40, Jesus had this to say, “You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.’ But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also. And if anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, hand over your coat as well.” Do we have the courage to do that?

In John 8:7, Jesus says, “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” Do we have the courage to ask when and how we have come to these situations of intolerance that we witness each day?

I don’t have clear and honest answers, but many questions. How about you?

20240919