Two women were fighting over a child, each claiming to be the mother. Not able to discern who was the true mother, King Solomon proposed he cut the child in two, giving a half to each. One woman, horrified, relinquished the child immediately to avoid such a fate.
I think a lot about such a situation - capitulation in the face of widespread injury to others, or such. I think of true Christianity, where we were told to turn the other cheek, to love our 'enemy', etc. These are very very difficult, but actually super powerful, but only in the end, over time, even after your own injury or death. But they grab hold of some piece of our deep inner humanity, and eventually over time can turn others away from violence. There is a demand for 'letting go', where you no longer can claim control of the situation that you desperately want to lead in a direction. That goes against every fiber of your soul if you really care about something; but that seems to be what is required, when faced with a horrible alternative. Seems you have to be able to ask for forgiveness from Life to do that, "forgive me for 'giving up' in this situation, I don't know what else to do".... And it's too easy to stand on the sidelines, and criticize and say 'Oh you should have stood your ground, stick to your principles, never surrender..." That is easy from the perspective of history. But when you are in the moment, without any assurance of what the next moments will inflict, what irreversible harm will result to you or worse to others, you make a choice based on your humanity for others. That will only be understood by others that also embrace humanity over short term worldly gain.
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian renewed its shelling in the area of Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, a local official said Wednesday, a day after the U.N. atomic watchdog agency pressed for the warring sides to carve out a safe zone there to protect against a possible catastrophe.
You may not want to post this, as it is and is not a direct response to your essay. It is more about where the essay took me than it is about the content of the essay. The essay itself is brilliant, true and speaks for itself. But the metaphor took me somewhere else and I guess I wanted you to know.
Perhaps this is the era of Sophie’s choice, as least for people like me, a white, middle class woman living in a rural/suburban town in Eastern Massachusetts.
Someone is going to develop the industrial park in my town. There was an attempt to build an Amazon distribution center, 100,000 square feet. Although we are still in litigation (why don’t towns have the right to choose who builds there…well, maybe because we abused that privilege by keeping out people of color…) we seem to have defeated that proposal. But now there is another proposal, 50,000 square feet. How many trees, habitats (homes), are we willing to sacrifice? Who lives and who dies to maintain our lifestyle?
When my officemate’s son was murdered in Dorchester, she started a nonprofit that brings together families to honor their loved ones, lost to violence, using the expressive arts. She did this because her grandchildren had nowhere to express their grief. I am on the Board of Directors of the nonprofit, which is called Children Healing by Expression. For our September gathering, we are planning to offer families the opportunity to paint rocks in honor of their lost loved ones and to place them in a Memorial Garden that we will plant as part of an urban garden in Roxbury. The rocks are to be placed under an apple tree and we need to enclose the garden with a border fence, to protect it from lawn mowers. It is my task to provide the fencing material, and I am stymied. I am on the internet, looking at border fencing for purchase. Do I buy the metal ones, created by mining, digging into the body of the earth and extracting minerals and then using fossils fuels to burn them at high temperatures? Or do I buy the wooden ones, created by cutting down trees who are our friends and allies in combatting climate change and air pollution? Which of these beings I love do I sacrifice? I decided I could not make this decision alone. I will draw in another Board member with similar sensibilities and a mind that is more expansive than mine. Perhaps she will come up with some creative solution to this dilemma. But it seems to be a dilemma we face over and over again.
The Inflation Reduction Act is another Sophie’s choice, even more complex. We agree to a fast permit process for fossil fuel extraction, sacrificing the rights of Indigenous peoples and the protection of natural world in order to reduce carbon emissions, although the so called “green technologies” we will invest in are doing other grievous harms to the earth. Why are we doing this? Because the Earth is being held hostage, because democracy is being threatened and we need to demonstrate that we can take some action, no matter how small.
To be forced to make a Sophie’s choice, it occurs to me, someone must be being held hostage. In the King Solomon story, it was a single child. In the novel, Sophie’s Choice, it was her children. In the Russia/Ukraine conflict, the life of the entire planet is at stake. As it is with the Inflation Reduction Act. My own dilemmas seem small in this context, but I can feel how they add up to the same thing. The future is being held hostage by the world we have created. How do we step back?
Thank you for writing this, dear Deena. To me the nature of imperialism is to fight to forward the agenda committed to no matter what. Thus death camps, atom bombs, horrors unimaginable yet real, ecocide - and endless propaganda to ensure people see all this as necessary, or unavoidable, at least (I understand this as weitiko). I don't hold out any hope of the US ending its proxy war willingly - not the path its committed to globally, which is hegemony. Russia has been backed into a corner so that is unlikely also. We need diplomacy. The third thing that allows space to open and people to save face and walk away. Who or what is it? Something in the hearts of those who can act. I don't have much more of an answer.
I think a lot about such a situation - capitulation in the face of widespread injury to others, or such. I think of true Christianity, where we were told to turn the other cheek, to love our 'enemy', etc. These are very very difficult, but actually super powerful, but only in the end, over time, even after your own injury or death. But they grab hold of some piece of our deep inner humanity, and eventually over time can turn others away from violence. There is a demand for 'letting go', where you no longer can claim control of the situation that you desperately want to lead in a direction. That goes against every fiber of your soul if you really care about something; but that seems to be what is required, when faced with a horrible alternative. Seems you have to be able to ask for forgiveness from Life to do that, "forgive me for 'giving up' in this situation, I don't know what else to do".... And it's too easy to stand on the sidelines, and criticize and say 'Oh you should have stood your ground, stick to your principles, never surrender..." That is easy from the perspective of history. But when you are in the moment, without any assurance of what the next moments will inflict, what irreversible harm will result to you or worse to others, you make a choice based on your humanity for others. That will only be understood by others that also embrace humanity over short term worldly gain.
I was very upset to see Bernie and the Squad getting on the pro-war bandwagon. Whatever happened to the peace movement?
Excelente analogy from
Solomon to Sophie
Tomcurrent
Nuclear risk
From the personal to the
Global always manage by personal
AP Sep 7, 2022, 06:59 AM EDT
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian renewed its shelling in the area of Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, a local official said Wednesday, a day after the U.N. atomic watchdog agency pressed for the warring sides to carve out a safe zone there to protect against a possible catastrophe.
Dear Deena,
You may not want to post this, as it is and is not a direct response to your essay. It is more about where the essay took me than it is about the content of the essay. The essay itself is brilliant, true and speaks for itself. But the metaphor took me somewhere else and I guess I wanted you to know.
Perhaps this is the era of Sophie’s choice, as least for people like me, a white, middle class woman living in a rural/suburban town in Eastern Massachusetts.
Someone is going to develop the industrial park in my town. There was an attempt to build an Amazon distribution center, 100,000 square feet. Although we are still in litigation (why don’t towns have the right to choose who builds there…well, maybe because we abused that privilege by keeping out people of color…) we seem to have defeated that proposal. But now there is another proposal, 50,000 square feet. How many trees, habitats (homes), are we willing to sacrifice? Who lives and who dies to maintain our lifestyle?
When my officemate’s son was murdered in Dorchester, she started a nonprofit that brings together families to honor their loved ones, lost to violence, using the expressive arts. She did this because her grandchildren had nowhere to express their grief. I am on the Board of Directors of the nonprofit, which is called Children Healing by Expression. For our September gathering, we are planning to offer families the opportunity to paint rocks in honor of their lost loved ones and to place them in a Memorial Garden that we will plant as part of an urban garden in Roxbury. The rocks are to be placed under an apple tree and we need to enclose the garden with a border fence, to protect it from lawn mowers. It is my task to provide the fencing material, and I am stymied. I am on the internet, looking at border fencing for purchase. Do I buy the metal ones, created by mining, digging into the body of the earth and extracting minerals and then using fossils fuels to burn them at high temperatures? Or do I buy the wooden ones, created by cutting down trees who are our friends and allies in combatting climate change and air pollution? Which of these beings I love do I sacrifice? I decided I could not make this decision alone. I will draw in another Board member with similar sensibilities and a mind that is more expansive than mine. Perhaps she will come up with some creative solution to this dilemma. But it seems to be a dilemma we face over and over again.
The Inflation Reduction Act is another Sophie’s choice, even more complex. We agree to a fast permit process for fossil fuel extraction, sacrificing the rights of Indigenous peoples and the protection of natural world in order to reduce carbon emissions, although the so called “green technologies” we will invest in are doing other grievous harms to the earth. Why are we doing this? Because the Earth is being held hostage, because democracy is being threatened and we need to demonstrate that we can take some action, no matter how small.
To be forced to make a Sophie’s choice, it occurs to me, someone must be being held hostage. In the King Solomon story, it was a single child. In the novel, Sophie’s Choice, it was her children. In the Russia/Ukraine conflict, the life of the entire planet is at stake. As it is with the Inflation Reduction Act. My own dilemmas seem small in this context, but I can feel how they add up to the same thing. The future is being held hostage by the world we have created. How do we step back?
Thank you for writing this, dear Deena. To me the nature of imperialism is to fight to forward the agenda committed to no matter what. Thus death camps, atom bombs, horrors unimaginable yet real, ecocide - and endless propaganda to ensure people see all this as necessary, or unavoidable, at least (I understand this as weitiko). I don't hold out any hope of the US ending its proxy war willingly - not the path its committed to globally, which is hegemony. Russia has been backed into a corner so that is unlikely also. We need diplomacy. The third thing that allows space to open and people to save face and walk away. Who or what is it? Something in the hearts of those who can act. I don't have much more of an answer.