Citizen or Subject

With the exception of the major media outlets that seem to want to downplay the event there is lots of commentary concerning a homicide that occurred yesterday in England. A member of the British military was run down by a car on the sidewalk near an Army installation in Woolwich and then literally butchered by the perpetrators.

The killers remained on scene and were recorded by multiple phone cameras as they taunted bystanders and offered their “reason” for committing such a public killing. The film clips clearly show the killers and their victim and more importantly the large number of people who were observing the incident or who walked through the crime scene without breaking step. Despite the many witnesses no one appeared to want to intervene, either to stop the attack or detain the killers.

A few years ago an equally reprehensible group of perpetrators hijacked and crashed airplanes in an American day of tragedy. One man on one of the planes responded during the attack and tried to take back the plane. Despite the passengers efforts the plane crashed in an open field and all were killed.

What needs to be celebrated is that as citizens of this country the passengers recognized that they had both a right and an obligation to fight terrorism. The contrast with the actions of people who were present at yesterday’s incident is clear…we are citizens and a responsible few of us know that direct action is preferable to standing around and doing nothing.

Worms

A couple of weeks ago I had some stents put in after several cardiac veins started to fill up with unwanted plaque. Post procedure one of my goals is to try walking every day in order to exercise my body. The walking also gives me time to think, plot and plan my day and mentally to write such things as this blog. Walking through our neighborhood gives me lots of opportunity to observe and this morning I noted that at some time in the past the weather had called out lots of earth worms that then got caught on the sidewalk by the summer sun. The walk was littered with the desiccated remains of venturesome worms that had paid the penalty for extending themselves. For some reason I felt sorry for the each of those worm and with lots of walking and thinking time I contemplated the great mystery of life: Do worms have a soul?

Those thoughts conflated into the bigger question concerning what is it that drives some people to deny the existence in any other species other than themselves. It is characteristic of humans to realize that they have a soul and that it is the presence of that soul that sets us apart from all others. It’s that belief that because we can think, and reason, that we are special.

But other species have demonstrated the ability to think, and even to reason and there are uncountable examples of animals living and responding in ways that are similar to our ability to think, live and reason. So perhaps it is human kind’s ability to occasionally suspend reason that sets us apart?

Nearing the end of my walk I finally concluded that what we call soul is really awareness that we are aware of our awareness and of our existence. All creatures’ great and small have to be aware that they exist just to able to survive and reproduce so my stream of thought concluded that all who are aware of self must also (by our definition) have a soul.

I suspect that many who read these words will strongly object to my conclusion but that’s what makes us the multifaceted species we are. It also allowed me to escort the small insect I found while I enjoyed a morning cup of tea to the great outdoors so he/she/it could enjoy its existence.

People of the Book

The actions of the media reporting the resistance the people of Massachusetts to the burial of Tamarian Tsarnaev in their fair state demonstrates the ability of societies to demonize individuals and social groups.  It’s a human characteristic to view others as “different” and to be viewed with suspicion. And oddly enough Islamic religion spends a lot of its writings in the Koran demonizing others. A short walk through the books of the Koran can easily find comments calling others “animals”, “demons”, “living in filth” are just a few of the nicer things this religious tome says.

But there is one thought in the Koran that is repeated several time and is based on the simple fact that Islam acknowledges that much of its teachings are based of the philosophy of both Judaism and Christianity and in fact links all three religions as “people of the book”.

In my work as a mediator I have had the opportunity to mediate disputes between Sunni and Shia. Two branches of the religions that dislikes each other intensely and are often at odds with each other over minor issues. Each time I try to mediate these cases I have to listen to each party try to influence me while at the same time insisting that as a non Muslim I couldn’t possibly understand their predicament.

When I use the Arabic phrase Ahl el-Kitab in response to their diatribe they are startled, start wondering how a Westerner knows the Koran and Arabic they usually calm down, listen to me and start to discuss their issues. In truth I know almost no Arabic and couldn’t care less about the contents of the Koran, but I do know that people who believe the writings of their religion always respond positively to the thoughts found in their book.

In response to the actions of those who would deny a man, no matter how reprehensible, the respect afforded by a simple burial I can only repeat what I tell Muslims in dispute: We are all people of the book and are required to respect the values of others.  You might not like the individual but you must respect his right to fair treatment both  under the law and as a statement of our social commitment.