A sugar feast...

at the end of Ramadan, Eid ul-Fitr; the beginning of the new year Rosh Hashanah, and in America 9/11 is a day of remembrance a day of national unity. It seems 9/11 so quickly passed a period of solemn grief, to become cause for a re-election war, a bonanza for the war industry; has fallen further now: into the clutches of a new wave of political opportunity- politicians who want to feast on social division and fear, unholy crusaders who worship their personal hatreds, political parties who hide financial gains for friends and allies behind a veil of pretended patriotism, and of course the omnipresent American War Machine- reborn like an evil Phoenix from still warm ashes, moving towards the next Trillion dollar bloodbath.

In the midst of these booming thunder rolls, is a blip on the screen.. a misguided man who wants to burn the Moslem Holy Book to hallow the memory of 9/11. Te vultures from the right and their media have swarmed the occasion, one oddball who wishes to provoke a nation here to rise up against people who believe in a certain form of God... to blame all those for the terror strikes. Well he is going to need a bigger fire... the terrorists that have struck and killed Americans include Christians too, Americans of many stripes have committed terror attacks here...one need think no further that the bombing of the Federal Building in Oklahoma City. There is no shortage of extremism and the will to violence among every Faith... my mind notes an exception perhaps for the followers of Dalai Lama. But the teachings of Christ have been used as a pretext for millions of murders, some called war, crusades, or even defense of the holy land, or self defense---as in the case of the invasion of Iraq ( no joke, the American President- a man named Bush convinced his country they would be attacked by a broken down Iraq government under a Dictator named Saddam)

That the Holy Book burning would do little here, except reinforce bigotry, and do potentially deadly harm around the world- many deaths and assassinations would be expected, was not a factor--the press eagerly covered the planned book burning, and geared up to cover the retaliations too. Somehow lost in all of this is the idea of 9/11...how we can honor sacrifice and move to greater world peace, better understanding. We will not advance the state of the world by retaliation, in word or deed. We will not improve the world by feeding the futures of our children to the War machine.

It is difficult to answer violence with understanding-- the highest ideals of Christianity and Muslim teachings call for this: to live in peace and abundance. I t requires something badly lacking in the world-- moral leadership focused on world peace, greater understanding, and most of all - rejection of violence.

There might be a sugar feast for all of the world, days to rejoice in peace and the victory of faith over the urge to conquer. The attainment of a higher purpose in life than feeding the greed of the war business, an abundance of life... the sweetness of life.