"Relationship is all there is!

I wrote the blog below six days ago but did not publish it. 
Nearly a week later, I still have come to no conclusions.  There is so much that is mystery ... so much to think about ... what seems to be the "answer" today often proves in days, weeks, months or years later to be not so clear.  So, I will continue to ponder life by

Just Thinkin'

Who we are with each other is who we are with the world." Carol Zinn, SSJ, CSSJ NGO- Representative to the U.N. (7/07)

I just turned off Sunday morning TV.  There was some "news" that was not tied to the Boston Marathon Bombing, the suspects, the victims both alive and dead...the way our lives are made different because of this violent situation.

There are a couple of words that stand out for me in the reporting through all forms of media:  terrorist, terrorism, Muslim, heroes and friends.

It feels like an impossible task to imagine the thousands and thousand of times we have heard and read the words, terrorist and terrorism.

In the order most spoken, most written:
(From my perspective, it is the only one I have!)

Terrorism:  Once again we hear this word used to describe a local incident that has national implications.  We hear that once again we must prepare ourselves for more such incidents ~ translation ~ more police presence, more "security," more scrutiny into our every day lives.

Terrorist:  the person (s) who perpetrate public violence?

Muslim:  I do not remember when I have ever heard the perpetrator of violence, public or in the home, defined as Lutheran, Episcopalian, Catholic (exception, pedophilia), Evangelical, or ...

Hero:  A right and just word used for people who come forward, either because of their profession or their innate sense of caring for others, to provide instantaneous care for those on whom the violence has been perpetrated.

Friends:  In the report this morning which was part of CBS Sunday Morning one of the suspected perpetrators was quoted as saying in an online communication, that he had no American friends.  He had been in the United States for more than 5 years and yet he had NO "American friends."

Did he want to get to know people?  Did people want to get to know him?

We put laws and policies in place to guard against terrorism and spend billions and billions of dollars to create a false sense of safety.  From my perspective, there is simply no guarantee that we can actually provide safety on this level.  On 9/11 a total of 128 people were killed and hundreds more were seriously injured. In the ensuing years, the number of people in the United States killed by terrorists committed to perpetrating terrorism against people they do not know include those killed at Fort Hood, Texas; Virginia Tech; Aurora Theater; Newton, CT and ... ...

In contrast: "The number of people killed by firearms in the United States remains high.  According to the FBI Uniform Crime Report, between 2006 and 2010 47,856 people were murdered in the U.S. by firearms, more than twice as many as were killed by all other means combined." (ABC News August 25, 2012)
 
And then if we look further we learn that the number of U.S. troops killed in Afghanistan and Iraq: 6,614 and the number of women, in the same period, killed as the result of domestic violence in the US: 11,766 (50 Facts about Domestic Violence. Soraya Chemaly, 11/30/2012).

So what is my point anyway?  As I have been "just thinkin'" about everything this week, there are several things that stand out for me.

1.  There seems to be a perception that the FBI, law enforcement and the general public can predict who the terrorist is and what the terrorist will do.  In reality, we hear over and over again that people who know the perpetrator are "shocked" to learn that the person they knew could be capable of such violence.  In some instances we hear that they were loners with some quirky behaviors but rarely anything to really allows law enforcement or others to predict that they will perpetrate a violent act.

We heard this from classmates and friends of the suspects of the Boston Marathon Bombing,
the perpetrator of the Newton School shootings, Aurora Theater Shooting, etc.

2.  Now to back to the issue of domestic violence.  Once again extended family, friends, co-workers, neighbors are shocked to learn that the one who killed his wife/partner was capable of such violence. 

So all of this leaves me wondering:  how is it that we can expend billions and billions of dollars in efforts to stop public terrorism when we do so little to address the reality of terrorism in our homes and our city streets where everyone hopes to really be safe?

3.  How different would our homes and our public spaces be if we really cared about and for each other?  What would it be like of we had the capacity to respect all people regardless of age, gender, ethnicity, religious affiliation?  What would it be like if we spent more money on creating environments were people can create community rather that build structures that are based in fear and mistrust?

What if we lived and moved and had out being from a place of knowing and believing  that "relationship is all there is.  Who we are with each other is who we are with the world?"

What do I really know anyway?  Not much.  Much of life truly is a mystery!

There is so much that is mystery to me and I truly believe that we can continue to spend billions and billions and billions fear-based dollars in our efforts to end public terrorism when in truth we can not guarantee it will end.

I also believe that we can really make a difference in our relationships that absolutely influence how we relate with others and therefore the world.