[tmtranscripts] Letter to the Editor

[Bill Kelly]

Hi friends, 

Here is a letter I wrote to the editor of the Idaho State Journal.  I don't
know if it will be printed (I hope so) but in any event I wanted to share
it with you.

Love,

Bill Kelly



Dear Editor,

I believe that the tragic events of last week require the largest
perspective in order to make sense of them and to respond appropriately and
effectively.  Certainly, this was an attack on the United States of
America.  Certainly, this was an attack on the free world, on all
democratic nations.  But it was also an attack on humanity, a fundamental
violation of the dignity of all people.  

Terrorism is the most extreme form of violence that shares the same
garments with all lessor forms, regardless of their degree.  Whether it be
domestic violence, child abuse, or just the rude behavior of people who
regard themselves as above the law, or too important to abide by society's
agreements, all these behaviors are akin.  They universally fail to see
that all people are family, that all people are God's children, and
therefor brothers and sisters.

A fundamentalist mentality, regardless of whatever religious garb it
appears in, shares a common belief. Put into simplest terms it is the "us
and them" mentality.  Humanity is divided into the "believers and
nonbelievers", the "good guys and the bad guys", the "chosen people and the
heathen", whatever combination of words you may use.  The fundamental
spiritual unity of humanity is denied.  In wartime a similar dichotomy is
practiced so that the enemy is regarded as nonhuman.  This is
psychologically necessary in order to commit the atrocities that war, by it
very nature, involves.

The tragedy of violence that this planet has witnessed has unmasked the
face of hatred.  It has displayed the futility of violence in terms of
truly satisfying the longings of the human heart.  Many will now ponder
what they have accepted, heretofore, without question or challenge: that it
is the will of God to take "an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth".
Many will begin to see the true futility of hatred as a motivation for
planetary existence.  We must recognize that these times call for
extraordinary thinking, exceptional statesmanship and divine guidance.

This is a new century that needs to heed the lessons of the past and not
merely repeat its mistakes.  The 20th century was probably the most violent
in the history of civilization.  But it was not without its heroes and
moral giants.  Let us remember again the sentiments of Gandhi that if we
persist in the policies of revenge the whole world will become blind and
toothless.  Let us remember the dream of Martin Luther King, that all
people will join hands as brothers and sisters.

Nations need to defend themselves.  We need to defend ourselves.  But we
need to do it without the spirit poisons of hatred and vengeance.  We human
beings are all family, after all, whether we acknowledge it or not.  May
this tragedy further that understanding and bring us closer to spiritual
springtime, to the day that we all live in peace and good will.


Bill Kelly, 
Pocatello