"There is no flag large enough to cover the shame of killing innocent people"

The title of this piece is a direct quote from Howard Zinn. I’ll end with a little about him. For now:

I’ve studied and written about war in general and the Middle East in particular for decades. All the work I’ve done and the words I’ve spoken mean nothing as I look around and see practically everyone trapped within their echo chamber/knee-jerk emotions.

So, instead of dazzling [sic] you with the scope of my “knowledge,” I just want to make two general points that should very much transcend any deeply embedded ideology.

Firstly, if you’re ignoring — or worse, cheering — the murders of children (anywhere), I implore you to take a long internet break ASAP and salvage your humanity.

Secondly, if you’re rooting for the demise of an entire class of people (e.g. Jews, Arabs, Muslims, whoever), I implore you to take a long break from, well… everything — and restore your soul before it’s too late.

It does not matter one bit where you stand (or have been conditioned to stand) on whatever the latest commodified war claims to be. If you are lumping groups of people together and expressing a desire that they be singled out for extermination, I rebuke you.

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NOTE: This post is not an invitation to defend “your” perspective in the comments. If you change the subject to geopolitics, I will not engage.

However, this post is an invitation to step away from digital fake news, doctored videos, hive minds, deep fakes, clickbait, virtue signaling, media untruths, thought police, algorithms, doomscrolling, and so much more.

Detoxify your mind and remember what it feels like to be fearfully and wonderfully made.

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As for Howard Zinn, I was fortunate enough to know him a little. In fact, he wrote a blurb for my first book, Saving Private Power in 2000 — not only calling me “iconoclastic and bold,” but lending me instant credibility with a single paragraph. 

Four years later, when I asked him to write an introduction for another of my books, A Gigantic Mistake, Howard replied with a short comment about not liking introductions. He preferred to dig right into a book, he told me. 

I promptly asked if I could use that comment as my book’s “anti-introduction.” Not surprisingly, he loved the idea!

Howard passed away nearly 14 years ago. I’ll leave you now with a few of my favorite quotes of his in the name of creating a narrative of expectancy:

“To be hopeful in bad times is not just foolishly romantic. It is based on the fact that human history is a history not only of cruelty but also of compassion, sacrifice, courage, and kindness. What we choose to emphasize in this complex history will determine our lives. If we see only the worst, it destroys our capacity to do something. If we remember those times and places — and there are so many — where people have behaved magnificently, this gives us the energy to act, and at least the possibility of sending this spinning top of a world in a different direction.”

“As dogma disintegrates, hope appears. Because it seems that human beings, whatever their backgrounds, are more open than we think, that their behavior cannot be confidently predicted from their past, and that we are all creatures vulnerable to new thoughts and new attitudes. And while such vulnerability creates all sorts of possibilities, both good and bad, its very existence is exciting. It means that no human being should be written off, no change in thinking deemed impossible.”

“Small acts, when multiplied by millions of people, can transform the world. The future is an infinite succession of presents, and to live now as we think human beings should live, in defiance of all that is bad around us, is itself a marvelous victory.”

Here's to the marvelous victories that will arise from dedicated, soul-driven commitment and action in the name of collective liberation and love.

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