Peace talks at the onset
“Grace and gratitude belong together like heaven and earth. Grace evokes gratitude like the voice of an echo. Gratitude follows grace like thunder lightning.” — Karl Barth
Gratitude is easier in the second half of life I find. Anne Lamott writes “Gratitude begins in our hearts and then dovetails into behavior.” When we tone down our rush to judgment and seek to find good or at least reason in the actions of others, who might at first offend us, we will often experience understanding and even perhaps compassion. Living life with this perspective is far more peaceful and harmonious.
To pursue this harmony in living life is difficult today because of the polarizing influences dominating our world. It is not restricted to our country but is on full scale display around the world. One wonders if it’s something in the air or a benign cloud that has descended upon us.
On an individual basis I find I can live in harmony. There are times when I get caught up in conflict at the moment. If I just refrain from responding I usually find a way of avoiding positions that are inflexible. It takes an effort and a good deal of energy and practice. To hold my tongue and to wait to send a text or email always improves my response. I ask myself “Why do I want to say that?” or “Do I have to say that?” “What good will come of it?” I often delete the text or email. Holding my tongue — now that takes a lot of exercise and restraint. But it is always worth it. It’s like learning to say, “Oh I’m wrong.” That took a burden off my shoulders that to this day I still cherish and acknowledge.
In this process of pursuing gratitude, and fully embracing it, the ego must become the servant of the soul, not its master. Richard Rohr writes “the Eight Beatitudes speak to us much more than the Ten Commandments.” As we look for the good in others our being softens and compassion grows. With an increase in compassion gratitude grows as well. It all goes hand in hand to feed our inner being reinforcing and expanding our experience of gratitude, compassion and understanding.
This entire apple cart of improvement can be upended easily in succumbing to conflict, vindictiveness and vilification. Bernie Sanders made it clear on the 14th as he spoke of bringing order to a Senate hearing where a senator was egging on the head of the Teamsters Union to a fistfight as they discussed health and welfare and the plight of the disappearing middle class. Sanders berated Anderson Cooper for covering the altercation in the Senate Hearing Room rather than the substantive hearing that was going on to address the ever-widening gap between the haves and the have-nots. The substance of the hearing deserved coverage far more than the adolescent behavior of a playground bully.
The need to move toward compassion and understanding is no more glaring and complex than in the Gaza Strip and Ukraine. Although Ukraine seems to be an easier conflict to understand there appears to be no easy answer to resolving it. The unwarranted invasion by a neighboring superpower is clearly an act of unreasonable aggression. How to stop it, short of using force, is the difficult question. It is easy to feel compassion for the Ukrainians, but armed conflict is an undesirable solution.
The Israeli-Hamas conflict does not lend itself to compassion except for the victims. The atrocities of the Hamas terrorists cannot be understood short of the expression of evil. The overkill of the Israelis in responding to the terror attack is beyond my comprehension, understanding. I have tried to understand why the violence escalated and assumed it was a basic ethnic conflict. I have discovered that as far back as the rule of King David the Jews and the ancestors of the Palestinians intermarried and came from common ancestral background. This conflict is based on cultural and religious differences. The Hamas and the Jews seek to eliminate each other from the face of the earth. Neither has that right and it cannot be sanctioned.
Gratitude is within our grasp. It takes being open to at least listen to each other. To arm without mandatory peace talks will only continue the killing. All wars are resolved by peace talks. We should begin the talks at the onset of the conflict.
This is the opinion of Times Writers Group member Peter Donohue, who has been involved in the arts in Central Minnesota for more than 35 years. His column is published the third Sunday of the month.
This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: The need to move toward compassion glaring in the Gaza Strip, Ukraine
