We Must Stand Together
“We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory, stretching…to every living heart and hearthstone all over this land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when touched again, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature”. Abraham Lincoln
In 2003, a massacre took place at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia. A student walked into a classroom building with a gun and killed 33 people including himself. This 33 consisted of students and teachers.
The suffering went well beyond. Each student and teacher had family, husbands, wives, friends, moms and dads, uncles, and dads and on and on into the thousands suffering from this deed. In this suffering came the awakening of feelings of loss in moms and dads near and far furthering the suffering.
Virginia Tech, attempting to cope, did something with this suffering doing what one would expect from a college of forward thinking. They opened their school website for all the world, the Virginia Tech family and beyond, to share their thoughts in response to this massacre. Something unexpectedly happened.
A mother from Vietnam responded.
Her heritage was Asian. Her family knew of the conflicts with China, Japan, France, and America. She felt the pain of a mother in a land far off.
Though not American, not Caucasian, she knew well the mothers of Virginia, though the mothers of Virgina may not know her, that is, she, the Mother of Sorrow at the Cross. This mother of Vietnam knew the pain, the loss, the emptiness of the mothers of Virginia. She carried the loss of a child from the bullets of America.
This mother of Vietnam once awakened with her child with her not knowing at day’s end her child will be dead. The moms of 33 children awakened on a beautiful day in Virginia, not knowing at day’s end their children will be dead.
They each shared awakening to the same sun, feeling the presence of the same hope, remembering the pain with a smile of childbirth.
In India, the Taj Mahall stands. In China, the Great Wall can be seen by men orbiting Earth. In Central America, a canal connects oceans. In Egypt another canal connects worlds. In Paris the Cathedral of Notre Dame speaks to the glory of God. Ships of Portugal brought the world together. In America, railroads connected two coasts uniting farmers, manufacturers and consumers. Buildings scrape the skies reaching into heaven. Highways, great and magnificent buildings show man at his material best.
Built by men and women of limited and, in many cases, no means. Many enslaved. Built by white men, black men, Asian men. Irish men, Italian men, Polish men. By Christians, Hebrews, Muslins, Hindus, Buddhists. And ever present the Mothers of Sorrow.
All carrying within the same dreams, same fears, same inspirations, same setbacks. All laboring for the benefit of others. To be utilized by others. United by all of these they are.
United in their dreams, their pains, united as the snow unites all upon whom it falls. United by shared concerns, paying the bills, seeking good schools, good health, and safety.
Constantly in a state of conflict do these men and women live. One man who worries about paying his bills fights another man worrying about his bills. They are taught they are different from each other. A state of deception exists.
The worker possesses a brain not used. The preacher tells him what to believe. The politicians do the same.
In this environment alienation sets in. Separatism and loneliness set in a struggle to survive materially, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually.
Living as a cog in giant machine, each, though part of the process, lives as an entity unto themselves, kept aside, isolated receiving no honor for their contribution. Without honor, happiness is fleeting.
The citizens of ancient Athens spent their time and money glorifying the town square, their city, not their homes. These citizens focused on and respected that which respected them. We can do the same.
Place man, the worker, in control of his life. The path to this control is an economy respecting and appreciating the worker’s role in the economy. Control stems from the economy, not the polity. Take into the economy the principles of the constitution and achieve the American Dream.
We must take control and put in place laws consistent with the laws of nature. Laws that advance the struggle and purpose of history.
In an economy recognizing the workers as the true creators of wealth, safety nets, and welfare are no longer necessary. An economy producing to care for its people, no need for these nets exists. In fact, the safety net exists not to care for the poor but the wealthy whose wealth would collapse without this net.