An Incident in Tokyo

Early this week, there was this incident in Japan that caught my eye. Apparently, more than 300 copies of "A Diary of a Young Girl" was vandalized in public libraries across more than 3 different wards in Tokyo. These were Japanese translation of Anne's diary, much appreciated by the Japanese people.

I had personally tried to translate her diary in Filipino but found that it was beyond my competence to do so. I have not given up on trying to reserve its lessons for our youth though. What is vital in this work is not that its Jewish (although it is) but that it is human - very human, in fact - as we should learn.

To politicize her Diary is a flagrant crime, in my mind - because of the many motives for doing so, holding true to a right Remembrance of Anne and of her times is not one of them.

In my opinion, what happened in Japan is most probably a stunt.

However, it still begs to be investigated. There is a slight chance that this incident is an appearance (a symptom, if you will) of a deeper and more dangerous undercurrent.

Anti-semitism - along with other "isms" akin to it - is patently dangerous - to its victims as well as to the hearts and minds of those who feel the need to be empowered (as we all do - because - Man is a social creature) - it is supremely easy to be swept up in diverse forms of hatred instead of swimming against the current - as we all should do - who are alive and in the water - to the Nations, it is always in the weakest amongst ourselves where weakness enters into our Peace... and where tragedy soon follows.

If Anne is not a human being - as the pain of her history and a Remembrance of those dark and tragic times teaches our memory, then who is?

One who learns to hate must always find reasons to exercise this hatred. Therefore, if it is not the Jews, it is the Christians, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, Atheists, Blacks, homosexuals, the disabled... you name it. 

Hatred will never and shall never empower us, my people - it shall enfeeble us.

<Recall now, Starshine - of the Four Faithful Causes, War will first subvert the Fourth Cause and work its way all the way up to the First Cause - to overthrow the sovereign will of the people and corrupt the sacred trust of the Nations - ALL THE TIME.>
---<--@

Friendships without Frontiers

I dream of me and you, dear Starshine,
born and reborn in a million shades and hue,
upon a world without fears, in nations without tears -
an earth living the dream, of friendships without frontiers.

Above the tainted gray clouds of my own indifference,

through a force stronger than the pull of all that prejudice...
I sought to see beyond the deception of a million worthless labels,

and hear above the incessant din of faceless voices of nameless hatreds,
that I may fly to the simple you and I and in the simple you and I - the one we.

I never used to appreciate Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. because I used to view the Civil Rights Movement in the United States as a movement for the rights of black people.

Now that I have deepened my remembrance of these things, I know that Dr. King fought for the rights of ALL people, and that in his own way and in his own time, this person - far be he in external appearances from my time and my place - truly fought for me and stood up for my rights.

Now I can not stop loving and respecting the man - for here he stands proudly, with all my heroes.

When we fight for minority rights against majority indifference;
when we together stand up for the least of us who can not stand up for themselves;
when we strive hard for the simple uplift of the spirit of the downfallen and the despairing
most especially the least of these from among all of the Children of our Mankind
- from any human nation Divine Providence has seen it fit to work in our hearts,
our LORD's compassionate concern for the causes of our common humanity -
we inadvertently work - alone or with others - towards the ultimate liberation of the souls of all Men
from that unhappy incapacity in each ourselves to think and act as human beings to each other...
and so begin to know freedom as Dr. King knew freedom in the Dream,
coming Home forever as citizens to each other.
---<--@

Racism knows no color, no creed, no culture, no Country.
It is a sin, the sin of inequality, and preys on all of us equally.



"We must learn to live together as brothers or we will perish together as fools."

Martin Luther King Jr. (19290115-19680404 of valor and love of Country) - servant of Jesus Christ and martyred scion of the elder Republic of the United States of America, beloved son of the one American nation and faithful servant of common humanity, vanguard of the Civil Rights Movement, friend of freedom, friend of peace, lover of the common Man - via con Dios.

The Alienation of Hatred

2013 to 2022 is the International Decade for the Rapprochement of Cultures

Starshine,
when nations are angry at each other,
the reasons could be many things,
but it could never be because
they are nations.

They are angry
at the reasons they're angry
and this could indeed be many things
- true or untrue, right or wrong -
but it could never be because
they are nations.

Lest we forget,
lest we forget.

The craft of all nations is peace.

As a tree may only be destroyed from the roots,
a nation may only be undone by its willingness
to forget its own remembrances.
---<--@



A Hindu saint who was visiting river Ganges to take bath found a group of family members on the banks, shouting in anger at each other. He turned to his disciples smiled and asked,

"Why do people shout in anger shout at each other?"

The disciples thought for a while, one of them said, "Because we lose our calm, we shout."

"But, why should you shout when the other person is just next to you? You can as well tell him what you have to say in a soft manner", asked the saint.

The disciples gave some other answers but none satisfied the other disciples. Finally the saint explained,

"When two people are angry at each other, their hearts distance a lot. To cover that distance they must shout to be able to hear each other. The angrier they are, the stronger they will have to shout to hear each other to cover that great distance.

What happens when two people fall in love? They don't shout at each other but talk softly, Because their hearts are very close. The distance between them is either nonexistent or very small..."

The saint continued, "When they love each other even more, what happens? They do not speak, only whisper and they get even closer to each other in their love. Finally they even need not whisper, they only look at each other and that's all. That is how close two people are when they love each other."

He looked at his disciples and said,

"So when you argue do not let your hearts get distant, do not say words that distance each other more, or else there will come a day when the distance is so great that you will not find the path to return."

(from the Internet)

In a world as small as ours,
and getting smaller each day,
do we have to keep on
shouting at each other?

Indeed, 
these distances 

can become quite near.

---<--@

Starshine,
if you understood the words of the saint,
you must now also realize - within your own self -
that this distance that prevents us
from seeing each other - as human beings -
is a spiritual reality.

For this unseeing is a form of darkness.
And this distance too is a form of darkness
the cause of which is our persistence
to choose true-blindness
over true-sight...

A darkness that (both) prevents
as well as seeks to prevent.
---<--@

Those who live for anger
know that the alienation of hatred
is permanent.

For theirs are those whose spirits move
from wilderness to wilderness
finding neither company
nor safe abode.

But those who live for love
know that, through one may become angry
and restless for a day,
one may always return to love
and find peace.

Excepted from Love that thou may live
---<--@

Starshine,
remember the impassable divide
between the rich man and Lazarus?

Truly, it is far easier for the soul of Man
to travel from one end of the universe to the other
than to bridge a spiritual distance as permanent
- as that which divides -
(the golden realms of) heaven
and (the bitter desolation of) hell.

Pray not to remain
a fugitive to thy own heart.
Release thy self (to love) and be free.

- selah -

In the end we are all wildflowers...
In the end we belong to each other...
In the end we belong to all nations...
In the end all nations belong to us...

Love is the perfection of nations.
---<--@

Remember:

When nations make war 
because they are nations, 
endless shall be our strife!

When history forgets and
its spirits live for no regret
the ruin of Man shall be rife!

Never Forget

Dawn will come, this night will wane...
and it shall be 9/12/2001 all over again.



I promised to never forget and so

as for my own remembrance of this day,

I seek to banish hatred.

May all hatred whither and die! 

May all hatred find a place in our nations no more... 

May the reason of Man find its reason, 

may the purpose of the nations of the children of Mankind find its purpose. 

May the right remembrances be everywhere sought... 

And may it be the kind of remembrance 

that recalls all human hearts unto citizenship with the all of creation; 

that makes us builders in the LORD, nations under God, 

and lovers of the work of living life!

May we all be lovers of the work of living life! 

May our Mankind be joined in Justice and in Love 

and may all the nations of the children of Mankind find Peace

with each other - and  - in each other.

May we all be a family once again.
May good will triumph over division.
May this longest night end...

May the Day Star rise again in our hearts 

and may this awakening bring our midnight world 

unto the promised Morning of the new...

May the spirit of our humanity, 

by the grace of God and the aid of heaven, 

prevail forever over the spirit of War 

and may this unity break our bondage to the earth, 

that we may soar upon wings of eagles 

unto oneness with the sky...

May the glory of God be on earth as it is in heaven.... 

Alleluia!
---<--@

When anger is allowed to fester in the heart, an inhospitable and alien darkness eclipses the soul, shrouding all things in death...

For what is hatred but an ignorance of love? An enforced absence of sunlight in the soul of Man.


Embracing the Embracing

Salutation #69

Do you think hatred cares

what wood it may devour

to keep from burning out?

Nay!

It shall seek to devour all trees

and consume the whole orchard!

For hatred is a dark fire

and shall burn until it is out.

Hate is never meant to last.

But Love is a bright fire.

Love consumes but is never consumed.

Love burns Eternal.

- selah -

What limits War from prevailing over our communities

is the presence of those who despite all the violence and the rage,

continue to hope, pray and work tirelessly for peace in this Country

all those who in spite of this unhappy state

of a prevailing temporal enmity among brothers

have chosen - in their heart of hearts -

to place unity over division for the good of all Filipinos.

What limits the darkness

of the Night from devouring our nation

is the presence of these living lights

who are of the stars of our Father Abraham

and born to that one promise of old

that we shall bless our national communities;

a promise made not by any Man

but of the one God of all Mankind.

(A Message to the Bangsamoro)

To the Bangsamoro -

Peace, I salute you.

I acknowledge each of you,

my brothers and sisters of the Promise,

as you are - and so -

as you cherish yourselves,

I cherish you.

And I tell you no lies.

Because what I want for us is peace.

You possess through your lineages

a distinct cultural and ethnic identity

containing within each yourselves,

a noble and lasting heritage,

worthy of our one Republic undertaking.

I also realize

- there still lingers -

the evil of days past.

I offer you no apologies for them.

For I too am hurt

by the pain of those evil days.

Though I am not born from thy own descent,

I am hurting as you are hurting.

For I am different yet I am the same.

(And I am certain there are many others

who are like myself - a citizen not unlike yourself.)

- selah -

O Bangsamoro peoples,

there are some things we can never undo,

for they are not meant to be undone.

Some pains are meant to bear us away

from the evil of things past.

The darkness of the night

can never flow back into itself.

It may only deepen - if we are not wise -

and darkness that is deep is madness.

If we focus on the pain of our history,

we shall be found forever looking backward

being without a present and without a future.

For the hurt that we witness in our history

- goes deeper and deeper into the darkness past -

but the wound we need to commonly address

must always rise into the present.

Truly, the past can be painful

but we can never heal these hurts

without first letting go of them.

We have a history and also a destiny.

We are one nation - Now.

We are one people

beloved of God and bound

to the freedom of each others' gifts

into one Republic undertaking of Country.

We represent each other's common human hopes.

Therefore,

I will not allow you to be forsaken in the night.

Believe thee with me

we have suffered enough

and the recompense we desire

is a just and lasting peace

for our one undertaking of Country.

This is why I am ardently supporting

a lasting and meaningful peace in Mindanao

specifically to bring to your homelands,

a measure of prosperity and freedom

that is met for you - and -

to bear our Country away, here today,

into a future that is met for all Filipinos.

For we are a forward looking nation.

and must now look eastward to the dawn.

I realize - that -

we shall face many difficulties

along the way - this for is certain -

but a nation is intended by God

to overcome these difficulties.

No one individual, family, or tribe

can master the untamed earth

nor can any human community

short of a nation among a family of nations

- build up the inhabited earth -

and fill the darkness of this world

with living lights.

However,

only a nation united

- as one truth in the heart -

shall prevail over the unknown earth.

Indeed,

we shall do this work of raising a Republic

worth all our sacrifices and common dreams

as one nation - together this time -

one whole sky.

We shall build a shelter of Country

for all our generations - mabuhay!

If we are merciful to ourselves, O my nations,

if we value the life that take their shelter under our wings,

we shall ardently seek peace, one with another.

We shall look to the dawning of the new age and never look back.

Eid'l Adha Mubarak!

---<--@