Monthly Archives: December 2009

Gandhi’s Words: Be the Change

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If you read the words of Mahatma Gandhi you are, if you allow yourself to hear and digest them, moved by their spiritual accuracy and, if you listen deeper still, struck by the enormous strength it takes to live them.

When I am filled with anger at an individual, group, policy, etc., I often turn to the words of people I admire and look up to. People like Gandhi, King, Mandela, Malcolm, and others like Brother Gregory Myles or Father Mychal Judge.  And so it was that this evening I found myself reading some of  Gandhi’s words. For example,“Hate the sin, not the sinner.” Not easy, and at times it feels damn near impossible. Sometimes I am able to live that distinction straight away, other times it takes me time. While I will always work to hate the sin and not the sinner, sometimes I am successful, sometimes I am not.

This evening I ran across another thing Gandhi said that was so remarkable it sent me into a gentle place of quiet stillness. He said, “You must be the change you want in the world.” I read this several times and then the tears came because his words are as true as life itself. And, if I am to be the change I would like in the world, then I must hate the sin and not the sinner, and also forgive the sinner, and that includes those who have wounded me.

Gandhi said, “The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.”  And, when you forgive and believe you are weak because you forgive, I say, If it is an act of weakness to forgive, then why is it so hard to do?

Remember what he said, “You must be the change you want in the world.”

I think that about covers it for now.

Withholding My Fire

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Many years ago my friend Dane told me I was too patient with people. It was true then and it is true now. I plan on changing this. I am, for example, tired to death of those who proclaim friendship or, even worse, tell you that you can think of them as family and later turn out to be as steadfast as a reed in a windstorm. I am sick to death of getting betrayed. The Marines have a saying, When the going gets tough, the tough get going.  For the friend-family fly-by-nights another version is more applicable. When the going gets tough, the wimps flee.

Back to betrayal for a moment. In early 2008 several took runs at me and away from me when I refused to back off when people with disabilities were being denied their rights and when I uncovered the fact a contract employee with the state was misrepresenting his credentials. I remember talking to Brother Gregory Myles about those who both betrayed me and did all they could to plunge knives into my back. Brother Gregory is an extraordinary man. He  glows with integrity and strength and has a remarkable capacity to right-size a moment. When I told him about those who’d betrayed me he smiled and said, “Peter, people betrayed Jesus. What makes you think they won’t betray you?”  I smiled, nodded, and, with all my heart, thanked him.

As for those who still take runs at me, or send wounds via e-mail or voice mail, while I will surrender my sobriety for no one, not even you, cross the street when you see me coming, my words to you will be anything but complimentary.

So Poor You Want to Hide

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Knowing there is not a dime to be had, not even enough to cover the monthly bills, or buy presents for others, Christmas around the corner, Mangus thinks, Better to pull the curtains and nest in my books and the remainder of coffee and keep still until this all passes.

Mangus shuffles from room to room like a toy with batteries fading he sees the soft of morning blue and the days first clouds and reminds himself they are there for him too. Like his books and music, the he is outside with his dogs now, their tails wagging, bundles of perpetual love. Not so bad he thinks as one washes his hands with his tongue. Mangus saying, Thank you, out loud, eyes filling up at the same time, moved by the animal’s kindness.

Looking at the dogs he thinks, sometimes you’re so poor you want to hide. He goes back inside.

Slime: Rupert Murdoch, Diane Savino, Et al

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While I do not think New York Governor David Paterson is an effective governor and hope someone else takes the helm after the next election, recent statements using the governor’s blindness as a target are beyond disgusting. 

Rupert Murdoch, a man who makes shit look like a shiny piece of gold by comparison, said Paterson is "blind and can’t read Braille and doesn’t really know what’s going on."  According to Reuters, State Senator Democrat Diane Savino said Paterson’s effectiveness as governor is impeded by his blindness. This summer she said, “"He has people reading newspapers to him. He listens to tapes of staffers briefing him. All that takes an enormous amount of time."

This kind of bigotry is inexcusable. I live with a disability and personally know many who do. I can tell you now that my closest friend, a former United States Marine who lost both legs in Vietnam is the person who taught me you don’t have to stand up to stand tall in life. Others taught me you do not need sight to have vision and still others taught me you do not need to hearing to know the sounds of injustice.

And so, Mr. Murdoch and Senator Savino, we see you, hear you, and, by the way, stand taller than either of you.

By the way, I would not trade my disability for yours. Mine does not stop me from seeing the humanity in others.

Protect My President

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While nitwits  Michaele and Tareq Salahi dribble their asinine claim around Washington D.C. that they did not crash a state dinner, protect my president.

The Salahi’s appear to be nothing more than a pair of attention seeking gnats with a level of loyalty to their country and their president that is nothing to brag about, if, in fact, it is anything at all.  And while these two airheads sit in front of TV cameras and do interviews (the media mindset giving them personal attention being particularly despicable, though not at all surprising), the real story is two people were able to outwit the president’s security.

Those who know me well know I love President Obama and think we may be witnessing the beginning of one of my country’s greatest presidencies. However, I don’t care if the president is Obama, Bush, Clinton, Reagan. and so on – protect my president.

Period. End of story.