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"AN
EYE FOR AN EYE"
We live in a country that now appears to be 90% filled with religious people who thirst for vengeance. A horrible thing happened on September 11th and it appears that the initial shock and anger persists, even though many Americans are religious and praying, so the media tells us.
While most people were totally involved in the aftermath of the attack, Congress quickly passed Dubya's Star Wars package. Following a low-tech crime by men using box cutters, billions of our $$$ are going toward a pet project that goes after hi-tech ICBMs.
Guess who will benefit from that? Even in crisis, corporate interests must be served. It is an outrage that the Star Wars bill was called an example of non-partisanship. But it is encouraging that since it was passed, at least some individuals in Congress have woken up to the attempts of this administration to bulldoze some programs through by attaching them to emergency bills.
But the White House counter reaction spin is already in place. Anyone who defies Dubya's plans is considered unpatriotic. LIBERAL, which has always been used as a dirty word by the GOPsters, is now being made equal to the word traitor, and continues to be the butt of jokes. The spin is to undercut any Liberal proposal by declaring it partisan and against the war effort.
Following the events of 9/11, the flag and religion have taken over the minds, voices and actions of the country and most all opposition has been silenced by fear of appearing and being labeled anti-American.
How long will we, the women of America, continue to be held hostage by our fears of terrorism while our environment and our human rights are compromised in the name of "war effort?" Democracy is made strong by open and thoughtful dissent. Truth should not be forced into a corner and forgotten to make a virtue of Bush/Cheney/Blair expediency.
Not too long ago, an Ayatollah in Iran, speaking for the Eastern God declared that America was the "great Satan." Now Dubya, speaking for the Western God calls some of them "evil doers" who "do evil." [Gosh! Is that profound or what?]
It appears that this battle of the gods just proves that men created them in their own image to justify and condone their actions and their values. Surely if the Biblical text they are so quick to revere were followed, we would not be bombing Afghanistan. We would be turning the other cheek, or is that Bible verse just another Liberal joke?
What does one do when one realizes that religions are created and none of them fit one's needs or stays true to its precepts? This conundrum was solved by many Brits. Because so many of them wrote "Jedi Knight" in the space that called for "religion" on their 2001 census forms, the government was forced to give "Jedi Knight" its own category. May the Force be with them.
That's just fine for them, but we looked for something that reflects the ascendancy and the strength of OUR gender. We found it in a movement starting up in the Xenaverse. Many of us are now writing "Xenite" under religion in any form we must fill out.
It certainly is an idea whose time has come. If anything, Xena is overqualified for Godhood. She has come back from the dead more times than all the other deities of the world combined. She has conquered both Heaven and Hell, corrupted angels, consorted with Lucifer, conceived immaculately, given birth to a Holy Woman and walked with Saints.
"Peace," she tells us, "is not found in the world around you. You have to look for it in your own heart."
"Fear is a flaw, a subtle human flaw given to us by the gods so that they can exploit us."
For further enlightenment, and the word
according to Xena, read the entire article excerpted below: "NO
FATE BUT WHAT WE MAKE": XENA'S PERCEPTIONS OF RELIGION, DESTINY, AND
FREE CHOICE
[4]
Her objections arise when she feels that people neglect to take responsibility
for their own actions and lives, rendering themselves instead to the mercy
of their chosen god. In peaceful times, she expresses her opinions calmly
and respectfully, as when she remarks to the priestess Leah "I just
think that you'd do better if you put more faith in yourself" [WARRIOR...
PRIESTESS... TRAMP (55/309)]. In less peaceful times Xena often loses her
temper, and she is consequently perceived by others as showing an "appalling
lack of respect for the gods" [Galen in IS THERE A DOCTOR IN THE HOUSE
(24/124)]. But if Xena is sometimes extreme in her reactions, it is only
because it is so important for her to get her message across. http://www.whoosh.org/issue40/yellin1.html
Truly Xena embodies elements of Liberal and Conservative, saint and sinner, teacher and pupil, yin and yang, strength and compassion. She would tell us to either trust ourselves to find a way out of terrorism peacefully or to take up our sword in battle. However, She wouldn't allow us to put the onus on a GOD to justify bombing another nation. She would insist that we take the responsibility for whatever we decided to do upon ourselves.
And she would be in agreement with Gandhi who said: "An eye for an eye only makes the whole world blind."
