My Thoughts On War

People say war is sometimes necessary, using Hitler as an example. But if we hadn't ignored the poverty in Germany he never could have gained power. We always wait until conditions have deteriorated so much that dictators take over. Then we say there are no non-military options to deal with it. There is always ample warning before a dictatorship forms. It doesn't happen overnight and we know the conditions that enable it. It can be stopped, nipped right in the bud.

Even though we have endless examples to learn from, we still act as if there's no way to predict a dictatorship forming and therefore no way to stop it. Like the fly that hurls itself into the glass door over and over and over, we are certain that if we do it just one more time it will somehow work out differently. But it doesn't. It can't.

War isn't necessary. It's the end product of years of indifference and willful ignorance.

Love is Love

Ripple

Yesterday an errand took longer than expected and I wound up far from home in need of lunch. I popped into a small Thai restaurant for a bowl of curry. When I was almost finished, a man came in to pick up his take-out order. When he left, the Thai waitress came over and said he had paid my tab. 

I was just stunned. I've heard of this happening but it's never happened to me. She said often monks come in there and others pay their bill. I looked around the small restaurant-- every table had 2 people except for one, where a man was checking out the menu. I whispered to the waitress that I was gonna pick up his tab when he ordered. She said it wasn't necessary, but you know I was giddy like a little kid just thinking about paying it forward.

I paid and left there on cloud nine. I was a kinder and more careful driver. I smiled all the way home. I was more loving towards my dogs and flowed into a stressful situation that arose for one of our beloved sangha members. Today my heart still feels softer and more open. It was such a beautiful example of how one person's act of kindness has a ripple effect that can never be measured.

And that curry was totally awesome.