Listening: Ekova

Today I pray for peace.


I try to temper all of my thoughts of Isreal with the knowledge that I what little I know is just ice scraped from the tiptop of the massive iceberg that is most of the West's problems for the second half of the 20th and what is shaping up to be the 21st Century.

(I like long sentences with many qualifiers. deal.)

While I'm not sure how to feel about the pullout in Gaza because I'm not sure how to feel about settling what amounts to conquered territory or really how to feel about the forced creation of a home state in the middle of what was someone else's land (hint: most of the feelings aren't good), I really, truly think that if all goes well there will be less violence in the area.

Today begins the forced removal of settlers who refused to evacuate. Isreali soldiers have been placed in the untenable position of picking up, dragging, fighting and otherwise forcing their own countrymen and women from their homes. Old women, young boys, men and women who have all served in the Isreali army or police forces. They scream, they cry, they curse the soldiers and slap them.

And all the while I'm praying fervently that no one does anything stupid. So far the organization has struck me as patient, orderly and compassionate. Landowners are being hugely compensated eventhough they recieved large grants from the government originally to move to the occupied territory. Professional movers are out in force, paid by the government, to bring the belongings to the new homes of the evacuees. I'm not sure but I've heard that the structures will be destroyed before the final troop pull out. This is by far the kindest and most thorough eviction I've ever heard of.

I hope it proceeds with no loss of life or dignity. Furthermore, I hope when the Palestinians move in the organization will be as free from corruption and violence as possible.


As always, I continue to pray for Iraq. I don't fully endorse the sense that evil is one sentient force intent on creating crisis and letting violence reign. But if I did I'd feel moved to say it's settled in Baghdad. With human agents who desire nothing more than bloodshed the force for evil continues to press as these agents reject any idea of compassion and desire only to create hopelessness in their fellow humans.

Instead of simultaneity this last bombing was thought out with such cold attention to the reactions of masses of humans it's utterly chilling. The enemies of these people didn't want to make them fear to dissent, the enemies of these people didn't want them to embrace their (the enemy's) political position; the enemies of these people only wanted their death and their powerlessness. That is all. And that is horrible.


Brother Roger founded a community in France ages ago to foster peace and ecumenicalism (basically getting along together by emphasizing similarities and trying to be ok with differences in thought/belief), called Taize. He was important to some of the most spiritual and peaceful people I know and I had only just started to learn about him.

He was murdered yesterday, stabbed/slashed during an evening prayer service. I'm saddened and horrified, of course, that someone who stood for peace has been cut down. But the more I think about it the more I'm moved by what might be his murderess's motives. The official Taize page (which is getting inundated with traffic and therefore has spotty service) notes there's a good chance the woman is mentally disturbed. Many stories I've read either don't mention it or state that French police don't believe she needs special care for mental imbalance.

On the one hand I feel deep down that there's something amiss with the mental makeup of anyone willing to resort to murder, on the other hand I can't be sure but I think I smell a rat, French though it may be. Aside from maybe Switzerland and Canada I don't really know of any First World nations that takes adequate care of its mentally disturbed citizens. I'm more familiar with the trials of trying to keep someone of questionable sanity safe in this country. (Safe= away from situations that could go bad like taunting gangbangers or police officers as well as safe from causing harm to others.) If France - or Romania, the woman's home country - is anything like the US with regard to caring for individuals who display mental disorders she could have easily been in trouble before, likely for something more petty, and then released without medication or psychiatric supervision. She (or anyone else who isn't sick "enough") would be permitted to wander the streets to accost anyone free of interference so long as she didn't physically hurt anyone. If she merely frightened someone by stalking around their house the police would remove her to some place maybe a few miles away and that would be that. If she had never been diagnosed with a mental disorder the state would continue to avoid a psychiatric screening because if a record was created of documented illness the state would be responsible both for some care (pathetically minimum though it would be) and to some extent the protection of the people from her.

I guess I shouldn't rant here. It hasn't been and probably won't be publically shown that she's either delusional or utterly sane (?!) and holding on to a rationale that might be consistent without being a justifiable cause for murder. She might give a motive. It remains to be seen.

I'm just really sad that it happened.

Wikipedia's info on Taize.