Onah [View all]

[H2O Man]

"We must seek out spiritual people because only that is going to help us survive. We have a great force -- a great brotherhood. This brotherhood involves all living things.And that, of course, includes us all. We are talking about the natural world, the natural force, all the trees, everything that grows, the water. That is part of our force.

"But when you gather spiritual force in one place, you also gather the negative force. We begin to perceive the enemy now, the power and presence of the negative force.

"There is a great battle coming."
-- Onondaga Chief Oren Lyons

As I read DU:GD lately, I am reminded of this quote from Oren. It's from the 1980s. But I think that it holds equally true today.
There are good people who participate on this forum that might find the quote to be offensive. For example, many intelligent people are not religious, and may not consider themselves to be spiritual. Yet they almost certainly share many of the same values as Oren, which he defines as spiritual. Values such as respect for the environment, treating people with respect, and having compassion for those who are suffering.

Still others may take offense to the use of the word "brotherhood." I have a couple "live" recordings of John Lennon performing his song "Imagine," where he added "sisterhood" to the line about "a brotherhood of man."

It would be easy for me to dismiss some of the nonsense in the on-going "battle of the sexists" on DU:GD as simply being the product of bitterness. Certainly, the hostility we witness here all too frequently is the power and presence of the negative force. Yet, if I simply dismiss the concerns of that segment of the DU community, or make mean-spirited replies, then I, too, am adding to that force.

There are about a half-dozen people here who, for many years, I had at least a casual internet friendship with. I opt to avoid speaking with them these days, because I think they have betrayed what little sense of trust I consider necessary for such internet friendships. Without doubt, they feel the same about me.

Still, I do not question either the sincerity of their agenda, nor do I think they should be limited in their ability to promote their beliefs. It is what it is.

At risk of sounding a bit preachy here, I would suggest that others consider how they respond to others here, whom they may strongly disagree with. It may be that doing so could reduce some of the meaningless quarrels that have been taking up quite a lot of space here lately.

Peace,
H2O Man