leonardcohenforum.com

Coming from my hand, this is something very different...


Not Always So

“Not always so,” said the sage & he was right, of course – that’s what
being a sage is all about. And I’ve heard Ginsberg’s Howl, I’ve been in
Blake’s poems, I’ve seen the outbreak of several wars live on CNN.
The axis of evil runs from my head to my toes, I know it is so,
and so I pray for peace.
I’ve fired automatic rifles at targets shaped like human torsos. I was
considered a good shot, I numbered seven among a hundred
and fifty men (or should I say boys? yes, I should). I did this service
to my country, all the time at war with the system I was part of.
I waded a year in waste-deep snow, not really buying the stories,
but doing my duty nonetheless, a fatigued warrior of nineteen.
Strange how all this is still with me -
The perverse pleasure of the recoil against my shoulder. The pride that
goes with doing well. The bonding and the weekend drinking-bouts.
Being in the armed forces turned me into a pacifist, I should be grateful.
I should be grateful I never fired a shot at a human being – I pray for
the soldiers, even the professionals, the officers, the specialists who’ve
spent months learning to kill with their bare hands.
I pray the pain of killing will not drive them mad. I pray the relatives of
their victims will not be consumed by hate. I pray killing will go out of
fashion.
I’ve spent sixteen years myself, practicing martial arts, and yes:
I could kill with my bare hands. I know it sounds cruel. It is cruel.
The infant’s tiny fingers hold this capacity for killing, it’s insane.
Naked angels, sacks of skin and bones, children in rags of light.
It’s cold here, it’s cold.

Please give me the words, G~d, to let Taigaku Uwe know how his words have moved me. When I am given them, I may well respond to his Truths about human nature, and his own sagely wisdom, privately. I can only flounder here, at least now.

Thank you.

Love,
Elizabeth

Dear Taigaku ~

Even the colour of your print is that of blood in the process of drying. Your written piece is profound and powerful. A beautiful outcome awaited you. Here, one of the slogans has been, "Be All You Can Be".....not realizing that this may mean leaving the armed forces. Yet, parts of you unknown, might never have been known without it.

I have also felt the perverse pleasure of the kick against your shoulder. The details that you have written reveal the potential in all of us and something I've always believed, as difficult as it can be sometimes. You write with disarming honesty and depth. So many levels. So sage. So much to be said about your piece. These words of mine barely touch the surface, with how your writing causes me to feel.

Love,
Elizabeth

Dear Elizabeth~

I humbly thank you

Love,
Uwe

Dear Uwe ~

You have brought the human soldier into the light of your very special way. There is still so much to say about your "Not Always So."

Love,
Elizabeth

Lizzy~

If you have, or can borrow, a copy of the Bhagavad Gita (Hindu scriptures) the conversation between Arjuna (a prince) and Krishna [reminiscent of David and the Christ] regarding an imminent battle, is very illuminating on this subject; as well as the"not always so" paradigms and paradoxes.

Love,
Makera

Thanks, Makera ~

Actually, it may or may not be the Gita that I have a copy of.....I went right to where I thought it would be, but so many things have been moved around that my house seems currently inside-out at the moment, for a variety of reasons, primarily that I'm about to have some major work done and have been having minor work done . So, I'll have to go on a search now . [Just when I thought I'd put it in the perfect place, too ].

Anyway, I'll definitely follow up on that. Thanks !

~ Lizzy