“Dona Nobis Pacem” – Latin for Grant Us Peace.

Violence is bad for children and other living things…

I wish I had more time today to write a long post like I did last year, but as you know I’m swamped with various this and that in work and life.

But at this moment more than ever, I think it’s important to think about peace: war all over the world, the East Coast drowning in destruction from Superstorm Sandy, and the truly disturbing vitriol from all factions during the Presidential Election…

Madness everywhere, and rather than better, it seems to always get worse. The only way we can make a change is for each one of us, individually, to give an effort to be kinder to one another, to think before we speak or type. To remember, as the Dalai Lama says, that we are all the same: we want happiness and to avoid suffering.

“I believe all suffering is caused by ignorance. People inflict pain on others in the selfish pursuit of their happiness or satisfaction. Yet true happiness comes from a sense of peace and contentment, which in turn must be achieved through the cultivation of altruism, of love and compassion, and elimination of ignorance, selfishness, and greed.”
Dalai Lama

Our job is to make sure that we achieve these things without hurting others, or taking away their rights to the same thing.

“It is no longer good enough to cry peace, we must act peace, live peace, and live in peace.” Shenandoah proverb
Take a moment today to think about peace. Meditate, pray, or just take a quiet moment to consider what we could do to make the world a more peaceful place. Small acts that when combined, become a quiet revolution.

 

We interrupt our regular NaNo programming for an important announcement…

Well, not an announcement per se, but hopefully some food for thought.

BlogBlast for Peace 2011

November 4, 2011
Bloggers from all across the globe
will blog for peace.
We will speak with one voice.
One subject
One day

While I’ll still be posting the regularly scheduled writing and NaNo related material later on, I saw this going on on several blogs I read (I think it was Daisy the Curly cat, because, yeah, I’m addicted to blogs starring cats.) and I thought I would take a chance to be part of it.

For those of you who don’t know me well, I’m a big, fat pacifist hippie Buddhist. You wouldn’t think so, considering my potty mouth, penchant for vampire smut, and joy in writing gory stories, but honestly, I think fiction is a perfect way of expressing our darker sides while still living a decent life.

I’ve been asked in the past, why (and how) I write both romance and horror (and dark fantasy, which is a mix of both)? And my answer is this: Romance is about finding the sublime in the horrific (or at least terrible) world that we live in. Horror is only its mirror image — finding the horrific in the sublime that life truly is. Frightening stories help us express and face our fears, indulge our socially unacceptable thoughts and nightmares while doing no harm… and yet, it seems as though our own “real” world becomes more and more like our frightening fiction every day.

And even worse. The monsters are human, and the damage done is far more than even our most twisted imaginations can conjure, because they’re real. War consumes so much of the planet, destroys so many lives, so much land, so many resources. The United States is close to bankrupt at least in part because of endless sanctioned violence that leads ultimately to nothing.

I am unashamed to be a pacifist. I don’t believe in *real* violence for any reason, toward any creature. It diminishes us as a species, makes us hypocrites spiritually/religiously/politically, and brings into question whether we have evolved at all beyond the “animals” we so disparage as unnecessary and unimportant — remember, we’re destroying them and their world too. (And worse, if you take into account cosmetic testing, animal cruelty, dog fighting — I’m looking at you, Vick.)

What does violence ever really achieve? More violence. More death. More destruction. It’s sad, and the modern world’s culture of hatred and war, be it the kind fought with guns, drones, and tanks, or the kind fought with words, with laws, or with destructive practices meant to elevate monetary profit above all else, including life, the sustainability of our planet and even basic safety, will eventually lead to the end of us all.

That is my blog blast for peace. Please try to be kind to one another. It’s truly as simple as that. Keep your violence and horror restricted to paper.

(A side note: I’d like to make it clear that I support our troops and their families — they are doing the job which they’ve been trained and commanded to do. My problem lies with the so-called “leaders,” who sit safe and comfortable in their offices and mansions, destroying the world and murdering these brave women and men (and millions of innocents besides) from a detached distance. They should carry the horror, the nightmares, the shame. They should be the ones losing limbs, suffering from PTSD, not the people who ultimately carry the burden. It’s disgusting that world leaders are playing what amounts to violent chess with people who ultimately have to choice in the matter at all.)