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COYOTE ARCHIVE
Dick Prosapio aka, Coyote is a member of the TMC Advisory Council, ceremonialist, psycho-
therapist (ret.), author, leader of men's experiential workshops, & Co-founder of The Foundation for Common Sense. He lives with his wife and daughter in Stanley, NM
For more info about Dick Prosapio, visit his web-site:
Spirit/ Earth Path
E-mail:
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What I Didn't Know
by
Dick Prosapio
Bin Laden and those others behind the 9/11 attack believed we, as a nation, were and are "paper tigers". Based upon Vietnam, Somalia, and other fights we have been hurt in and have backed away from, justified or not, that is how we have been perceived by those who mean us harm. The law of the jungle, more to the point, the tribal law of the Middle East, is that the weak are taken advantage of. Any sign of weakness is taken as an opening and is sensed eagerly by those who are ready to pounce.
I'll never forget what my Karate instructor told me, "If somebody is after you in an alley somewhere what I want you to do is look around for a board with a nail in it, a brick, a broken bottle..your job is to win. Never mind the fancy stuff you're learning here, you have got to win no matter what."
What surprised and shocked me down to my core was that I had a deeply held belief that I had only to fight fair to win. That alone would determine the outcome. What he let me know was that I was worth fighting for......worth fighting in any way I could to survive. And most importantly, my life was worth more than the life of the one attacking me! I was surprised to realize that at some level I didn't believe that. I believed that I could only preserve my life by protecting myself the "right" way....and in the process I must not cause any harm.
What he said to me that day changed what I believed about myself and the world. What he gave me was a lesson in reality. Few of us have had to fight for our survival in this country. Anyone who has knows that there is nothing "fair" about such a fight. It is tooth and claw. Nothing matters other than winning that struggle. We would rather believe that reason can win such a fight. But in a battle with someone who isn't interested in that philosophy and would rather cut our throat, we are wasting our breath....on all levels.
There were lots of reasons for an Iraqi invasion, positive and negative. Those spoken about and those not hinted at. One not acknowledged; we needed a war we were going to win, one in which we could flex some muscle, not a Granada or Panama, but an undertaking in a region where there was clear evidence of potential threat. One where those busily sharpening knives would get the message that we would not be taken for being feint of heart. So, this war was undertaken. Over a hundred of ours and thousands of theirs lost their lives. Many are wounded. Many are angry. And from many Iraqi people comes word that they are thankful that it was done. None, on either side, would say, "No matter the cost." in human life. But that is the grim harvest of any war. And the only dancing in the streets will be for the living, and for the end of it.
The rhetoric for home consumption in the Middle East is that we should get out now, but Arab leaders know that if we were to back out, that would be a sign for the radicals to come rushing in to fill the vacuum, an "I-told-you-so!" regarding America's will, and then it will all have been for nothing. Mid-East leaders want us in the area until a stable government can be established in Iraq, only then will it really be appropriate for us to pull out.
Nobody likes to admit that these are the realities of life on this planet at this time. Many would like to believe that we human beings should have evolved by now beyond using war as a policy tool. Problem is, we don't live in a world like that. We never have; and it will probably be a long, long time before we do. Until every government on the planet is in accord, at the same time, that there must be no more war ever again, anywhere........everyone is going to be prepared both to defend and aggress with a nail in a board or a nuclear bomb, or whatever they have at hand.....even their own bodies wrapped in high explosives.
There has been a fantasy prevalent that once upon a time we lived in harmony with one another. There is absolutely no evidence to support such a belief in the historical record. Our species has been involved in the killing of one another, both individual and wholesale, since the beginning. The myth of Cain and Able tells us just how far back this goes. (For some new evidence of this human predilection check out the Steven A. LeBlanc article in the June edition of Archaeology.)
Pray, protest, paint, write letters, poetry, prose, take photographs about the cost of this insanity in us, try to effect changes of heart; do whatever you, as an individual can do to influence the World about this problem.....and, if you are threatened or attacked, fight for your life.
Dick Prosapio ©2003, All Rights Reserved
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