That said, humanity still has a lot of growing to do. We are like little children, pursuing whatever makes us happy, yet throwing tantrums when we cannot get our way. We will do what we are told if told forcefully enough, otherwise we do what fulfills our desires … and MAYBE feel bad about it if someone else gets hurt in the process, especially if we are called out on it. And we pretty much believe whatever we are told. That is much easier than figuring things out for ourselves.

When a child first opens their senses to the world, there is no fear, no hatred, no categorizing … only simple wonder and curiosity. Sure they may react by crying, but that is ironically more from the change in circumstances. They have been taken out of a relatively comfortable and peaceful environment and suddenly thrust into overwhelming … CHANGE. Of course this causes a reaction. Fear, judgement, separation … that is all taught to the child. And how we react to these negative influences on our growth is the true testament to our character as human beings. Do we respond instinctively, as the child does when change is suddenly thrust upon them, or do we actually CHOOSE our own reaction?

Or do we let someone else decide for us?

The sad truth is, all too many of us either react instinctively, or let someone else do the choosing for us. We need to reclaim our own minds, and learn to take responsibility for our OWN growth as human beings.We need to stop letting those who would divide the world to promote their own personal agendas dictate our morality, when the simple truth of the matter is we all entered the world the same way. Everything after that is really just ideas being thrust on us by the rest of the world. It is up to US how we let those ideas shape us.

It comes down to this. Either life is precious and worth protecting or it is not. The value of a life has nothing to do with the circumstances that the life lives under. It has nothing to do with where it is lived. It has nothing to do with the physical differences, or any of the other superficial differences that separatists use to place more value on one life than another for their own gain. We either value life or we don’t.

I am not here to tell anyone how they should think. That is up to each of us. But please don’t tell me that you value life if you can so easily dismiss one life as having less value than another simply because of arbitrary boundaries designed by man. Or because they fall into a category that is somehow unacceptable. to us, as dictated by others who tell us what is acceptable and what is not. There is only one reason that poverty and hunger exists in this world. It is because those in power do not truly value life. There is only one reason that refugees exist. Because those in power do not truly value life. Stop blaming the victims for the actions of those who victimize them. And don’t tell me how strong you are when your strength lies behind locked doors and weapons. Not helping another because of the possibility of risk to yourself is nothing other than placing the value of your life as higher than theirs. And who exactly are YOU to make such a judgement?

The actions of OUR governments are the cause of homelessness and the refugee crisis. Whether the person in need is a starving child, a discarded veteran, or a family fleeing for their own safety is immaterial. The ultimate cause is the same people. So don’t deny one group of lives in need because you think another group deserves the help more. Help them ALL. And remove the causes from power.

We either value life or we do not. It is time we make our OWN choices.

 [/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/12″][/vc_column][/vc_row]

The post What is the value of a human life? #1000Speak first appeared on thrumyeyes.

What defines the value of a life?

Is it the number of limbs one has? The place one is born? The potential financial value one could represent? Maybe it is the belief system one subscribes to? Or is it simply the name one bears?

I guess we each have to decide the answer to this question for ourselves.

Here is MY answer. Whether you believe that life is the creation of some omniscient sky daddy, or a simple accident of chemical reactions, it is a truly amazing thing. Life is the difference between a large barren rock floating through the “ether” and a globe of infinite wonder and change. It is the flavor in the stew that is the universe. Without life the wonder that is existence would go unnoticed; the ultimate masterpiece totally unappreciated. Life is what makes EVERYTHING worthwhile.

So where does that put the end of life?

Ultimately when that end is part of the pattern it is no bad thing. Part of what makes life so unique and notable is the fact that it is ever-changing and evolving, as the old makes way for the new. It is also all the more precious for its shortness relative to the rest of existence. Life comes and life goes, and the wonders continue.

However mankind, in its ultimate arrogance, has given itself the responsibility to decide when life is to be given and when life is to be taken. What exactly gives humans the right to make such profound decisions? Some claim a special connection to the infinite, as if the are somehow superior than every other miracle of being out there. Others just do it out of mismatched pride or ego, or maybe it is simple greed. But life is totally beyond our understanding, let alone our rights. How can we determine where life can exist if we don’t even fully understand what it is?

Humanity has little chance of coexisting with itself let alone the rest of life until we recognize this very simple fact. We can’t pick and choose which deaths are acceptable and which are not. The basic reality is no death is acceptable if it is not part of the pattern. If one kills another for no reason other than personal gain or over reaction to something we choose as immoral… then that killing is wrong. There are no two ways about it.

It does not matter if it is Israel, or Hamas. It does not matter if it is Syria or Iraq. It does not matter if it is Christian or Jewish or Muslim. It does not matter if it is Black or White. It does not even matter if it is child or adult. Taking another life simply for political or financial game is nothing other than WRONG. WE need to stop selectively moralizing when it is ok and when it is not. We need to stop playing the US and THEM game; allowing our own prejudices to say that man should die but this one should not. Politics in NO justification. Greed is NO justification. And most importantly, and most hypocritically, religion is NO justification.

Just stop the killing. Every hand on a trigger is attached to a living deciding being. If everyone decided NOT to pull the trigger, we would actually have a chance. It is up to each of us.

STOP THE KILLING!!

The post STOP THE KILLING!!! first appeared on thrumyeyes.

In my journeys of late, I have been fortunate enough to explore the wonders of rural America. I have been invited into homes. I have enjoyed great food and wonderful music. I have witnessed loving families, joy and laughter. I have hobnobbed with those whose life experiences are more exotic than fiction, primarily because they were not my own. I have also witnessed pettiness, greed, anger, aggression and bigotry. I have seen the extremes and everything in between.

Simply put, I have experienced people being people.

Just because someone’s upbringing and life path has been different from mine does not mean that I am in any way superior to them. Just because they may make choices that I would not make; decisions I consider flawed; even judgements that I find objectionable … does not make me a better person. Nor does it make them somehow morally corrupt.

EVERY preconception; EVERY stereotype is based on real perceptions. Face it, humanity thrives on negative press. We seem to find it easier to accept that wich pushes THEM into the negative light then to accept the fact that maybe THEY are just like you and me … in other words we all have our flaws and our beauties.

“I hate closed-minded people!”

“Those poor, uneducated people are so backwards in their beliefs. Dumb as rocks. The are all just ignorant haters!”

“We should kill all the terrorists.  They are all evil psychopaths!”

This question is for the open-minded. It is for the highly educated; the ones who KNOW that all people are worthy in their own right. If you think such thoughts as listed above … how are you ANY less bigoted then those you are judging? Just because someone has been fed information that may be incorrect; just because someone may have been raised with some unhealthy and even wrong-headed ideas (at least by our OWN thinking), does not make them any less of a good person than we think we are. “They” love their families as “we” do. “They” do what they need to get by in a crazy, mixed up world … just like “we” do.

Do you fully agree with EVERYTHING those close to you think and do?

And how far would YOU go if you thought they were threatened in any way?

It sure is easy to condemn another’s mistakes from the comfort of our own armchair isn’t it? Educational and moral superiority is bigotry too. At least those who do what we call atrocious acts are actually trying their best to IMPROVE the world around them, even if “we” don’t like their ” improvements”.

Can you say the same?

The post What do YOU want from The Wizard? first appeared on thrumyeyes.

“Peace.” Every one of us claims that we want peace. There are right wingers, centrists, left wingers and all of them claim that they want to achieve peace. When I was growing up, people around me didn’t just dislike but hated the State of Israel because they thought Israel is the reason why there’s no peace in the world and I always used to get confused and ask myself why we are so many against that State? Is it because they now exist on a piece of land in the Middle East? If yes, then what about those North African Berber-Lands which have been invaded by the Arabs? Several questions came into my mind. People of my ancestral Stateless region called “Balochistan/Baluchestan” divided among Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan are suffering and are getting oppressed every day when they open their mouth against the government. Especially, the Pakistani government which has been slaughtering; oppressing; throwing Balochs into torture cells … the policy is to kidnap-torture-kill-dump (if it’s a woman then rape before dumping her in some trash area) , this is how Balochs suffer every day for demanding a “Free Independent State”.

Thousands of Balochs have been abducted and tortured to death. I still remember when my aunt was talking to me about what is happening in our region, she said “These people claim that they are Muslims and kill Balochs who are also Muslims, what if Balochs weren’t Muslims, I wonder what would they do to us”. Soon, I started educating myself about States that got independence and freedom and Israel was one of them. Also, I started learning and researching about Jewish Exodus from Arab/Muslim Lands, about the Holocaust, plus, how Palestinians had to leave that land. Holocaust was never taught to us at school, well, in fact nothing related to the Second World War was taught in our school.  My maternal grandmother is Persian and she’s from Mashhad, Iran. It might surprise you that a girl who also has Persian blood considers Anne Frank, one of Hitler’s best known victim to be her hero. The reason I am saying ‘surprise’ is because as a Persian I have never supported, the ex-President of Iran, Ahmedinejad and the words that came out of his mouth, he was a total embarrassment. Ahmedinejad was an Anti-semite and proudly claimed that denying the “Holocaust” is one of his greatest achievements. I would like to say that before generalizing all Persians, which I have seen a lot on the internet, I want people to know that when you generalize people because of the government they are stuck with today then honestly speaking, you’re ‘racist’ and also ‘ignorant’ because you haven’t tried to get to know the history.

When I was young and used to recite the Quran with my Qari (the person who teaches Quran) I used to see/read the word “يا بني إسرائيل”, “Ya Bani Israel” a lot in the Quran and as I didn’t know Arabic (just understood some words in the Quran as Persian and Arabic have some similar words, but didn’t understand Arabic totally) I used to get surprised “What? Is this verse talking about the ancestors of those Israeli people living in Israel today? Or is it something else?” I started researching the Quran and see what it says about the Israelites (Bani Israel). What I found out, was a total surprise because Quran relates the words by which Moses ordered the Israelites to conquer the Land:

And [remember] when Moses said to his people: ‘O my people, call in remembrance the favor of God unto you, when he produced prophets among you, made you kings, and gave to you what He had not given to any other among the peoples. O my people, enter the Holy Land which God has assigned unto you, and turn not back ignominiously, for then will ye be overthrown, to your own ruin.'” [Qur’an 5:20-21]

The Quran refers to the return of the Jews to the Land of Israel before the Last Judgment – where it says:

And thereafter We [Allah] said to the Children of Israel: ‘Dwell securely in the Promised Land. And when the last warning will come to pass, we will gather you together in a mingled crowd.'” [Qur’an 17:104]

I was surprised, and I was like, “What are we talking about when the Quran ITSELF supports the Jews to live there and dwell there until the Day of Judgment? Then why can’t Muslims just get along with them?” I can write a whole book about how many people have I argued with on this topic and have heard racist, disgusting, disrespectful things from them just because I found something in the Quran and tried discussing it with them. Sometimes, I was in tears after getting humiliated and insulted repeatedly.

Now, coming to Judaism;

Leviticus 19- God commanded to the Jewish people:

When a stranger resides with you in your land, you shall not do him wrong. The stranger who resides with you shall be to you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt; I am the LORD your God.”

The Talmud (Baba Metzia 59b) points out that the requirement to treat the foreigner who lives among you as fully equal is repeated no less than 36 times in the Torah. More times than any other commandment.

Exodus 22:21:

Do not mistreat or oppress a foreigner, for you were foreigners in Egypt.

Often people ask me whether I am for “One-State” or “Two-States” or something else. My answer is, Two States for two peoples. Large Settlement Blocs will remain of Israel, they are not going anywhere, so the Palestinians have the right to have an equal size piece of land carved out for them and there will be land swaps. Geneva Accords which were negotiated by Palestinians and Israelis themselves states ” Israel will annex the large settlement blocs”. Now, why do I support Two States for Two Peoples? Arabs and Jews lived under one regime in Palestine before 1947. The result was repeated violent clashes from 1886 to 1947, which in December 1947, exploded into full scale civil war. That is the war for which we are still seeking a solution. The level of mutual fear, lack of acceptance, animosity and outright hatred is even greater today than it was in the past. If Israel and Palestine become One-State then that is going to result in another war and probably another “Nakba”.

We are living in an era when Soviet Union broke up into a dozen different states and border fences went up between them. East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) which also had the same religion as West Pakistan (now Pakistan) fought and became an Independent State. Yugoslavia broke up into 4 states, and border fences went up between them. . Czechoslovakia broke up into two states. Kurdistan wants Independence from Turkey, Syria, Iraq and Iran though they have the same religion.  Balochistan, a region which has a majority of Muslims also wants to be separated from the Islamic Republics; Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan.  Palestine broke up into a Fatah ruled West Bank and a Hamas ruled Gaza strip even before it became a state. Iraq and Syria also look unstable and might break. If someone looks at the facts of history and current events, he can never think that the solution to the Arab-Jewish conflict would be to take down the border between Israel and Palestine and demand that Israel, the West Bank and Gaza should be “One large State”. If I am free to dream, I want to see the world without borders and all of us should be global citizens but if I am realistic, I have to keep all these facts in mind and so it means borders between Israel and Palestine are more likely to be among the last than the first to come down.

I know what it feels to wish or fight for having your own State, I am also from a Stateless region where people are tortured to death and dumped for wanting their own State. “Palestinians do not deserve to live like that” said my Israeli friend yesterday, I totally agree with that statement and I also believe that neither Jews nor Palestinians should be Stateless and therefore everyone should find possible ways of solving this issue and instead of dreaming about something impossible. We should keep the history, current events and everything in mind. 50.2% of the Israeli population today are Mizrahic/Sephardic Jews, they’re the estimated 850,000 Jews living in the Middle East who were forcefully driven out of their homes (in Arab/Muslim countries) around 1948 with absolutely nothing but the clothes on their backs and only one place to go: Eretz Israel. Now to think that “Jews should go back to Poland/Europe” is stupid because 50.2% of the Israeli population did not move to this land from Poland or from somewhere in Europe, Jews from Europe learned in a brutal way that they belong nowhere else but Land of Israel, also, Jews from Arab/Muslim lands learned that they belong nowhere else but Israel and to say “Make Jordan Palestine” is also very offensive because neither the Jordanians nor the Palestinians want that and therefore- Palestinians should have their own State but Palestinians should also stop blaming Israel over everything and should ask “What have their own politicians ever done for them?” Plus, they should increase their level of tolerance, not letting Jews pray on the Temple Mount/ Al-Sakhrah and Al-Aqsa area is racist and every Muslim who is educated and moderate is against this. If Jews worship the God of Abraham and so do you then why don’t you just get along and let them pray? Such hate is never going to solve anything, but rather increase animosity, just like, building more settlements have never helped but has made things worse.

Meeting people and talking to them about this conflict has opened my eyes and I’ve learned a lot by listening to people from both sides and being unbiased. Unfortunately, many people who claim they are supporters of Palestine hate Jews or have a problem with Jews having their own State. Some of these supporters have become Muslim because they think it validates their hate for Jews. Similarly, there are people who claim they are supporters of Israel but soon you realize when you debate/talk to them that they have a problem with Muslims and/or their faith. Leaders and politicians have in my opinion failed. So-called leaders like Ahmedinejad are good for nothing, they just know how to increase more problems in the Middle East. Iran and Israel are enemies and I have noticed people disliking Persians but they forget that Cyrus The Great helped the Jews back to Jerusalem and gave the order to build the second Temple, when he conquered the Babylonians. Jewish Queen Esther ruled over Iran centuries ago, she’s buried in Hamadan, Iran next to her uncle Mordechai.

Daniel’s tomb is in Susa (Shush), Iran. Iran has a rich Jewish history but unfortunately today things aren’t the way they should be. I hope peace will come soon in this world. I once read of an American who attended a Friday sermon in Iran in 1995,in which the then-President Rafsanjani delivered an Anti-American/ Anti-Israel sermon. He spoke of talking to the Iranian sitting next to him, who after finding out he was American, welcomed him to Iran with a big smile. In this American’s opinion, the Iranians are not as blind we think, but rather well educated to what is going on. Iranian concern for the Palestinians is a political game. How does this help, the way the Politicians are dealing with things? It hasn’t helped the Palestinians so far, on the contrary. I know many Arabs who don’t really like Persians, especially Arabs from Iraq who still think Iran is responsible for the Iraq-Iran war (and not Saddam Hussein) and also some Lebanese, etc. I was watching a video where a Persian Jew living in Israel says good things about Persians and a guy says to him “But Iran hates us?”  The old man is like “So what if they hate us? Everyone hates us!” I was thinking not many in the Middle East like Iran just the way they don’t like Israel. It’s funny, both these countries … so-called “enemies” today … have so much in common.

How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.” –Anne Frank

[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/12″][/vc_column][/vc_row]

The post Prejudice and peace … is it possible? first appeared on thrumyeyes.

Hello beautiful members of PAX Nation. I thought it would be nice if I introduce myself because usually in all groups that I’ve joined people often get confused who the hell am I… My name is Niyah (Nee-yah) and I immigrated to the United States permanently in June 2011. The first time I came here was in June 1994 when I was a year and a half but I wasn’t a permanent resident I had to go back but I used to come and go back often… back and forth. I am of mixed race, Baloch, Persian and Afghan (in case you’re wondering who are Baloch people, Balochistan is a Texas-sized Stateless region divided among Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan, people from there are called Baloch . Citizen of 3 third-world countries; Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan. So I guess that equals one first-world country…no wonder I live in US now haha.

I just wanted to say that I am Pro-Peace, I support Israel’s right to exist, I strongly believe that Jews, Muslims, Christians and Druze etc should live peacefully like brothers in that region and religion should be a personal thing not a reason for having disputes. Most Israelis I have met or am friends with are beautiful people and knowing them has made me love their country, get interested in their history and culture even more but that does not mean I am biased and I don’t feel bad about what’s happening with the Palestinians. I know checkpoints, settlements, refugee issues and everything. I will stand against anyone who would generalize all the Arabs for not wanting peace just like I would if I see someone spewing Jew-hatred or you can say being a total Anti-semite.

The first time I got to know about the Holocaust was when I was 10 and I asked my uncle (who lives in Holland and came to visit us) if there’s someone very famous from Holland and he said “Anne Frank”, I have a habit that when I hear about someone or something new I go and research, when I researched about Anne Frank and read about her life I couldn’t stop crying for 3 days and I kept asking G-d what can I do to bring her back. The other day I was reading some parts of her diary and I couldn’t stop crying, I just stopped. I can’t stand people who say “the Holocaust never happened”. Sometimes, I see people making fun of Anne Frank, praising Hitler or denying/making fun of the Holocaust, what did she or other Jews who died in the Holocaust have to do with Israel other than being Jewish? Well, I can understand good-heartened people caring about the situation Palestinians are in BUT it saddens me to see when people deny something that is so well documented I don’t know if we should keep such atrocities happening, because we refuse to learn from the past. To be honest, “Peace in Israel-Palestine” and “Peace in the Middle-East” is why I am on active on the internet most of the time. I am not interested in other people’s life or about celebrities, etc. I feel I actually don’t need to be remembered when I die. If I managed to teach someone something that actually affected the future in a positive way, then I have lived a good life. It does not really matter if anyone knows I did it or not.

I know what war is. There was a time when my elders used to tell me that “don’t worry if we die from terrorist target-killing or get abducted and killed, we will go to heaven for getting slaughtered without any reason like the Balochs before us”. I remember my 19 year old neighbor, Farooq, in Quetta, Balochistan who was protesting for the missing people of Balochistan and was kidnapped by the Pakistani Army later they found out his  mutilated corpse dumped with another Baloch’s body… their teeth, eyes, nails were plucked out, joints were drilled, also drilled under the eyes then he was shot in the ear his mother is not normal she doesn’t talks to anybody. My cousin died in a bomb blast his mother has attempted suicide many times, many of my relatives are missing, some people say that they are dead. I remember seeing blood on streets in Balochistan.

My friend in Afghanistan went outside and there was a bomb blast her whole body was burnt and injured she was alive for several hours kept begging the doctors to save her, she told them she wants to live but they couldn’t save her, she was 16. I know what war is but if you compare Israel with what Pakistani Army and ISI, how they treat Balochs or what Taliban is doing in Pakistan and Afghanistan then seriously that’s nothing, no comparison.

While 100,000 have been killed in Syria, about 50,000 people brutally tortured to death and abducted in Balochistan, people dying in Egypt…. the world seems to enjoy the luxury of being concerned with Jews in Israel and Palestine. Sometimes I really don’t understand people or why they find some topics more interesting than other topics. I have met Palestinians who are sick and tired of war and they just want a serious “PEACE” solution they keep saying we want peace, we don’t want to throw Jews in the sea or kill all Jews or anything we want to coexist with them like good neighbors and brothers. They call Hamas a terrorist organization and accuse it for making them all look bad. When I meet them I have a strong hope that there will be peace one day but when I see these groups I feel peace is merely just a dream. I know Israelis who want to have peace and would do anything for it but in groups all the time I see Palestine supporters pointing fingers at Israel supporters and vice versa.

Do you guys really think that blaming each other or making fun of each other’s beliefs is the solution of peace? Before doing that think what if you were born in Gaza, Palestine? or what if you were born in Shoham, Israel? Honestly speaking, the way I see people arguing, hating, remembering past events or massacres I don’t think anyone is serious about peace. This is the age of enlightenment and reasoning. Why is war in this era? War is the symbol of dark age. We are all one. We bleed red. We are all the children of Adam and Eve or if you’re an Atheist then I’d say we are all Homo Sapiens so come on people PLEASE for heaven sake start loving each other. Stop fighting about who created the WORLD!!! Fight against the people who are destroying it! I’m not an activist or a politician, but I care passionately about equal rights. I care about human rights and animal rights. “If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other”- Mother Teresa. Be realistic forget about the past, past is past it’s not going to comeback even if you keep remembering it and blame each other, just think of  the solutions now. Stop perverting the word Zionism because I could show you many Zionists who work for peace and are actively working for Palestine to get it’s own State and THEY call themselves Zionists and also stop making fun of Islam or say it’s violent because in every religion and Holy Scriptures there are violent or homophobic passages which will make you uncomfortable.. What gets me is, how people can generalize like this when they have not met every Muslim on the planet? or every Jew/Israeli on the planet? Let’s stop painting everyone with the same brush! Look at the similarities instead of looking for the differences.

“Whoever kills a soul unless for a soul or for corruption [done] in the land – it is as if he had slain mankind entirely. And whoever saves one – it is as if he had saved mankind entirely.” [Quran- 5:32]

“Whoever destroys a soul, it is considered as if he destroyed an entire world. And whoever saves a life, it is considered as if he saved an entire world.” Jerusalem Talmud Sanhedrin 4:1 (22a)”

I would also like to quote Anne Frank (my role model) here…

“It’s really a wonder that I haven’t dropped all my ideals, because they seem so absurd and impossible to carry out. Yet I keep them, because in spite of everything I still believe that people are really good at heart. I simply can’t build up my hopes on a foundation consisting of confusion, misery, and death. I see the world gradually being turned into a wilderness, I hear the ever approaching thunder, which will destroy us too, I can feel the sufferings of millions and yet if I look up into the heavens, I think that it will all come right, that this cruelty too will end, and that peace and tranquility will return again.”

[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/12″][/vc_column][/vc_row]

The post A never ending war? first appeared on thrumyeyes.