The Two Towers

Remembering...

As my heart breaks,
I feel the pain of thousands again.
Remembering the fear, the shock, the pain,
The anger, and all the emotion this day takes.

Remembering the lives lost,
The war it cost,
More lives were taken,
The whole world shaken.

Remembering the strenght of the masses,
Even though the two towers lay in ashes,
The city lived, and lives on,
The spirit will shine on forever, on and on.

Try Love Instead

What do you gain from hate and war?
Nothing, Nothing at all.
Why do you hate, what is it for?
Question deeply before you fall.

Hate leads you to a dark deep pit,
Where your heart will sink and sit.
You lose your light, you lose your friends,
You lose every hope of making amends.

Why do you hate and cause unrest?
You lose all peace of mind to stress.
If anything this is a test
To free your soul, your heart from this mess.

You bear a grudge, and close off your mind,
Do you know that is very unkind?
Unkind, not to others, but to yourself
Because in the end, you're the one that needs help.

Open your eyes and see
The beauty in the world through diversity.
Open you heart and feel
That circle of love will grow and heal.

You miss this chance when you hate and fight,
To love everyone with all your might.
The more you give the more you get,
Just change your heart and your mindset.

Try love instead,
Get negativity out of your head.
Let the toxic out of your heart,
Make room for a fresh and positive start.

Its really not difficult to do,
All you have to let go of what's bothering you.
Look deep inside and see,
The person and things I hated, were in me.
Learn to grow and be strong,
And then with other's you will find no more wrong.



I know all this is real and so true,
What I know even more, is that I love you!

11 Years Later - A Prayer On 911

As we gather here to share time, and bond as a family, let's take a moment of silence in remembrance of those who passed on this day, 11 years ago.

Let us all take a moment to close our eyes, and send healing living light to all those who passed, families that suffered a loss, people at war, people surviving discrimination, as well as the perpetrators of this event. Let us send out our love and light to them, touch their hearts, love them hard. Love their sadness, anger, pain, and tears away!

Let this congregation represent the family hood we wish to share with the world, our truth, the oneness of this all.

We hope to better understand that Everything needs a balance. Where there is light there are dark shadows. We need to learn from those shadows, and bring our living light to the center, in all our affairs.

Thank you for sharing this prayer, this moment, and the essence of your being! Instead of grieving the horrors that took place on this anniversary of 9/11, let us send love and healing light to all those affected, everyone in the world suffering, hurting, and in pain.

Lastly, i honor that light in you, that shines at the light within me, Namaste.

- By Piyali and Priyanka
9/11/2012

With their tanks, bombs and guns

But you see, it's not me, it's not my family.
In your head, in your head they are fighting,
With their tanks and their bombs,
And their bombs and their guns.
In your head, in your head, they are crying...

It's been a long time since I heard a good song with powerful lyrics... At first the band The Cranberries' song "Zombie" (1994) seemed redundant, and she had the weird accent; but as a kid it made me realize what they were singing about, and I had not seen half as much as I have seen now: of life, living, the world, people and their inherent nature to violence, destruction and death.

I requested Ryan, that we learn a song that has female vocals so I could sing while we played. We picked "Zombie", it's beautiful, has an easy bass, and I love Dolores' vocals; A childhood favorite song. It was difficult to sing a long and play the bass at the same time. This is one thing I will have to practice.

This morning I re-listened to song, so I could learn the lyrics and sing along better. The song brought me to tears, as I paid attention to every aspect of the song - the bass, guitar, drums, the voice, the lyrics, the memories of the music video. An existential question arose - What are we doing to ourselves as human beings?

I've also been reading the Walking dead series, and I just finished book 5, where Rick and Abraham realize that this Zombie apocalypse has made them men that should not be normally accepted, however this is why they are able to survive. They have carried out atrocities for the sake of survival. However I realize we are not in a Zombie apocalypse yet, but are we truly that far away?

We repeatedly engage in war, for WHAT? It's not me, it's not my family... it's OKAY. They can die - they can fight, they can be killed. In your head, in your head...  you justify killing, war, murder, violence it is in your head. Only in your head, and you are actually a Zombie. Zombies are the only ones that mindlessly kill. In this case, humans too. After all we have been through (WW1, WW2 and everything in between, war is the answer... really?

Who won? Who really won?

The zombies did.

The war is over,
The people are dead,
The world is empty
and so is your head.


Will we as humans ever be able to accept peace? Will we ever give peace a shot? or is it hackneyed, is it too idealistic? is it too hippy for this gun toting money loving world? Should we come up with a more trendy/sexy word for peace?

Zombie - the video

The Cranberries

The one's that survive

Children using guns... it's not unknown to us...

My life and what I have witnessed: 1983 - Present


Israel vs. Palestine
Sri Lanka - Birth of the LTTE
Romania
Rwanda
Gulf war
Conflicts in Africa
Bosnia
Pakistan and India - Kargil

Terrorism in India
A Prime Minister assasinated
The Plague
Children killing children
Rape
Murder
Bombay riots
9/11
Anthrax Attacks
Oklahoma City bombing
Murder of George Tiller
America's war against terror - Iraq and Afghanistan
Tibet
Sudan
Somalian war... and many more


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lists_of_wars

The End

The war is over,
the people are dead.
The world is empty,
and so is my head.

- don't know who wrote this, but i heard my sister say it once, or maybe Mark Hartnett (my bro). I googled it and nothing came up. So I'm claiming it as my own. ;-)

The Men Who Stare at Goats

"A reporter, trying to lose himself in the romance of war after his marriage fails, gets more than he bargains for when he meets a special forces agent who reveals the existence of a secret, psychic military unit whose goal is to end war as we know it. The founder of the unit has gone missing and the trail leads to another psychic soldier who has distorted the mission to serve his own ends." - Rob Harris

This movie was bizarre yet intriguing. It made me think about how ridiculous this Hippie Cult in the army was. How could something so ridiculous be funded by the government? However in the end of the movie I realized to begin with the whole idea of any war is ridiculous. People like fighting, its primal instinct to fight and survive. However humans are conscientiousness beings, that separates us from the animals. Since we have the ability to rise above the "fighting to live attitude"... and we have such great intelligence then why can we not create a peace, rather than create guns and bombs? So although this movie was hilariously absurd in all aspects, it had a deeper message. I didn't get the whole movie until Hrishi pointed out there is a profound meaning in the movie. It's something to think about (for those who wish to ponder) even though it is a laughable comedy.