The tragedy of the destruction of the WTC has been felt around the world. The impact of this deed not only robbed the good and the bad people of the world but it brought tears to the Creator.
If some profound mind-heart-altering maxim that would change hate into love, I would gladly utter it. There is nothing I can say, but what is already in the Book of Philippians 4:6, 7, “Do not be anxious over anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication along with thanksgiving let your petitions be made known to God (the Creator); and the peace of God that excels all thought will guard your hearts and your mental powers by means of Christ Jesus.”
My reaction is the same as others: disbelief! All of us, though, can look to and bank on what the Bible tells us of the future. The hope of the resurrection as outlined in the Book of John 5:28, 29. My thinking is that the Creator will take care of all the violence and wickedness we see today, and he will give us enough time to choose the good or the bad. I see a world in peace and unity, love and joy – a world of the Creator’s making. Hope on the creator’s promises for he cannot lie!
– Maria L. Conway, Kula
Na Kupuna O Lahaina would like to take this opportunity to express our aloha for those who have been directly hurt by the events on the East coast. We hope that their pain and sorrow will be made easier by knowing that we send our aloha to them.
We would like to tell the world that although we are a race of people whose culture and religion have suffered from the misunderstanding of outhers, that violence is not the way to settle anything. All of this has come from miunderstanding, hatred and disrespect. Unless the world learns to live the concept of aloha and lokahi we will have conflict.
We aks that you look at the example of our Queen Liliuokalani. To avoid bloodshed, she trusted in a higher power. She kenw that the time would come when all would be made right. We ask that you put this problem in the hands of Ke Akua, the higher power in this situation.
The sooner each of us learn as individuals to live in respect for all people and this earth, the sooner we will have peace.
As individuals, we have different opinions of what caused this. As a group we understand there is only one way to solve it and that is to live aloha every day, all day.
We ask Ke Akua daily, all day long, to please bless the leaders that they will make the right choices.
America’s Heart Under Attack
© A.I.M. Written by Paul Schraps
Words cannot describe the loss of life, pain, suffering and terror,
as we watched the World Trade Centers towers devoured.
The Pentagon, Americas root of National Security,
sent into shock in the tick of a clock.
Americas great heart symbols of power and wealth
were quickly devastated as if by a stealth.
Thousands of innocent people buried in the rubble,
what could we have possibly done to deserve all this tragedy and trouble?
No sane person would crash a plane with himself and others,
into a building full of life, sisters and brothers.
What cowardly fanatics will take credit for this monstrosity?
When suicide and mass murder
contradict all world religions and philosophies.
This attack can only be the work of the living devil and insanity,
it could not have been done by any one loving humanity.
We the people and children of God,
from all countries and faiths, all colors and race
need to hold hands and pray so that God sends his grace.
Maybe he will send his living angels to assist in our relief,
if he sees we are all united in our grief.
Now is the time, more than ever before,
for us all to stand together and end this war.
We must do what ever it takes,
even if it involves disturbing some shakes.
The time has come for anyone supporting terrorism
to take a good look at what they have created.
I hope when they meet their maker,
they will be duly elated.
The creation of suffering and fear,
needs to end right now and here.
First Pearl Harbor and now this,
we are supposed to learn from our mistakes.
What is it going to take for us to learn?
Hopefully not for all the world to burn.
We need to keep satan buried deep in man’s mind,
and bring light and wisdom to the surface for all to find.
United with the fabric of international democracy and universal faith
Held together by the common thread,
of tragedy, grief and the feeling of loss for the suffering and dead.
We the people, are children of God,
all of us brothers and sisters, regardless of our race.
We are protectors of the earth,
peace and love of life, oneness is our common face
We now have a common goal,
to find the truth and dispel the darkness throughout the land,
working together and supporting all efforts
to stop terror and giving God a hand.
Usama Bin Ladin, Saddam Hussein,
all that consider terror their game,
they may be different but they are the same.
They represent delusion separation and illusion, terror and shame,
they are a disgrace to humanity, and a threat to democracy,
for this they are to blame.
They follow a hollow god
and yield a treacherous rod.
They talk a shallow veracity
and walk a narrow atrocity.
In attempting to destroy the cornerstones
of our security and democracy,
they have truly failed,
they have only made us stronger,
Hiding from the free world,
they themselves have become jailed,
they will soon be brought to justice.
Forever in a prison of world hatred and aversion,
they lay buried in the suffering they have created,
and there they must wait as their karma will decide,
they can run from the truth but they cannot hide.
The speed of light will catch the fastest runner
and find the darkest shadow,
we shall see the light prevail
and the evil must spend its life in jail.
When, by the grace of god the evil is overcome,
we shall forever live in peace and finally live as one.
Bomb Them With Butter
by Kent Madin – via internet
Bomb them with butter, bribe them with hope.
A military response, particularly an attack on Afghanistan, is exactly what the terrorists want. It will strengthen and swell their small but fanatical ranks.
Instead, bomb Afghanistan with butter, with rice, bread, clothing and medicine. It will cost less than conventional arms, poses no threat of U.S. casualties and just might get the populace thinking that maybe the Taliban don’t have the answers. After three years of drought and with starvation looming, let’s offer the Afghani people the vision of a new future. One that includes full stomachs.
Bomb them with information. Video players and cassettes of world leaders, particularly Islamic leaders, condemning terrorism. Carpet the country with magazines and newspapers showing the horror of terrorism committed by their “guest”. Blitz them with laptop computers and DVD players filled with a perspective that is denied them by their government. Saturation bombing with hope will mean that some of it gets through. Send so much that the Taliban can’t collect and hide it all.
The Taliban are telling their people to prepare for Jihad. Instead, let’s give the Afghani people their first good meal in years. Seeing your family fully fed and the prospect of stability in terms of food and a future is a powerful deterrent to martyrdom. All we ask in return is that they, as a people, agree to enter the civilized world. That includes handing over terrorists in their midst.
In responding to terrorism we need to do something different. Something unexpected… something that addresses the root of the problem. We need to take away the well of despair, ignorance and brutality from which the Osama bin Laden’s of the world water their gardens of terror.
America has been blessed to have been spared the devastation of prolonged war on its home lands since its own Civil War over a century ago. America has been blessed to have been spared the terror of prolonged attack by an enemy force since the war of 1812. Americans weathered the shock of an attack on Pearl Harbor fifty years ago and their reaction was both heroic (in bolstering Allied efforts to crush the dictatorships of the Axis powers) and over reactive (incarcerating Japanese Americans in camps and confiscating their property, simply because of their race.)
America has sent armies to attack Native American homelands, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and other places with no formal declaration of war. America regularly bombs Iraq with little media scrutiny of its actions or their impacts. American arms manufacturers have pressured the US government not to sign onto a worldwide land mine ban. American arms manufacturers have supplied Saddam Hussein, the Afghani Taliban and terrorist groups throughout Africa, Asia and South America at a healthy profit.
Innocent American citizens do not deserve to be attacked and die horrible deaths. Government workers and those serving in the peacetime armed forces do not deserve to be murdered at their posts. But during this time of reflection, it is important that we acknowledge that our nation and it’s corporations have also contributed to innocent people being terrorized and murdered throughout the world in great numbers. It is time to seek solutions to end terrorist actions worldwide, not by merely building a fortress around our nation, but by addressing the proliferation of destructive weapons, the desperate economic conditions of many people and the lack of respect for diverse races and religions. I pray that Christ, the Prince of Peace, will have His message of forgiveness heard by his followers here on Earth and we will all work together for justice and peace, not revenge.
Lucienne de Naie, Huelo
“What more must the world endure before there is universal disarmament and peace…”
– Emiko,
Kahului
Michael – age 13
“I think that was crazy! When the plane became a big fire ball in less than ten seconds. I feel sorry for those who died.”
William – age 12
“I think they are making a huge deal over it, thousands of people die every day. It probably wasn’t even an Arab driving the plane, it could have been anybody. I feel sorry for the people lost but just get over it. Even if it was an Arab he died too, so I guess whoever did it already got punished.”
Jason – age 13
“I think that was nuts! I want to kill all of those crazy foreign people. And that was nuts when the building collapsed. All those firemen died. I hate those crazy people.”
Reactions from youth at the Pa`ia Youth & Cultural Center
Well, I’m okay. I’ve been thinking about what I would say in the article about how this event has effected me on Maui. Well, I’m speechless. I was hanging my laundry out on the line in deep thought about “how it has effected my personal life” and I just became so grateful for the opportunity to be able to just have laundry to hang and a safe place to hang it. I became overwhelmed with gratitude for my life on Maui, I began to cry. The simple things like having the opportunity to freely hang out my clothes to dry by the light of the sun seem to fill me with joy.
I talked with my brother who is trapped in N.Y. until Friday. He saw it all happen. He can’t sleep, eat, or comprehend all the devastation he has been exposed to working for WABC. He and all the media have been working around the clock much of the time. Keeping busy to emotionally survive the trauma. So, in light of my conversation with him, I’m still speechless.
I am becoming anxious and feeling the need to work. I want to do what God has planned for me. I just wish I knew what “that” is? Rescue Remedy is my friend and the bottle is almost empty. I’ve been feeling very heavy in process. My body is feeling heavy too.
Anyway, I’m doing as well as can be expected under the current circumstances.
– LouAnn, Kihei
~ September 11, 2001 ~ This is a day we are still living,
minute-by-minute, and trying to make sense of…My heart hurts…My mind
screams…My soul turns to Source for comfort…My prayers go out to all
the injured and those suffering loss…those who have crossed over…those
who dwell in darkness and have perpetrated these unspeakable crimes…My
memories travel back to my college professor who said that the study of
English literature was the study of man’s inhumanity to man…As an
eternal optimist, I dismissed that summary, and yet on a day like today
it makes me wonder…What on earth is happening to the family of
humankind? God help us all to live our lives so that, as Mark Twain once
said, ‘when we die even the undertaker will be sad’.
– Rev. Kolleen Wheeler, Waikapu
“Although our leaders are under tremendous pressure to act in the aftermath of the terrible events of Sept. 11th, it’s important to let them know that we support justice, not escalating violence, which would only play into the terrorists’ hands. I hope you’ll join me in signing an online statement of support for “Justice, not Terror” at: <http://www.moveon.org/justice>
Thank you. Your participation could really make a difference—it’s vital that we all speak up now, before it’s too late.
Lou Diliberto
“The reaction from Maui I’ve seen is a tremendous sadness and a general desire to put forth healing energy. But I have been truly amazed at the people who are reacting in a volatile manner; people who I never would have imagined to be angry and ready to take up weapons. Basically, everything needs to be tempered with love and understanding for ourselves as one nation on this planet. We are one people on this planet and it’s up to us to understand and to make that happen with the modern consciousness that we have.
Don Lopez
In the midst of madness,
Our love flows
Serene.
Like a river
Of peace
And compassion,
Taking us home
To the sea.
All of these tears
Are falling
Like rain.
For the lost ones
And for those
Who don’t know
How to handle
The pain.
Waves of tenderness,
Fountains of light,
Reach across the ocean,
Filling up the night.
There isn’t any answer
For human despair-
But our souls
Know the truth
In the power of prayer.
Like a mother who sings
Songs of comfort
To her child,
We can hold
Each other gently
And remember
The music that lives
Inside.
Waves of tenderness,
Fountains of light,
Reach across the ocean,
Filling up the night,
We pray for the planet
With open-hearted hands-
And the healing will begin
In all the lands
Of our wounded
Humanity
Don V. Lax
9/11/01
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