Thank you Tom and Lisa! I see how my rejection and disdain for the practice of
war is actually its own kind of war and perpetuates exactly that which I am
condemning.
With humility I bow to this day,
Barbara
-------------- Original message --------------
From: "tmasthenes13" <tmasthenes13@xxxxxxxxx>
I received this today from Lisa Iverson in Bellingham, WA,and felt it
was a wonderful message for CT on Veterans Day. I asked her permission
to post it here and she is happy to have you all read it.
Tom Mellett
Van Nuys, CA
+++++++++++++++++++++++
Dear Friends,
Today is Veteran's Day.
"Veterans Day is the American name for the international day called
Armistice Day. It falls on November 11, the anniversary of the signing
of the armistice that ended World War One...The same day is observed
elsewhere as Remembrance Day or Armistice Day. All major hostilities
of World War 1 were formally ended at the 11th hour of the 11th day of
the 11th month of 1918 with the German signing of the Armistice."
(Source: Wikipedia.)
I came to a difficult realization in the last year - something I'd
known in my head, but had been unable to allow myself to feel in my
soul and body: we have engaged in war since our species began. For me
to point my finger at another - whether it is a person, a country, or
our President, and to say, "You are the one. You are the one who makes
war, not me," is to deny my humanity. This is how I contribute to war:
when I ask others to be responsible for making a place for it. It's
easy for me to claim a place for peace; it makes me feel like a "good"
person.
Bert Hellinger (who developed the family constellation approach) once
said: "The most harm comes from those who try to do good." What an
odd statement. And then I remembered: Christianity trying to "save"
Indigenous people, the wars in the name of God, the U.S. impulse to
bring democracy to other lands, families not acknowledging the truth
because it hurts.
As a woman - a granddaughter, daughter, sister, aunt, niece, wife,
mother - it's sometimes hard for me to feel what it must be like for
men. The grandsons, sons, husbands, brothers, uncles, nephews,
husbands, fathers - they have all killed more than women. I wonder if
it's easier for me, as a woman, to feel my connection to my feelings,
my body. I have not had to kill another human being, and babies can
grow inside of me; our daughter came out of my body.
So I make a home inside of my soul for men and how they may have
closed themselves off from their hearts, their connection to their
bodies, to cope with war.
I ask myself: what can I do to contribute to peace, for our children,
our descendants, the future ancestors? So today, in honor of veterans
of wars of all kinds, I continue to make a place inside of my soul for
war. I do my best to give it a good home, a good place, without
judgement, without moralizing....so that we may have peace.
Blessings,
Lisa Iversen
website: http://www.familyconstellationswest.com
e-mail: <lisa@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
