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Origami swans are no match for cold, harsh reality
by Matt Lawrence
Op-Ed | 9/23/08
Posted online at 12:28 AM EST on 9/23/08
Last Sunday, evidently, was the International Day of Peace. To celebrate, the Brandeis Buddhism Club made paper cranes. This seems to me a perfect metaphor for the uselessness of an International Day of Peace.
The event was brought to campus by the Student Peace Alliance and cosponsored by the Buddhists. These two groups have a few things in common. First, both generally seem to get a disproportionate amount of support or interest from well-meaning liberals for no good reason.
Buddhism advocates withdrawal from this world to attain the highest state of being. Similarly, the Student Peace Alliance seems to advocate abandoning reality to solve the problems of this world. The event flyers talk about ending conflict, which calls to mind some nirvana or the oblivion of the human condition.
This brings me to the proposed cabinet-level Department of Peace that the Student Peace Alliance is always advocating. One problem with this theoretical department is what would happen under a Bush or McCain regime.
This is one of the more obvious problems, but also one of the more devastating. I see no reason why a hawkish president would pay any attention to this office, unless he wished to use it as a propaganda mouthpiece. It's another simple point, but these activists could have tried a little harder to come up with something less Orwellian.
The scope of this proposed department is similarly ridiculous. Its promoters wish to solve many of this country's problems. They wish for the department to (and I quote from a piece of legislature introduced into the House of Representatives) "develop policies that address domestic violence, including spousal abuse, child abuse, and mistreatment of the elderly"; "develop policies to address violence against animals"; and "provide ethical-based and value-based analyses to the Department of Defense." One might as well have handed Donald Rumsfeld a paper crane! What would anybody have expected the secretary of defense to have done with that kind of jargon?
The event was brought to campus by the Student Peace Alliance and cosponsored by the Buddhists. These two groups have a few things in common. First, both generally seem to get a disproportionate amount of support or interest from well-meaning liberals for no good reason.
Buddhism advocates withdrawal from this world to attain the highest state of being. Similarly, the Student Peace Alliance seems to advocate abandoning reality to solve the problems of this world. The event flyers talk about ending conflict, which calls to mind some nirvana or the oblivion of the human condition.
This brings me to the proposed cabinet-level Department of Peace that the Student Peace Alliance is always advocating. One problem with this theoretical department is what would happen under a Bush or McCain regime.
This is one of the more obvious problems, but also one of the more devastating. I see no reason why a hawkish president would pay any attention to this office, unless he wished to use it as a propaganda mouthpiece. It's another simple point, but these activists could have tried a little harder to come up with something less Orwellian.
The scope of this proposed department is similarly ridiculous. Its promoters wish to solve many of this country's problems. They wish for the department to (and I quote from a piece of legislature introduced into the House of Representatives) "develop policies that address domestic violence, including spousal abuse, child abuse, and mistreatment of the elderly"; "develop policies to address violence against animals"; and "provide ethical-based and value-based analyses to the Department of Defense." One might as well have handed Donald Rumsfeld a paper crane! What would anybody have expected the secretary of defense to have done with that kind of jargon?
Viewing Comments 1 - 4 of 6
David Hazen
posted 9/23/08 @ 11:51 AM EST
Most people will tell you, as this writer does, that the beloved community that King and Gandhi envisioned is really where they would prefer to live, and they are in despair about our culture ever providing that for them. (Continued…)
Judy Dunn
posted 9/28/08 @ 11:09 AM EST
If everyone was stopped by the apparent futility of their actions from moving forward, many changes in the world never would have happened. So, while it may appear to the author of this editorial that folding origami cranes does nothing to help the world change, perhaps he ought to begin by reading up on how a small girl in Japan was instrumental in causing the cranes to become a worldwide symbol of peace. (Continued…)
E
posted 10/03/08 @ 12:51 PM EST
Wow, good job being a Debbie Downer...how are you helping the world or encouraging peace? Certainly not by being a pessimistic conservative...
Phoebe
posted 10/08/08 @ 2:56 AM EST
It seems that the author of this article is trying to use Buddhism as an example of his point. I do feel inclined to point out, though, that the main principle of Buddhism lies in the awareness of reality. (Continued…)
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