by Ferdi Serim
It used to mean emergency. Come to my aid. Now the alchemy of terror has transformed
these digits into a different kind of math, one that shows what the life of
one person, given by one on one side of the equation, can take from many thousands
on the other.
The force of the attack didn't bring down the buildings. It was the fires...the
explosive potential of jetfuel as a metaphor for political passion....the heat
of those fires melted the connections between the structural steel of the floors
and the skin that kept it up. We must now make sure that the fires of our passion,
our pain, our anger don't cause a meltdown of our society.
The terrorists' motivation is impossible to know. Perhaps they would smile,
thinking of the catastrophic collapse, a chain reaction of failures. Were they
informed by the professional knowledge of a structural engineer who could guide
the heavy planes to the point of maximum destruction (physical, emotional, spiritual)?
Did learning contribute? Certainly skill was needed. And organization. All virtues
we would hope to instill in our students...
Which reinforces why purpose must guide our efforts. This purpose can't be antiseptic
in it's dissociation from ethical considerations. Certainly the applications
of skills must be so guided.
But technology comes with no such built in guidance systems. There is no moral
GPS that lets us know where we are, no pre-printed map that is reliable for
all cities in all countries in all cultures. We have learned that any tool can
become a technology for destruction or connection...it is not the technology
but rather the intent that makes this decision. How will we use our power?
And people can be re-programmed. Anger can turn caring people into ruthless
killers, who don't care at all who suffers as they make their political points.
It can turn activists into killers. How will we use our power?
At this moment, we must turn activists into healers. All it takes is learning.
Learning about the difference between revenge and justice. Learning about the
differences between bigotry and religion. Learning about the differences between
how we live and what it takes for a sustainable world. Learning about the people
in this world, and how interdependent we all are upon one another. Please don't
confuse or limit my use of the word learning with schooling. What is needed
goes far beyond schooling. It means applying what we learn to improve real life.
In the moments and days immediately following the disaster, the true heroes
worked with their hands, placing themselves in harms way racing to find and
rescue the victims. Their courage inspired so many of us to respond in any ways
we could that chronic shortages in bloodbanks nationwide were eliminated in
a single day. In the days and months that follow, the heroes will be those who
work with the minds and hearts of those affected by these events. That includes
everyone. Our roles, as educators, as parents, as policy-makers, as leaders...all
must combine our limited personal powers into a massive force to bring the light
of learning to drive back the shadows of fear and hate, racing to rescue the
victims of ignorance and bigotry.
Those with responsibility for maintaining our security tell us "We are
going to change the rules of engagement, and change the way things have done,
now doing them as they've never done before." However, even those in the
military are thinking in a systems way, realizing that the underlying causes
of hatred and anger, pent up over generations, must finally be addressed, if
we are to truly arrive at a more secure world. Doing so requires us to reprogram
ourselves. Nothing in our history prepares us to execute such a role. This is
why learning is key...
With weapons of rope, fires of torches, and trees as technology, racists in the south systematically terrorized thousands of men and women in post Civil War times. Acts like these would have been considered war crimes, had a state of war existed...but neither an identifiable target, nor the will to bring such a target to justice existed then... only the wounded hearts of the perpetrators, passed generation to generation persisted. Many more thousands died in one day in NY than died in the years from post-reconstruction Southern USA until now. But there is practically no contemporary society or culture on the planet that has not indulged in such behavior, either on its own people or its neighbors. How will we use our power to transcend this legacy?
We can't understand how they could be driven to do this. None of us would ever
do such a thing. Very few are concerned with the forces that could lead someone
like us to become someone like them. We don't take a clue when we find that
suddenly we want to eradicate all those who have undergone that change. Perhaps
there is plenty of future in which to organize ourselves in new ways, ways that
minimize or reduce the forces that so deaden people to the consequences of their
actions that they can make themesleves follow such a path of behavior. But the
length of that future depends on our effectiveness in expanding the circles
of learning until they embrace the entire world.
As I was writing this, a friend emailed me these thoughts, which I share with
you on closing:
When I despair, I remember that all through history
the way of truth and love has always won.
There have been tyrants and murderers
and for a time they seem invincible but in the end,
they always fall --
think of it, ALWAYS.
*Mahatma Gandhi