Tonight, my gut is wrenched and my mind races as I work to diminish my anger by attempting to make sense of a terrible thing. Earlier, I watched live on the news as domestic terrorism was enacted in my home state. A gunman killed 6, as well as himself, and injured 3 at a Sikh temple in Oak Creek, Wisconsin. Details of the gunman, the possible motives, nor the victims are yet being released. The FBI is involved. President Obama has issued a statement.
I have my assumptions about the gunman and his motives, and I’m trying to reserve them until we learn more. But it’s a challenge to keep my thoughts at bay.
So as I wait for more information, I’m left to think about me. And why it is that I want to dissect the gunman, and assume his agenda, and elaborate on what that says about our society, and point fingers at specific aspects & sectors of it that I think may have contributed to causing such illness in a person and pain to so many others. Why do I want to do all this? Because I want a solution. Or a recipe for a solution. I want to understand every single thing that ever happened to this man, every environmental factor, every thing that ever pushed him one centimeter closer to doing something like this. And I bet that in that list of things, I contributed in some way. I want to understand how I contributed so I can change that piece in me. I don’t want to simply blame the media for violence, or politicians for not funding mental health care adequately, or citizens for not voting intelligent politicians into office. Yes, it's tempting to stop there. But I want to look at all of these factors, and then examine my relationship with each of them. What am I doing to further the power of the media? What can I do to encourage better mental health care availability? What is my approach when I am dissatisfied with the politics of my community and country? In the past, I’ve felt angry about all of these issues, and many more. The types of action that my anger and frustration led to were things like public protesting, sharing taglines, photos and videos on the Internet, and debating with others. I put my anger out there in such forms. But I later realized that this isn’t the way to change (realization likely sparked by much pondering of politics in the past year-and-a-half of living and voting in the political sphere of Wisconsin).
As I’m trying to figure out what is indeed the way to create change, I’ve realized something. I recently once stopped to reflect on what and who inspires me to change. Is it protestors holding clever signs? Is it friends posting angry statements on their facebook walls? Is it those I’ve engaged in debates with? It turns out that none of this inspires me to change. It may entertain me, or fuel my passion and anger, or create a sense of solidarity with other like-mindeds, but it does little to inspire a change in my perspective or actions. It only has burrowed me deeper into my stagnant rut, really. And I realized that what does most-dramatically inspire me to change and open up to new perspectives, are people who first enact peace within themselves - the individuals who humbly live their peace and values, and reflect love and understanding onto others with grace. This summarizes the commonality I find in the heroic line-up of amazing individuals who’ve most inspired me in life. And this line-up is not composed of celebrities or historic figures. It’s made up of ordinary individuals who have touched my heart in this life. And this leads me to believe that we can all be this kind of ordinary, yet ispiring, individual for someone else. And if our society is composed of more people striving for peace, love and congruence within, we can impact people like today’s suspect more profoundly than we can by outwardly holding signs, arguing, or blaming politicians. And that is our impact. As a community, we all feel the pain of today’s tragedy. And as a community, we are called to work within ourselves toward eliminating the factors that aided this man in feeling like this is something he had to do.
I have my assumptions about the gunman and his motives, and I’m trying to reserve them until we learn more. But it’s a challenge to keep my thoughts at bay.
So as I wait for more information, I’m left to think about me. And why it is that I want to dissect the gunman, and assume his agenda, and elaborate on what that says about our society, and point fingers at specific aspects & sectors of it that I think may have contributed to causing such illness in a person and pain to so many others. Why do I want to do all this? Because I want a solution. Or a recipe for a solution. I want to understand every single thing that ever happened to this man, every environmental factor, every thing that ever pushed him one centimeter closer to doing something like this. And I bet that in that list of things, I contributed in some way. I want to understand how I contributed so I can change that piece in me. I don’t want to simply blame the media for violence, or politicians for not funding mental health care adequately, or citizens for not voting intelligent politicians into office. Yes, it's tempting to stop there. But I want to look at all of these factors, and then examine my relationship with each of them. What am I doing to further the power of the media? What can I do to encourage better mental health care availability? What is my approach when I am dissatisfied with the politics of my community and country? In the past, I’ve felt angry about all of these issues, and many more. The types of action that my anger and frustration led to were things like public protesting, sharing taglines, photos and videos on the Internet, and debating with others. I put my anger out there in such forms. But I later realized that this isn’t the way to change (realization likely sparked by much pondering of politics in the past year-and-a-half of living and voting in the political sphere of Wisconsin).
As I’m trying to figure out what is indeed the way to create change, I’ve realized something. I recently once stopped to reflect on what and who inspires me to change. Is it protestors holding clever signs? Is it friends posting angry statements on their facebook walls? Is it those I’ve engaged in debates with? It turns out that none of this inspires me to change. It may entertain me, or fuel my passion and anger, or create a sense of solidarity with other like-mindeds, but it does little to inspire a change in my perspective or actions. It only has burrowed me deeper into my stagnant rut, really. And I realized that what does most-dramatically inspire me to change and open up to new perspectives, are people who first enact peace within themselves - the individuals who humbly live their peace and values, and reflect love and understanding onto others with grace. This summarizes the commonality I find in the heroic line-up of amazing individuals who’ve most inspired me in life. And this line-up is not composed of celebrities or historic figures. It’s made up of ordinary individuals who have touched my heart in this life. And this leads me to believe that we can all be this kind of ordinary, yet ispiring, individual for someone else. And if our society is composed of more people striving for peace, love and congruence within, we can impact people like today’s suspect more profoundly than we can by outwardly holding signs, arguing, or blaming politicians. And that is our impact. As a community, we all feel the pain of today’s tragedy. And as a community, we are called to work within ourselves toward eliminating the factors that aided this man in feeling like this is something he had to do.
Peace and religious harmony come about through taking action, not necessarily through making prayers and good wishes. In order to carry action out, enthusiasm is very important, and enthusiasm comes from being clear about our goal and the possibility of our fulfilling it. Here, we need educate young people about our ultimate goal, peace in the world, and how to fulfill it by cultivating inner peace within themselves. - Dalai LamaI wondered today if the news of this incident would be spreading widely throughout India, as I plan to soon make it my home for a year, thanks to my “Ambassadorial” scholarship. As an ambassador of peace and goodwill, as my scholarship duties state (and personal beliefs concur), I did not anticipate discussing such a tragic and violent act, especially originating from my home state. It is customary for Ambassadorial Scholars to give presentations to clubs and groups while abroad and I'll be sharing cultural information focused on my state. I didn’t expect anyone in the audience to have ever heard of Wisconsin before. But after visiting the Times of India website today and seeing that this is the top story, I have a feeling that people will have heard of Wisconsin by the time I get there. And while I feel weary at the thought of representing Wisconsin in relation to today’s tragedy, I also can see how it is a greater opportunity, rather, to help people understand that what happened today does not represent Wisconsin. Today I was most touched when my family members and neighbors first and foremost expressed empathy as a response to today’s tragedy. My family members and neighbors are not Sikhs, and may have never heard of Sikhism before. But instead of expressing thoughts and feelings about our differences, they instead expressed sorrow, love and understanding for those affected. Everyone I spoke with about it today went immediately to a place of empathy. It was a resounding sense of “we.” It was a beautiful surprise. And that is what I get to represent to those I meet along my way.
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