How to stop the fighting

So last week, myself and some friends were thinking of taking a trip somewhere. But the problem was each of us has already seen different places, and the weather still isn't warm enough to fully enjoy places like Sardinia or Croatia. The only place we could think of that none of us had visited, which would still be fun at this time of year was Istanbul.

We started to do some research, look for possible travel dates and prices. It all seemed to be going quite well, until one of our Cypriot friends (there are a lot of Greeks and Cypriots in Leicester) was telling us about his absolute hate of Turkey and all things Turkish. What history tells us is that Turkey invaded the Northern half of Cyprus, forcing all of the inhabitants to relocate. There was a war, many people lost their lives, others became refugees in their own country - are we seeing any parallels to Palestine yet? Our friend's father had to leave his home, his city, and move to the south of Cyprus...all because of the Turks. There's still a lot of resentment because of that - and he made that quite clear when he said "Just remember, when you go to Turkey, you are essentially helping to fund the guns that kill Cypriots". Great.

Now I know he was exaggerating a bit to make a point. It's not like there's still a war going on between the Cypriots and Turks. But what he's trying to say is that by spending money in Turkey, we are helping to fuel their economy, and sustain their occupation of Cypriot land. I mean it's the same thing when we go to the US, right? We buy all the really cheap stuff and feel so good about the savings we made, but what is that achieving on a bigger scale? Well, it's helping to maintain their economy, their "war on terror" and the over 655,000 Iraqi civilian deaths. There's a lot of people who refuse to travel to the States for this very reason. Technically, you could find issues like this in every country. The fact that I am living in a country that has colonized the 3 countries that make up my heritage says something. But I guess what I'm wondering is, when you KNOW the consequences of your actions, does it become more of a responsibility to act accordingly? Whenever we get in trouble for doing something wrong, what's the first excuse we use? "I didn't know!" We see lack of awareness as a good defense for wrong-doings. In this case though, I can't use that defense. I guess technically it doesn't really matter anymore because plans fell through due to scheduling conflicts, but hypothetically speaking, what's the solution?

On a small-scale level, the best I can come up with is to make sure when I travel to these places, I make some kind of charitable donation to the other side worth the same amount as what I spent in the country. So if I were to go to Turkey, I'd try to find some NGO (non-government organization) that has peace-keeping efforts between Cyprus and Turkey and donate my time, money or other goods to them. Or just make sure I visit Cyprus in my lifetime as well and spend a good amount of coin there too! That way I haven't contributed anything more to one side versus the other.

On a large-scale level, I would say we need to start keeping the peace more. We all think these wars are about oil, money, power or religion. What I truly think it stems from more than any of those things is narrow-mindedness. The inability to accept belief-systems or values that are different from your own. Why do we always do that? We are so focused on trying to be unique, to stand out in a crowd, we see that as the mark of a successful person. But what is wrong with recognizing that we are all the same? We are all divine beings. My soul isn't any lighter than yours - it's all the same. And I understand that not everyone is a religious or spiritual person. My best friend is Agnostic and if we were any closer we'd be the same person. That's cool to have that perspective (see how easy it was to be open-minded?). But even on a scientific level, we can see how slight our DNA changes to result in different races, features, etc. I believe it's less than 7 % of genetic differences can be explained by belonging to one race or another. Whether you're comparing our divine source or our genetic source, you have to reach the conclusion that we are more similar than different. And I personally believe that it's dangerous territory to start aiming to be individual, separate from everyone else. Because that's where you develop these notions of superiority. I'm right, you're wrong, and that's it. That time you spent trying to separate yourself from the world could've been used to unite yourself with the world. We become so wrapped up in developing our individuality, that we are completely blind to our equality. We come into this world with nothing, and we leave this world with nothing. That is the ultimate truth.

And it's easy to look at bigger examples like imperialism and say "that's not right for one country to impose its values on another" but much harder to put into practice in the everyday. Try next time you're talking to someone not to judge them. Not to think that they've got it all wrong and you've got it all right. Making these tiny changes in the way we treat one another is what will have the greatest impact, collectively. And I'm not saying that we shouldn't strive for excellence in school (for example) because we're all the same and we should all follow the same pattern and just be average. That's dumb. Strive for excellence in everything you do - but don't do it so that you can be better or distinguish yourself from everyone else. Do it because you aspire for greatness, regardless of what everyone else is doing. And the best way to figure that out is to ask yourself: "if everyone was doing what I was doing, would I still be happy, would I still want to do it?". When you earn a certain salary every year, are you happy with what you make because it's more than what most make? Or are you happy because you feel like you deserved that much money for the effort you put in? It's a simple question, with a very profound answer.

Sure, we might speak different languages, or eat different foods or have different income levels, but these are all social constructions of man to make us feel separate from one another. We need to stop focusing on all these little things that appear to distinguish us from one another and start looking at the more important factors that unite us from within. There's a very popular Sanskrit greeting we hear and say all the time, and some of us use it without realizing it's true meaning. One of my favorite authors, Wayne Dyer, ends every book he writes, every lecture he gives, with this word. I feel like it's probably fitting to end this post with it, because of the topic, so:

Namaste. (I honor the place in you, where we are all one)