Amo Ergo Sum
Must one forgive and be forgiven to love?
by Oxz (Richard Martin Oxman)
“I think therefore I am.” — Descartes

“It is not an act of love for celebrities at the Golden Globe Awards to plead for (earthquake-related) contributions to Haiti. It is appreciated and laudable, but it is not an act of love. Rather, it is an act of indifference and ignorance. Meaning, LOVE would address the $2 a day earned in Haitian sweatshops 365 days a year ad infinitum, not be limited to melodramatic, self-serving gestures embodied in misguided ‘Red Cross’ efforts straight out of Central Casting.” — A struggling actor, unloved by the Entertainment industry

I love therefore I am. I am not here to be a part of Hate, nor to ignore it. [Pause.] This life will be over soon. Let’s hear it for love and non-violent institutional change.

Richard Brinsley Sheridan, whose namesake I am, wrote of great love right around the time of the American Revolution. He would have agreed with Howard Zinn that a Just Cause does not make a Just War, but he did very much support the move for independence… couched in compassion for displaced and dead indigenous people. His letters provide the I love therefore I am twist on Descartes.

The Playing for Change people who produced a singular take of Bob Marley’s One Love won’t talk with me, even though I’ve repeatedly requested an opportunity to discuss how we can realize the spirit of what’s so dear to them — what they love, what they seek — on a basis that will be comfortable for them.

What’s going on?

Perhaps it has something to do with me speaking about George W. Obama. [Pause.] But how does one expect the world to transform in a loving way… under that kind of leadership? Under I win elections therefore I am. Or under I have power therefore I am. Or under I am admired therefore I am. Or under I’ll kill you before you kill me, therefore I am. And so on.

I hate is very different from I love therefore I am. Supporting hate in any way is very different than I love therefore I am. And, certainly, incarcerating, torturing, immiserating and killing is very different from I love therefore I am.

There is too much analysis going on in lieu of…. Too much ego-centered emotion. Too many awards being given out and accepted midst the horror of unnecessary holocausts.

Imagine what we can do together:

“love is the whole and more than all”

Contact Richard at tosca.2010[at]yahoo.com
http://www.counterpunch.org/quigley01182010.html
http://www.zmag.org/znet/viewArticle/23651
http://www.counterpunch.org/valdes01182010.html
http://dissidentvoice.org/2010/01/the-right-testicle-of-hell-history-o f-a-haitian-holocaust/
Additional articles posted on both Counterpunch and ZNet for 1/19/10 should help too… along with Seumas Milne’s Guardian piece at http://www.zmag.org/znet/viewArticle/23700