the Aztecs had a very interesting way of ending wars; if somebody could put a fire arrow into the small hut that was the actual temple on top of the pyramid, and it caught fire, it was the usual practice for everybody to put their weapons down, and for the bargaining to start. In fact, one of their glyphs for the end of the war was exactly that; it showed a hut burning on top of the pyramid.
Since they had very formalized way of warfare, which did not depend so much on killing a lot of people, but rather on capturing people for use in sacrifice, they were not prepared for the Spanish, who killed a lot of people and destroyed a lot of things.
I mention all of this because our own temple was burned; I am referring of course to 9/11. Unfortunately, we didn't realize that the war was over and had been won by the other side. So we didn't stop and engage in diplomacy, as we should have. We didn't go to the root causes of the war and do anything about them, and so the war continues, and we continue losing, as do the people that we are killing in an absolutely unsuccessful attempt to win a war that has already been lost.
Osama bin Laden has achieved his goal; he has bankrupted us, just as the muhajadin bankrupted Russia in their failed war in Afghanistan. And this has proved once again the truths that we should have learned in Vietnam and did not.
We've had our faces shoved into it over and over and over again; and still we haven't learned. Our economy is in ruins, it seems that the only industries that are doing well are so-called "defense" industries, we have so many unemployed, we don't have money for healthcare, and still we haven't learned what's going on.
The war in Iraq is over, lost long ago. The war in Afghanistan was lost before it was started, the people that started it well enriched by it and now comfortably retired, KBR is doing great supplying our troops with substandard supplies, and here in the United States we're comfortable, tranquilized by our televisions and our consumer goods, even as the quality of those consumer goods goes down. Our infrastructure is a joke, our social network is a joke, our politicians are paid off by lobbyists, and we're tranquilized.
I hate to tell you, but it's not going to get better, not until people become much more active. That's what was great about the 60s; people went into the street and protested strongly enough that they were finally heard. But I'm really afraid that at this stage we are so tranquilized, so anesthesized that we don't have the will to really take the action that it can take to turn this around.
And yet, we still possess the greatest weapon against all those lies; and that is truth. the Hopi said it best; we are not allowed to resort to physical violence, we have to only use truth. At first, this might not seem like a strong enough weapon to stop this juggernaut, but with perseverance we will eventually prevail. The truth will prevail over the lies of the machine, but only if we truly mobilize, if we use our moral strength to stop this madness.
I am convinced that the people have both the intelligence and the strength to realize what is going on and to stop the madness. But first, we have to realize what is going on, we have to understand that killing really does no good, that we are not going to achieve our aims in that way, that we are only harming ourselves. Yes, I know; you all heard this before. And you're going to keep hearing it, because the truth does not change.
Have a nice Friday, and if you can, renew your commitment to peace.