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Peace on Earth, Goodwill Toward Men (Published December 1995 in The Taekwondo Reporter) This is the time of year when so many people celebrate the fellowship of man. It’s a time for holiday parties, goodwill and joyous celebration. People, who don’t communicate on a regular basis, will send greetings to each other with a wish for a happy holiday season and a great new year. Annual letters go out to distant friends and relatives in an effort to keep them abreast of the changes that have come to pass. We send each other pictures of the family, the new baby or the dog in a Santa Claus hat, along with a prayer that all is well with their family, and a seasonal wish for world peace. In the Old Testament of the Bible, in the Book of Isaiah, it was said, “They shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning-hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.” Now, thousands of years later, many still hold the same hope. In the November issue of the Tae Kwon Do Reporter we had a dispatch from a group of American veterans of the Korean War, who took part in a ”revisit to Korea” program. Part of their itinerary consisted of a trip to the DMZ, where peace talks are currently under way between North and South Korea. In another part of the world, an area that is known as “The Holy Land”, the prospect for a peace that has never existed, has also been renewed. The Middle East has been the site of conflict since before recorded history. Recently, though, leaders there seem poised to establish a lasting peace. But on Saturday November 4, 1995, another one of them was assassinated. Prime minister of Israel Yitzhak Rabin was murdered by an extremist who represented the too common philosophy of never give an inch! In the aftermath of the event a young Israeli woman sat down and composed an expression of her feelings: she sent out a cry that was truly, heard ‘round the world. We are in what has been dubbed the “Information Age”. Through electronic media, computers and geo-stationary satellites, the transfer of information has become instantaneous. The future, though, doesn’t have to be a bleak, cold, Orwellian world. With our electronic inter-dependence we can be drawn into what Marshall McLuhan called a “Global Village”. As Yael has shown us, we can also share feelings – and love. Yael tells us that the peace process will continue, and we have hope; for it is as Walter Lippmann said on the death of Franklin Roosevelt, “The final test of a leader is that he leaves behind him [or her] in other men [and women] the conviction and the will to carry on.” As it was passed to me, I pass it on to you; and, as you look through the list of names and e-mail addresses, keep in mind that the ones exhibited here are but a fraction of those who’ve received the message. It went out like the veins of a leaf, and what you hold is but one offshoot of the transmission. As for the question, “Why?” it’s as Bob Dylan said, “The answer, my friend, is blowing in the wind. The answer is blowing in the wind.” {E-mail addresses and forwards have been deleted) -----------------------Forwarded Mail Begins Here------------------------------------- This letter has nothing to do with magic or elves. It is only a story I want to tell to all of you brothers and sisters of my soul. A story of great grief I have to share, and I invite you to be the ones who share it with me. To make things clear, I first want to say that the “il” in my [e-mail] address stands for Israel. And, just to be sure you know (though, I know that it was broadcast all over the world earlier this evening), our prime minister Yitzhak Rabin, was murdered this evening by a right-winged extremist, after he spoke at a huge demonstration in support of the peace process. I want to tell this story. In the afternoon we went to the demonstration. It was a happy event – not against anything, not to protest or fight, but to show support in our government for its efforts in building a new era of peace in this wars-torn land. I don’t know how many of you have been in such an event. The sense of power is awesome – and it was huge. I estimate that there were about a hundred and fifty to two hundred thousand people there. We were filled with a wonderful feeling of joy, of hope, seeing so many others around us, great music, balloons, dancing, meeting friends – a festival. When the prime minister entered the stage, he was greeted by the thunder of clapping hands. Not only because it was such a joyous event, but also to show this man, a man who was cursed and spit upon, and called “traitor” by his adversaries time and again during the last few months; a man who is blamed by them for every terrorist attack (because he dares to negotiate with the enemy), to show him that people do believe in him and admire what he does. I went home after he spoke, trying to avoid traffic, thinking the action was over – little did I know. About an hour after I got home, we heard the news – Rabin was shot! The first thing that rushed through my mind (after “shit!”), was Kennedy. I am sorry to borrow on your myth, Americans, but this is all I could think of; and then of, God, please let it end differently – but it didn’t. I decided to send a letter to the Elvin Nation, asking you to use any healing powers that you might have to help him – but it was too late. He died on the operating table an hour later. After a few phone calls, we went back to the square, where the demonstration had been held. People started to gather – not as many as before, but they kept coming. They wore black, and bore candles and torches, engulfed in smoke. We just sat there and watched the white candles drip tears, and the red torches drip blood. Crying, hugging, singing softly (you wouldn’t believe how many songs of war and peace we have) – shocked to our bones. It was warm at the demonstration but, by two in the morning, it began to get cold. Every death is a tragedy, and Rabin was not an easy man. He was a hard man and a soldier to the bone. It made him unpopular with both sides; pro and con of the peace process. He was called “traitor” by both sides (which only proves how well-fit he was for the job). But he led this peace process stubbornly with full fait at heart. Being a soldier, he was hated by many of the Arabs, but he also knew how much we needed peace. He has brought us to a point that some of us see as a miracle in being (My father, who fought in wars with our neighbors, goes soon as a tourist to Jordan. You have no idea how deeply this moves him) and for this I loved and admired him [Rabin], even though I didn’t like many of the things that he did in his life. The peace process will go on. It cannot be stopped, not by one murder. But this act will definitely intensify the atmosphere of hatred that divides my country. It is an act of violence that will lead to others. It scares the hell out of me. This is all. Tomorrow will probably be a day of national mourning. Now all I have to do is take a shower (after sitting in the middle of that smoke) and go to bed. But I keep seeing one picture. In the middle of the square someone used soul candles (ones that are usually placed on graves) to form one huge word; the word “WHY?” Yael “And forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet, and the winds long to play with your hair.” -- Kahlil Gibran --- End of Message --- Through e-mail and telephone I found out more about the author of this dispatch, and its travels. Rather than describe the details, I’ve chosen to include these two additional letters. From Ryan.Miller To: editormk@tenerten.com Mike, First, here’s my snail-mail address [to receive a copy of the paper]. Secondly, the Washington Post is doing an article on Yael’s letter. I will keep you posted as to the details. I gave the reporter your e-mail address, and will give you his, in case you want to share information. His name is John Schwartz. Now, for all the facts/trivia that I have/know about Yael’s letter/e-mail: the author’s name is Yael Achmon. From what she has told me, she is twenty-four years old, has a degree in philosophy, and teaches at a university in Israel. I know for a fact that her letter has gone to Canada, Ireland, England, France, Germany, Israel, Australia, Japan, Ecuador, Brazil and Costa Rica. I am rather certain, but not absolutely sure, that it has gone to all fifty states. It was posted on a newsgroup on the Internet, whose members include approximately eight hundred people around the world. Yael’s letter has gone to Oxford, Harvard (literally hundreds of people at Harvard have received it), Yale, Princeton, Columbia, Brown, Reed, Berkeley, Stanford, UCLA, U of Michigan, U of Texas, Texas A&M, Bradley, Oberlin, U of Penn, Amherst, Wellesley, the Air Force Academy, Carnegie Mellon, University of Passau (Germany) and probably just about any other significant university and college in the U.S. I received it from Ashley Wilson, who is a creative writing major at Carnegie Mellon University. She received it from Lauren Key, who was among the fourth generation of recipients, and so I was among the sixth generation of recipients. I received a message on my answering machine from someone in New Jersey, thanking me for the message, and a message from a man in Portland, who wanted to know the author’s e-mail address. A newspaper in Kansas City published the letter. Two colleges that I know of have published the letter in their school newspapers, and, as you know, the Washington Post is working on an article about Yael’s letter. At the peak of the e-mail excitement, I was receiving as many as fifty-plus e-mails in a day; my record was twenty-nine in twelve hours. Almost three weeks after the assassination occurred, I still receive several e-mails daily from strangers around the world; thanking me for it and/or wanting to know the author’s e-mail address. Well, that’s all for now. I will forward to you, all the links I have. There should be about ten of them. I will also forward to you, a copy of John Schwartz’s e-mail from the Washington Post. Thanks so much for taking the time to do all of this.
Take care, And from Yael:
To: Michael Kerrigan <editormk@tenerten.com> Dear Michael, I would love to have my letter published in your paper. I think it is wonderful that you include materials like this in a TKD paper. (BTW, I know of TKD. I have a few friends who study it.) I don’t have a picture available, or a way to scan it, so I think you will have to do without it. As for more details – well, I am a philosophy student at Tel Aviv University, working on my second degree, and I also teach logic at the university. As for the letter; it wasn’t meant to be a chain letter, at all; just something I wanted to share with a small mailing list to which I subscribe. Suddenly, it’s around the world; I got letters from the U.S., Australia, [various parts of] Europe, Japan and more. It was a shock, but a wonderful one. It really gives me hope that people care about things that don’t affect them directly, and that “peace” and “love” still have meaning. It would be wonderful, if you could send me a copy of your paper, and I will also check out your web site. Thank you for caring, Yael 2003 note: this all happened in 1995 when, with but 30 million subscribers, the Internet was in its seedling years. As of September 2002, a scant seven years later, the Internet connected 20 times as many subscribers – 605.6 million, and climbing. 2008 note: Five years later, as of November 2007, the World Wide Web now has nearly 1.3 billion subscribers Copyright © December 1995 Michael D. Kerrigan |
