ARTICLES by Nina Roxanne Howard

Refusing to Be Enemies
May 17, 2009

Dear Brothers & Sisters in Humanity,
 
I received this email here in Shanghai this morning.  I could not sleep (jet lag) and so I meditated for a while and then made my way over to the computer to check my email.  I read your plea to boycott this stamp (v President Obama has directed the United States Postal Service to REMEMBER and HONOR the EID MUSLIM holiday season with a new commemorative 44-Cent First Class Holiday Postage Stamp.) I can certainly understand your desire and concerns to boycott any collective group who has done harm to our people.
 
First, let us look at what us Americans are doing to their people in the name of freedom.  Our war on terror on their soil is killing countless innocent men, women and children.  They could make an equally long list of the buildings of theirs we have bombed and countless loved ones that we have killed.  The Muslim people also have great pain and anger at us for good reason as well.  Anytime we are engaged in battle with a ‘people’, anger and hate is fueled even unto our children.  We teach them to hate as well.  I remember as a child how people hated the Japanese for WWII.  I was often mistaken for being Japanese and little children thwarted their hate ‘learned behavior from their parents’ on me at school.  And so it goes, the sins of the father are passed down many generations.   I invite you to consider a higher thought. 
 
I have a friend in a group called “REFUSING TO BE ENEMIES”, www.zeitounamovie.org/.  Refusing to be enemies provides people concrete ways to help make peace a reality through education and dialogue.  These women are Christians, Jews, Muslims and so forth who are wives, if you will, of men who are warring against each other.  They have come together to spread the message that they will not fuel the fire of separation and pain but will stand together, united with the understanding that we are all one big family of man, called humanity.  When we collectively stop fueling the fire, then consciousness will not support war. 
 
Women can play a vital role in promoting peace by refusing to be enemies.  I always ask myself what would Buddha, Jesus or Gandhi do if they were alive, in human form, today.  There you will find your answer.  Forgiveness will take us beyond war and into peace.  It starts in the heart of each human being and ripples through creation like a pebble that is dropped into a pond and travels out in concentric circles.
 
Each person, no matter who you are, contributes to the collective ‘soup’ of humanity’s consciousness.  Please stop a minute and ask yourself if being AGAINST any race will perpetuate or end a warring consciousness on this Planet. Go ahead and refuse to buy your stamp if you desire. However, please do not fuel the fire of hatred against any group of people. Women have more power than they know to stop these senseless killings by refusing to be enemies and stopping the perpetuating of separation. Those countries are made up of God’s people too and many innocent ones.
 
Thank you for reading this and I invite you to take a minute to imagine the feelings of joy when we are all united and the patriarchs of both countries no longer have the support of its’ people to kill.  We can all make a difference and change the course of history – YES YOU, with your thoughts!  Dare you pass this on?
 
Namaste,  (The God in me greets the God in You)
 
Have an inspiring day and make it a beautiful world,

Nina Roxanne Howard