Those who know me well, or at least well enough to know what’s been going on in my life, are probably amazed at the seemingly continuous barrage of crisis that comes my way.  I, too, am intrigued by this incredible play of karma in my life.  Does this crisis create stress, sure it does, but stress is a result of the inability to manage crisis, not a direct result of the crisis itself.

I was reminded of a quote by Anton Chekhov (Антон Чехов) the Russian playwrite and author of short stories.

“Any idiot can face a crisis – it’s day to day living that wears you out.”

How true is that?  I can tell you that the short-lived crisis come and go, and with each we become a little bit stronger and wiser. These moments of crisis are character builders we’re told.

That day to day living, the stuff we refer to as the drudgery, the chore, the mess, that stuff builds character as well.  It’s build a stability within our character that helps to support us in the times of crisis.  Remember the Karate Kid – wax-on, wax-off, paint-the-fence, scrub-the-floor – those chores gave him the tools for the crisis; and in the end he got the girl.  Cool points awarded:

The day to day stuff is what gets lost in the shuffle when we’re under crisis, but that’s the last thing that should happen.  We shouldn’t abandon our firm footing in favor of catching the wind.  I’m not just talking chores, either.  The same goes for the care and feeding of our “self” – or at least how we understand our self.  We should continue to work towards self-realization and improvement.  What that actually means is different for everyone.

Relationships too, require the day-to-day care.  Let it sit to take care of itself, it becomes dusty, rusty, and eventually fades.  Hard lessons learned.

I’ve studied living in the moment, I’ve talked the talk, but it’s time to walk the walk.  Living in the moment means not taking things for granted.  What’s here today may be gone tomorrow and with that comes an acknowledgment that one must be with the now or lose it.  Each moment passes quickly – in fact, the first sentence of this post is already well behind us.

I think back to those friends that I’ve lost – Elizabeth and John.  Both were here one day and gone the next – no warning.  Like a novel, I can turn the pages and re-read the previous chapter, but I know the ending and cannot change it.  I can, however, change the future; that’s in my grasp.

An old Buddhist saying:

“If you want to know who you were in your last lifetime, look at what you are doing in this lifetime. If you want to know what you will become in your future lifetime, look at what you are doing in this lifetime.”

This refers to the karmic effect across  lifetimes, but it also shows that there is a link to your past actions and where you are today, and what you get in the future is a result of what you’re doing now.  It also tells us we cannot change our current situation by focusing on the past.  And while, we can hope for a specific future, we cannot get there without working in the present.

Dreams (future) and regrets (past) buy us very little in this world.  Focus and resolve (present) is what matters and is what dreams are truly made of.

I’ve read with great interest the stories coming out of Fort Hood.  I can only assume others have read these as well.

Such events are devastating to so many; the individuals that lost their lives and their loved ones who will miss them dearly, those injured and survivors who will likely forever be haunted by the experience, and the family members of the suspected shooter, Major Nidal Malik Hasan, who will struggle to grasp the situation and may very well never understand or find true closure.

The media is ready to jump all over this story from every angle possible.  The obvious story is that the shooter was a Muslim.  Some journalists have opted for the “Heroes at Fort Hood” view on the events.  Some will focus on the victims, further humanizing the sadness of the event.

We can see already the anger against Muslims as a result of the suspect’s own religious affiliation.  This concerns me greatly.

I’ll come right out and state that I don’t doubt the danger of Muslim extremists.  But let’s be honest, are they true Muslims?  If an individual bombed an abortion clinic and said, “Jesus commanded me to do it,” would we claim that person to be a true member of the flock?  Not likely.  The act does not match the words and teachings of Jesus, so Christians can easily disavow themselves of any responsibility.  But Christians are eager to all jump up against the Muslim community for this man’s act.

Granted, we can show a pattern of malicious acts carried out by “Muslims.”  Ok, I’ll buy that.  But then can’t we do the same for Christians?  There were the Crusades, the Salem Witch Hunt, and even Slavery was supported by churches in the south.  I will concede on the last one that Christian abolitionists were key to the movement to abolish slavery.  But still, Christians have just as much of a history of violence under their banner as do Muslims.

And let me tell you, us Buddhists are not immune from this either.  Sri Lanka has had its share of violence at the hands of militan Buddhists (ok, that just doesn’t even sound right).  Muslims and Christians were forced from their homes in Sri Lanka by these “Buddhists.”

In the very heart of the matter is the individual.  As an individual we all seek the same thing – happiness.  The majority of us have absolutely no clue how to achieve it.  We try everything from buying that nice new Mercedes to spending a week long vacation in Maui on the credit card.  Some of us even commit crimes out of the need to satisfy what we believe will make us happy – sometimes what makes people happy is making others less happy.

We must always be vigilant when it comes to our judgments.  Are they based on reality or fear?

And on that note, what is reality?  Do we even know, or is it simply the illusion created by the reflections of the media, our past experiences, and the inability to see beyond our own faith.  All these elements (and more) feed into our fears and we can then justify the reality we’ve created.

Think about it.  We all know someone we just don’t like.  We think they are the worst person on the face of the planet.  But when you look closer, you see that individual has friends and people who think quite the opposite of what we believe.  Can we both be right?  Of course not, we’re both wrong.  The truth is always somewhere in between.  I am not the person you praise, nor am I the person you criticize.  Those are just your perceptions of who I am, and they are likely based on small bits of knowledge and not the whole picture.

Are we doing the same thing with Muslims?  Are they doing the same for Christians?  Of course, and that’s the problem.

According to reports on the Fort Hood tragedy, Major Hasan, experienced a lot of ridicule for being Muslim.  In fact, I would bet that most people that read the story of Fort Hood responded with, “Ah, but of course,” when his name was first revealed.  We’ve predetermined that Muslims are evil.  We no longer look to the individual, whether they’re standing in line next to us at the bank, at the airport, in our schools, or on the news.

I don’t want to give the impression that I feel this individual’s actions were justified.  By no means is such violence justified.  But if we are to put a stop to the violence, we must understand what feeds it.

This was man caught in the middle of a conflict, and I’m not just talking the conflict between Iraq and the U.S.  He was a Muslim in a military organization that was presently fighting against Muslims (ok, we’re really fighting the terrorists, but I can guarantee you that’s not the term being used in the military – they’re fighting the Muslims).  He was a psychiatrist who was supposed to be the calm and rational mind that could help those whose battle stress required such professional help – who did he have to turn to for his?

Perhaps our own fear creates the very nightmare we’re afraid of.