Beslan

[peteryoung]

I can't help but react when hearing about violence people do (though of course with varying degrees of disapproval, from "huh" to "OMG"), so I wonder about by own wish to explore all the angles of this particular tragedy. It seems almost voyeuristic because it is far away in an uheard-of town, and because of the uncompromising cruelty of the hostage takers' actions and their belief that the Russian authorities would not dare stoop as low as themselves; I therefore find it to be another depressingly low point in recent history. So up against all the righteous '20/20 hindsight' commentary on the misguided tactic of fighting fire with fire I wish everyone could undercut all that bullshit and go back to the kind of principle once expressed by Joan Baez: "The point of non-violence is to build a floor, a strong new floor, beneath which we can no longer sink. A platform which stands a few feet above napalm, torture, exploitation, poison gas, A and H bombs, the works. Give man a decent place to stand."

But what happened in Beslan need not be just another atrocity that keeps "us" as far away as ever from that 'decent place to stand'. It would probably be easier for me to just point the finger at "them" and the evil "they" do without looking at my own personal relationship with violence, a relationship we all have if we care to look at it, define it and examine it. I try to keep it out of my life in as many of its forms as I can as much as possible, though like most people there's always room for improvement. Something that helps me meditate on this is Bruce Cockburn's 'You Get Bigger As You Go', so excuse me while I go listen to it now.
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Bruce Cockburn, 'You Get Bigger As You Go', Humans 1980
So I find out what the luxury of hate is
As exciting maybe as doing the dishes
Face toward window – light received

You walk away to see a film
See some people see a man
Stab in throat twist in gut all too clear
Not too new – all been done before
Planet breathes exhaustion
And staggers on
Enemy anger, impotent gun grease
Too many thoughts
Too dogshit tired
One small step for freedom
From foregone conclusion

You get bigger as you go
No one told me I just know
Bales of memory like boats in tow
You get bigger as you go

You get bigger as you go
Spent all day afraid to talk
Redneck children laugh out loud
I being target live and walk

You get bigger as you go
Telephone snarls "don't touch me"
You move in waves like the midnight blues
You vector of this weird dis-ease

You get bigger as you go
News re-runs – dawn comes rainbow
Pain takes shape of grimy window
You get bigger as you go