by Ray Jason
She walks alone and unnoticed down one of America’s
scenic but barely-traveled highways.
Like any true pilgrim, she is penniless and her only possessions are the
clothes on her back. But she also
carries precious cargo with her – the message of Peace. For 28 years she quietly delivered her little
peace talks wherever people were willing to listen. She was The Peace Pilgrim.
He arrives in a motorcade led by a
phalanx of motorcycle cops and surrounded by his massive security force. Overhead, helicopters record his every move
and gesture. Each stop during his visit
is meticulously scripted by his handlers – including the incidents that
initially seemed spontaneous. He is
accompanied by an entourage of 170 people.
He is The Pope.
Now you tell me which one of these people is HOLY! Which one most faithfully represents the spirit of Jesus?
*******
On Jan 1, 1953 a middle aged woman
embraced a New Year’s resolution that most people could never even imagine. She resolved to become a wanderer and to remain
a wanderer until mankind learned the Way of Peace. Every day she would walk until she was given
shelter. And she would fast until she
was given food. She never asked for
these necessities, but graciously accepted them when offered. Many times she received neither, which meant
she would sleep somewhere near the highway.
She had no backpack or sleeping bag, so if it was too cold, she would
walk through the entire night to keep herself warm.
She wore a blue outfit because it was the color of peace. On the front of her tunic in small letters
were the words “Peace Pilgrim” and on the back it said “25,000 miles on foot
for Peace.” On that momentous New Year’s
Day – or more accurately - New Life Day - she also surrendered her name and her
history. She never discussed her past
and wouldn’t divulge her birth name. She
wisely recognized that her mission was to foster peace in the present. She walked across the USA so many times that
she quit keeping count. The estimates
run from 7 to 20. Along the way she
would give her talks at churches, universities, coffee houses – basically
anywhere that people would open their ears and their hearts to her message.
And the wisdom that she acquired as she moved slowly
and allowed herself time for contemplation, was not limited to war and
peace. Here is a good example of her
insightful clarity:
“After a
wonderful sojourn in the wilderness, I remember walking along the streets of a
city which had been my home for awhile… On both sides of us as we walked were
displayed the things we can buy if we are willing to stay in the orderly lines
day after day, year after year. Some of the things are more or less useful,
many are utter trash. Some have a claim to beauty, many are garishly ugly.
Thousands of things are displayed—and yet, my friends, the most valuable are
missing. Freedom is not displayed, nor health, nor happiness, nor peace of
mind. To obtain these things, my friends, you too may need to escape from the
orderly lines and risk being looked upon disdainfully."
*******
The Peace Pilgrim is the perfect symbol for the
egalitarian/populist/horizontal approach to planetary improvement. She understood that the gatekeepers of
society would pay lip service to significant change - while at the same time
making sure that such progress would never occur. That’s because they engorge themselves so
obscenely at the trough of the status
quo. She knew that only a “bottom up”
paradigm change could usher in a new dawn of peace and justice. And she did this person to person and face to
face. The only time His Papacy gets near
an ordinary person is when it is a carefully choreographed photo op.
On the other hand the Pope is the ultimate symbol of
hierarchy and top down control. It took
me a while to understand why the politicians heaped such fawning praise upon
him. Eventually I realized that it was
both professional courtesy and barely-restrained jealousy. How could they not be envious of someone who
rules over ONE BILLION people and never has to face re-election. Plus, in a century where the God-Kings have
been deposed, he is the last one standing; and he claims to have a direct
conduit to The Almighty. Furthermore, most
of his followers actually believe that his opinions are the “Word of God.” And he gets to do this in any country in the
world - and in most cases tax-free.
Step back a bit and ponder for a moment the degree of
power that the Pope has. Politicians can
only threaten to raise taxes or close down the government, or in the most
grisly cases, invade your country to bequeath you the gift of Democracy. But His Excellency gets to condemn millions
to eternal torture in hell. No wonder
the senators and delegates wanted to kiss his … ring!
Now I realize that some of you are probably bothered
by such criticisms of a pontiff who seems to have been cloned with a teddy
bear. But I challenge you to disprove
any of those incriminating points that I just made. Much of his mystique is a straightforward
public relations campaign - in the same way that the Obama “brand” won the top
award as the best advertizing campaign during his first election.
His predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI, was such a “Dark
Lord” - despite his all-white clothing - that The Church was knocked back on
its heels and needed to rebound with a kinder, gentler CEO. (The most elementary research will uncover
the fact that Benedict 16 when he was still Cardinal Ratzinger was chosen to
oversee the cover up of the Catholic priest sexual abuse horrors.)
Therefore, Pope Frank’s recent journeys, and especially
his USA trip, are basically designed to “rally the troops.” This brings me to my second major criticism
of his week in America. It was all about
spectacle and not at all about substance. Telegenics was the important thing – how did
it look on TV. Finding actual brass
tacks solutions to life and death issues is subordinate to how will his events play
on the evening news. I’ll give you some
examples that deal with some of his major themes:
PEACE It certainly
is easier to pontificate about peace than it is to stir the political and
societal waters by acting upon it. Did
he vigorously criticize Obama for moving to upgrade the U.S. nuclear arsenal
even though he now has enough firepower to destroy the planet several
times? Did he call for a meeting between
Putin, Xi and Obama (who were all conveniently in New York at the same time) to
discuss the insane and unnecessary build-up in international tension between
these three nuclear powers? Did he point
out the hypocrisy of these leaders also pontificating for world peace as they
develop robot soldiers and space-based weapons?
And here is an idea that I happily donate to His
Holiness that might never occur to him.
This is something that he can literally do with the stroke of his
pen. I recommend that he forbid any
Catholic from being a part of any military anywhere in the world. This should apply to military subcontractors
as well. If consensual adultery can send
you to hell, shouldn’t droning an innocent wedding party result in a similar fate?
THE
ENVIRONMENT As someone whose house literally resides in the Sea
and therefore in Nature, I am encouraged by some of his proclamations in this
regard. But unfortunately, much of his
message rings both hollow and hypocritical.
For example, just imagine the carbon footprint that the 170 members of
his entourage left behind after their U.S. visit?
And he sidesteps the horrific environmental impact of
population growth. He totally disregards
the enormous strains that human overshoot places on the bio-physical systems of
Earth. Instead, he claims that it can
all be solved by food and income redistribution. But even though those improvements are
certainly commendable, they will not stop desertification, or restore topsoil,
or replenish aquifers or halt the melting of the Himalayan glaciers that
provide the water for a huge portion of Asia.
Furthermore, why does he consistently avoid the issue
of reproduction rights? Could it be that
he wants to continue to swell the ranks of his followers? And what better way to achieve that than to
limit his flock to ineffective birth control methods when there are effective
options available.
Here’s a simple test to establish his true strategy. If the goal of his birth control policy is
not to increase the membership of the Church, then why not have him decree that
every other child born to Catholic parents must be raised as a Muslim. His reluctance to even consider such a policy
would lay bare his true motivation.
These are just a few examples of how the Pope managed
to avoid any discussion of the substantial changes that the world so
desperately needs. Given the adulation
that is heaped upon him and the global pulpit that he possesses, it is
profoundly tragic that such a golden opportunity was lost.
*******
Amazingly enough, sometimes even when I am far out at
Sea, I have visions of the ghost of the Peace Pilgrim striding down some
gorgeous but lonesome highway. Walking
beside her is a phantom Woody Guthrie, and they are both laughing and marveling
at the scenery and belting out songs.
But not just songs – they are more like hymns – hymns to human
empowerment and majesty and compassion – hymns that seem to be disappearing –
hymns that need to be resurrected.