Image via WikipediaThe Dalai Lama knows this: for years he has used words to wage his battle against his aggressors. If he was not succeeding one has to wonder why China find it necessary to censor his words, his images and those of his followers. Jihad is a word - holy war. To some it is a call to heaven to others the knell of a death bell.
In Alice in Wonderland Tweedledum said that he could make words mean whatever he wanted them to. Post modernist criticism has taken that view to the point where words themselves cease to have any real resonance because they can be proven to mean so much and so little.
We argue about the Bible, the Koran, the words of this prophet and that. And then we take up guns, and tanks, and planes, and bombs and land mines and we no longer bother to speak for who would listen? The words that are understood now are finance, economy, globalisation. Where in those dialogues is there a place for the poor, the lost, the starving and the dispossessed. William Hague said that a dialogue with China was necessary for the global market. Then he mentioned the rather bad reputation China had on human rights in Tibet. They occupied a country - committed genocide and mass repopulation - attempted to destroy a culture unchanged for centuries. These are the words that should have been used, along with the statement that there is no place in our global economy for those who take greedily what is not theirs.
So words can matter, can be powerful. Look at the great figures of history and how they used words to move people to impossible achievements. "I have a dream", "Ask not what your country can do for you but what you can do for your country", "Forgive us our sins as we forgive others", " We will fight them on the beaches..." and so many more. Words that made a difference to our lives today.
We all have voices, we use them to swear, and call out and talk of trivia but how often do you or I use them to make a difference. Let's start. Let's use the example of the Dalai Lama, and speak for change, ask for change and make ourselves heard. Ten voices can be heard across a field. Ten thousand more heard across continents and seas. If something is wrong say so! Say it again and again until you are heard.
A poet that I love, went for a walk one night and came home and wrote this
 | THE WORLD. by Henry Vaughan I SAW Eternity the other night, Like a great ring of pure and endless light, All calm, as it was bright ; And round beneath it, Time in hours, days, years Driv'n by the spheres 5 Like a vast shadow mov'd ; in which the world And all her train were hurl'd. The doting lover in his quaintest strain Did there complain ; Near him, his lute, his fancy, and his flights, 10 Wit's sour delights ; With gloves, and knots, the silly snares of pleasure, Yet his dear treasure, All scatter'd lay, while he his eyes did pour Upon a flow'r. 15 Like a thick midnight-fog, mov'd there so slow, He did nor stay, nor go ; Condemning thoughts—like sad eclipses—scowl Upon his soul, 20 And clouds of crying witnesses without Pursued him with one shout. Yet digg'd the mole, and lest his ways be found, Work'd under ground, Where he did clutch his prey ; but one did see 25 That policy : Churches and altars fed him ; perjuries Were gnats and flies ; It rain'd about him blood and tears, but he Drank them as free. 30 Sate pining all his life there, did scarce trust His own hands with the dust, Yet would not place one piece above, but lives In fear of thieves. 30 Thousands there were as frantic as himself, And hugg'd each one his pelf ;* The downright epicure plac'd heav'n in sense, And scorn'd pretence ; While others, slipp'd into a wide excess 35 Said little less ; The weaker sort slight, trivial wares enslave, Who think them brave ; And poor, despisèd Truth sate counting by Their victory. 40 And sing, and weep, soar'd up into the ring ; But most would use no wing. O fools—said I—thus to prefer dark night Before true light ! 45 To live in grots and caves, and hate the day Because it shows the way ; The way, which from this dead and dark abode Leads up to God ; A way where you might tread the sun, and be 50 More bright than he ! But as I did their madness so discuss, One whisper'd thus, “This ring the Bridegroom did for none provide, But for His bride.” 55 lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lusts thereof ; but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever. 60 [* Money (AJ Note)] Source: Vaughan, Henry. The Poems of Henry Vaughan, Silurist E. K. Chambers, Ed. London, Lawrence & Bullen Ltd., 1896. 150-152.  |
This he wrote in the late seventeenth century when such an image was unimaginable - yet here it is. Eternity. You see words do have power to move and inspire and to make us dream of impossibilities.
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