Every nation, every religion, and every good capitalist should be helped to be made aware of the fact that death--everyone's most feared inevitability--is caused by their pride, their arrogance, their competitiveness, their insecurities in their beliefs, morals and values. How many species--how many cultures, languages, not to mention human lives--have been lost, eradicated, or exterminated (with or without prejudice) due to values and belief systems that are being imposed upon others due to the assertion that theirs is a superior system of beliefs, values, faith, or living? How is one economic "need" better than or "right"--or more valuable than those of other meeker, weaker, or less aggressive peoples?
I mean let's be real: a flag is only a symbol, a gathering of multi-colored threads and grommets, not nearly the equivalent value or worth of a life--even a human life. A bible--or any "sacred" religious book for that matter--is merely a man-made collection of words--words that were also devised and constructed for the personal use of conveying ideas and opinions. They're just wood pulp and animal hide sprinkled with some toxic chemicals! (which makes for great kindling!)
So here's my suggestion: every time a species or language is lost (to extinction), every time a culture is persecuted or pressured to give up their identity, to conform to someone else's agenda, and every time a human life is lost to war, malnutrition, sanitation-born disease, or disease caused by man-made environmental or nutritional treatment, we should burn a flag, burn a Bible (or other appropriate dogmatic treatise), and/or burn a pile of paper money. This would help remind us that these man-made fabrications are mere symbols of man-made systems that have created the behaviors that cause tragic and premature deaths (and otherwise).
I mean let's be real: a flag is only a symbol, a gathering of multi-colored threads and grommets, not nearly the equivalent value or worth of a life--even a human life. A bible--or any "sacred" religious book for that matter--is merely a man-made collection of words--words that were also devised and constructed for the personal use of conveying ideas and opinions. They're just wood pulp and animal hide sprinkled with some toxic chemicals! (which makes for great kindling!)
Money--especially the paper kind--is again merely a symbol of some agreement someone made somewhere far off and distant meant to convey an idea of worth or value. Is this worth or value equivalent to that of a life? of a belief? of a way of life? I think not.
I hope that I will get no argument that a life--even a human life--is of a greater value than a pile of money, a religious book, or a flag.
So here's my suggestion: every time a species or language is lost (to extinction), every time a culture is persecuted or pressured to give up their identity, to conform to someone else's agenda, and every time a human life is lost to war, malnutrition, sanitation-born disease, or disease caused by man-made environmental or nutritional treatment, we should burn a flag, burn a Bible (or other appropriate dogmatic treatise), and/or burn a pile of paper money. This would help remind us that these man-made fabrications are mere symbols of man-made systems that have created the behaviors that cause tragic and premature deaths (and otherwise).
