mountain of sorrow
by Elouise
mountain of sorrow
strewn with graves of the slaughtered
cannot forget
I wrote this after watching a special report last night on the PBS News Hour. It included video of hastily dug stone-marked graves for men and boys slaughtered on Sinjar Mountain during genocidal war against Yazidis in Sinjar District, Iraq.
It caught my attention because it happened in the last several years, just ‘yesterday,’ right before our eyes. Genocide is an attempt by some human beings to disappear other human beings from the face of the earth. Uncounted numbers of men, boys, women and girls were found unworthy of belonging to the human race. Their crime: being Yazidis.
Advent has its dark side. A Jewish baby born to a young unmarried Jewish woman will one day be judged by his own people and others, and declared unworthy to belong to the human race.
His crime? Speaking the truth about people who populated his world. Sometimes it was unwelcome truth, delivered in unconventional ways. He didn’t hold back or grease the hands and reputations of religious leaders, politicians, or everyday human beings like you and like I.
Nor did he hold back in showing us how to live, speak, and die for truth. Especially when other human beings are being disappeared.
This challenges me. I don’t want to be among the disappeared. Nor do I want to collude in the disappearance of others. What does this mean for me, looking ahead?
© Elouise Renich Fraser, 19 December 2017
Photo found at thestar.com
Telling the Truth 
Get rid of religion and you get rid of senseless slaughter. I defy anyone telling me that religion is not the foundation on which most wars are fought, examples:
The Jews kill the Arabs/Muslims,
The Nazis killed the Jews,
The Christians killed all and sundry with their crusades.
They all believe in the same mythical thing called god!
And so it will be. The end of the world,
Not world without end Amen!
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Hi, Brian. Thanks for your comment.
So here’s my question: Since getting rid of religion seems to be a nonstarter, I’m wondering how you personally deal with the reality of senseless slaughter? Or, how do you as a fellow human being respond to genocide or the ‘disappearing’ of targeted groups of people? Regardless of their religious beliefs. Just wondering….since the end of the world hasn’t yet come upon all of us, what do you and I do in the meantime?
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It’s like gun control in the United States of America. Completely out of control and unmanageable.
The only way to be rid of the curse is through education and it’s now an impossible task and those that need it most can’t get it because the few that control them want them to stay ignorant so that they can remain in control.
In the meantime we wait for the world to self destruct
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Which it may well do. And yes, education isn’t the answer to everything. In the meantime, what do you do if a person targeted as a group to be ‘disappeared comes to your door asking for help? Even though I can’t solve the problem I would still, as a human being, be free to make choices. The way we treat each other as human beings is still important, no matter what religious or irreligious views we hold. I don’t think of you as a disengaged person when it comes to doing what you can to make this world a more humane place. No matter what your religion may or may not be.
Does your family celebrate Christmas? If so, I hope you have some good times together this coming Monday. 🙂 Did you visit my Christmas photos from Longwood yet? I just posted them today.
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My wife and our children list their religion as Catholic, I list mine as None in the Census.
I would not think of turning away should someone knock and ask my help. Thats the old Australian way.
I recall in Rome some years ago near the Vatican, the beggars got short shrift from the Catholic priests that abound in the vicinity, The obvious Muslims opened their purses.
My mob call themselves catholics, I call them hypocrites, they do not practice their religion in any way shape or form.
And the trouble I had bringing them up in the Catholic Church was a complete waste of time. Yes I was the one who took the 3 to mass every week, did their religious instruction and homework. My wife wanted them brought up in the church but did not/doesn’t have a clue about it, I think it was all in Latin when she was a child.
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I didn’t think you would, even if you weren’t Australian. 😊
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I took them to mass every Sunday without fail, went through all the kneeling standing sitting (not praying) Shaking hands as they do for some reason. They all went to catholic schools and colleges and when it came to the religious homework that they had a plenty I was the one to do it, as their mother said, she didn’t know anything about it!
Odd family, I suppose I’m to blame.
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It’s difficult to let adult children go without feeling guilty of something we can’t quite identify. For me, the guilt is more about what I didn’t do than what I actually did. It sounds like you went far beyond your parental duty.
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I never considered it as a duty, I loved them and did whatever was in my power to help them.
I had no troubles letting go, in fact when the time came I was glad.
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I’m still catching up on my mail and the posts I follow. I haven’t done a post for some time now and the way Im going I might not write another. 😦
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That would be sad, though I would understand. 😟
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I don’t celebrate christmas, I used to when the children were growing up and with us, but now they’re all atheist celebrating the day they do so with out me, there is nothing religious in their celebration, Just a get together food and drink. The word hypocrisy once more springs to mind.
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Well…at least they’re still getting together. I hope you and Coco have a fine day together. 😊
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Coco is in hospital and will not be home with me
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Oh….what’s his status? Give him a big hug from me. ❤️
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His leg is not healing properly. He has a heart murmur; his heart is enlarged and is putting pressure on his lungs. There is fluid leaking into his lungs. He is receiving better care than POTUS wants the average American to have. The doctors ring me twice daily with a report on progress, which is good. It was felt that it would be best not to have his mummy and daddy ( the WO & me) visit him as it will cause him distress, when we have to leave,The nurses there love him and take him for little walks outside so that he can go potty, He will never go potty inside and will hold on no matter what. He rolls over so that he can have a tummy tickle; and I miss him. The prognosis is good.
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What it means is we MUST accept that the road from Jerusalem to Jericho should be a freeway. No tolls.
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What a tangled mess we’re in….and I do like your comment. A lot! Thanks, John.
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