Person Of The Year

‘Person Of The Year’ by Tomster

Person Of The Peace

27 January – This is the pastoral text of Fr Reuter: The human person is the heart of peace! – Benedict XVI. Time came up early this year with its Person Of The Year: You. I searched at Flickr for “person” (excluding the double quotes) and found several interesting ones. The one I liked best (and made one of my favorites) is that by Tomster, where he shoots himself in Time’s cover mirror – through a glass, darkly – and reveals much of himself, including the clutter on his desk. You don’t really see him, but you know this is a person, the person, the subject of Pope Benedict’s edict. The human person – not simply the faceless, statistical ‘individual’ – is both the measure and the matter and the manner of peace.

I mean to say, you must do good to every man, woman and child. If you do it unto the least of men, women or children, you do it unto all of them. If you deny one, you have denied all, including yourself. John Donne says:

No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main. If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if promontory were, as well as if a manor of they friend’s or of thine own were. Any man’s death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind.

Now then, how you define peace as well as how you achieve it matters. If you exclude one human person, whatever it is you fight for, it is not peace.

Give Peace A Chance

‘Give peace a chance’ by Matthew C Kessler

Give Yourself A Chance

25 January – This is the pastoral text of Fr Reuter: I make this urgent appeal to the People of God: Be committed to tireless peace-making and strenuous defense of the human person and his inalienable rights. – Benedict XVI. Why do you think I chose Matt’s photo? You’ve seen that finger sign before, haven’t you? If you are my age, that would have been circa the Vietnam War, if you care to remember. It was a dangerous sign to make at that time, because you were branded a Communist if you did that. At least, you merited surveillance by secret agents whom you knew were around and not-so-secret. Perhaps that was part of the psy war they know and the activists don’t. That’s what you get for fighting for peace. You get ostracized. It’s not an easy life.

But to return to my own question: I chose Matt’s photo because it’s an extraordinary photograph, and I’m not speaking of density or resolution or pixel. Behind him (Matt, I presume) is a waterfall, and that thing divides the mountain into two, mirroring the hand sign. Looking at the image now, I notice that the hand sign is actually that of a split; it is more a sign of victory over someone or something, at the very least a break with that someone or something. It’s not Matt’s fault; he means well, and I thank him. If you look at a Catholic priest during mass, his two fingers are pressed together for the sign of peace – no break, no division. Peace be with you!

The Gods Of War

‘Ancient God Of War’ by P2son

The Goods On War

17 January – The pastoral text of Fr Reuter is this: This is a point which must be reaffirmed: War in God’s name is never acceptable! – Benedict XVI. Beneath the image Peterson writes: ‘Mars is known as the war God, but the God of the Old Testament inspires warlike behavior today.’ Your photograph, Peter, tells me that the male of the species is deadlier than the female. Inspired, now I can say that the symbol of war is this – ♂ – and no other. It is machismo that gives rise to it all, pun intended. The most warlike nations in history were those of the Greeks and the Romans, right? That’s why they have war gods: Ares for Greece, Mars for Rome. Victory is for the testosterone. Inspired by the ancient gods, we have modern gods of war, black and white and brown and yellow. We don’t have creative leaders anywhere in the world – did we ever? To war is easier than to lead. They believe that peace is an option but they don’t act on that belief. They don’t give peace a chance.

Still, war can be fought by warmongers misled by reason and by warriors misled by others. Recently, we have been witness to the birth of another warrior species: the suicide bomber. Modern invention, modern logic. If you can’t bring the mountain to Mohammed, bring Mohammed to the mountain and do your thing. Did you notice that most of them are males? This is pre-arranged, guaranteed sacrifice of self for the sake of war against the enemy. You don’t live to see victory – you die for victory.

Victory for what?

I remember when I was in college and I was against the Vietnam War that the United States brought to that Southeast Asian country, there was this news of the burning of a whole community; there was an inquiry on the pillage of the village, and the American in charge of the operation was quoted as defending it, saying, ‘It came to the point that we had to burn the village in order to save it.’ War in God’s name is unacceptable; war not in God’s name is unacceptable. In any size, shape or form, war is insanity.