I do not support President Obama’s drive to engage the U.S. in military action in Syria.
I call upon all of us interested in a more peaceful planet to focus our energies on compassion and stillness, while also taking steps to signal our opposition to engaging a possibile war in the Middle East.
Tomorrow, I will be participating in a Buddhist retreat with Thich Nhat Hanh. The steps we can take to build a more just and peaceful world will be at the center of my spiritual practice of mindfulness.
More soon.
Crystal
Aware of Awareness 
I totally agree and we are praying fervently that Obama will not bomb Syria. I voted for both Obama and Kerry, in part because I thought they would never do something like this, although it would have been very much in character for the Bush/Cheney crowd. Congress has opposed Obama in all of his good initiatives. I hope they manage to stop him on this one. He must be under a lot of pressure to do this – but from whom?
Enjoy the Thich Nhat Hanh retreat. He has been one of my most significant spiritual mentors over the years, unbeknownst to himself.
I agree with you and practice SGI Buddhism. We chant for world peace. It seems people want peace and leaders lead the people to war. The older I become, the less sense politics makes to me. Yet another war would be a disaster. We could be heading toward global destruction. Strike not President Obama. You won the Pulitzer prize for peace. Now you can earn it.
I second this message.
Violence begets more violence. Just one look at all of the bombed out cities in the Middle East along with the fact that they are still fighting, and we still have troops in Afghanistan should be enough of an example of this. President Obama has always seemed to be very concerned with the welfare of the people rather than money and power like his Republican counterparts. I pray that he does not turn to feeding the American war machine of the rich and “connected” rather than continuing to be concerned for human life and that he pursues alternatives that don’t involve more violence>.
Obama thinks he’s going to go in there, drop a few bombs to “spank them” for the gassing and then leave… And everything will be alright. WRONG! They will attack Israel, US, any other allied forces we have in that region. Then what? Then it escalates… Then before you know it we’re going up against Syria and Iraq and perhaps even Russia. Putting boots on the ground in a bloody mess that STILL won’t put an end to their Civil War. 120,000 others have died prior to this gassing and we did little to nothing. Think of another way to “punish” them for their chemical weapon strike. Using force to punish force will just lead to MORE force!