How about 8,000,000,000 Volunteers?
How about cooperating instead of competing?
How about world peace instead of pieces of the world?
How about helping instead of hurting?
How about caring then sharing?
How about not profiting from another's pain?
How about an ARMIE (Alliance to Reunite Mankind in Equality)
  instead of hundred's of killing armies?
How about first making sure you've been loved, which means you are
  able to love yourself, which means you are able to love others?
How about living your lives doing what you love, not doing what
  you think will impress others?
How about all Citizens on Earth have their needs met equally?
How about Earth becoming the PLANET PEACE forever?
How about you becoming one of the 8,000,000,000 Volunteers?

TOD HOWARD HAWKS

WHY DO WE LIVE?

Why do we live?
We die, but it is not the end;
it is but a step.
Life is an illusion,
but a necessary one.
The illusion of finite life
is the pathway
to reality, to infinity,
to Cosmos, to enlightenment,
which is PURE LOVE. Paradoxically,
the axiom we follow unconsciously
is know truth by untruth.
The journey to become PURE LOVE
takes innumerable lives,
but when we do become enlightened,
our soul, now PURE LOVE,
need never return to Earth,
but becomes forever one
with reality of PURE LOVE that
has no form, no beginning, no end.

TOD HOWARD HAWKS

Ungun Earth.

TOD HOWARD HAWKS

What if we silent sit in an empty room
and speak without an uttered word?
What if unconscious poems well up
in us, no trying need there be? What
if strands of grass grow and flowers
bloom while azure skies and white
clouds blow by without a sound be
heard? And what if a kiss for one is
a kiss for all and our hearts and souls
are one without us ever knowing?

TOD HOWARD HAWKS

What if I silent sit in an empty room
and speak without an uttered word?
What if unconscious poems well up
in me, no trying need there be? What
if strands of grass grow and flowers
bloom while azure skies and white
clouds blow by without a sound be
heard? And what if a kiss for one is
a kiss for all and our hearts and souls
are one without us ever knowing?

TOD HOWARD HAWKS

I walk more slowly now.
The miles are longer than they used to be.
I know where I want to go,
but now I forget to turn left and turn right.
Here comes a pretty woman.
I say hello as she passes,
but I hear nothing.
I saw her, but I guess she didn't see me.
I walk by trees and flowers
that used to be green and red
and yellow, but now are grey.
I need to get my glasses fixed,
but I cannot find them.
I miss Shep, my dearest friend ever.
I hear him barking,
but he died a year ago.
I walk more slowly now.

TOD HOWARD HAWKS

Most think their locus of worth is outside themselves. They are wrong.

It is within us. All possess the same inviolable, sacred worth:  Love.

But each of us needs to have our love nurtured by someone else's love.  

It's like a planted acorn. For it to grow into a mighty oak tree, it must too be loved:  it must receive care, water, sunlight.

Therefore, turn inward, not outward. When loved, you will become all you can be. You will become your real self.

TOD HOWARD HAWKS

There is no quota on doing the right thing.

TOD HOWARD HAWKS

LOVE AND LOVERS (31)

by

TOD HOWARD HAWKS


Chapter 31


All people live downstream.

The greatest rage is when you scream so loud you cannot hear the scream.

Danger has anger in it, tragedy rage.

Anonymity vitiates worth.

First, do no harm.
Second, do no harm.
Third, do no harm.
Fourth,....

Pills are now our pillows.

FORTUNE 500 vs. MISFORTUNE 7,000,000,000

Knowledge sees that all are different, wisdom that all are one.

You cannot hoard love.

We are ordained when the sun touches our brow.


Back in their hotel room, Bian sat down with Jon.

"You know, of course, Jon, that the poor and extremely poor of the world earn less than $2 a day. That's about one-in-four of all Citizens of Earth. Unconscionable!" Bian said.

"You know as well inequalities such as fewer rights and resources are primarily  based on caste, gender, ethnicity, and tribal affiliation. Decades of civil war across the globe have exacerbated these injustices.  Now violence on local levels has become
increasingly injurious. Hunger and malnutrition stunt the lives of billions, weakening their strength and energy while debilitating their immune systems making them all the more susceptible to illnesses that hinder or **** them.

"Moreover, without viable health-care systems--especially for mothers and children--illnesses like malaria, diarrhea, and respiratory infections can be fatal. Furthermore, pregnancy and childbirth can be death-dealing.

"Over two billion Citizens of Earth don't have access to clean water at home. Contaminated water leads, of course, to waterborne diseases. Poor water infrastructure abets this deleterious situation.

"The catastrophic climate crisis Earth is now enduring, say experts, will push more than 100 million people into poverty over the next decade."

Jon stood up and gave Bian a big hug and a sweet kiss.


Mr. Ly and his friends had many, many other friends, large groups of whom lived in every nation on Earth. All were anonymous and all were devoted to creating  PEACE ON EARTH THROUGH LOVE.

Concomitantly, these groups discreetly followed Bian and Jon into the country the two had just left and began helping the poor:  food, water, housing, health care, education--in any way they could.

Love is contagious.

Love is our religion.
Love is our politics.
Love is who we all are.

TOD HOWARD HAWKS

I do not need to listen to their words.
I know they are talking about death.
One of their friends has just been cut
in half by a **** soldier's machine gun
fire. How do they do it? Why do all the
American soldiers not go instantly insane,
but instead manage to carry these horrific
memories in their minds for the rest of
their lives? "America, the Beautiful,",
which blares every Fourth of July, a single
note of which no American soldier who
lies deep in Arlington National Cemtery
never hears, except perhaps only a
single human cry from above.

TOD HOWARD HAWKS

An American soldier lies in the snow,
dying. Another American soldier runs
toward him to try to save his life. That
soldier rips the dying soldier upper-half
of his uniform wide open and begins to
pound and pound his heart to keep his
fellow soldier alive. But the incessant
pounding does not work. The mortally
wounded soldier dies in the snow. The
Battle of the Bulge knew countless other
Americans who sacrificed all. All snow,
in time, turned red. Bloodstains and
footprints were all that remained.

TOD HOWARD HAWKS

The 19 murdered and martyred children and the 2 murdered and martyred teachers who taught them in Ulvade, Texas were a collective  Christ. They, like, Christ, were crucified, but by an endless stream of raging bullets that pierced their hearts and souls, killing all of them. **** Trump, Cowards Cruz and Abbott, and other members of the American Fascistist Party (formerly the Republican Party) also used the same trigger that has now murdered and martyred thousands and thousands and thousands of Americans. Indeed, all other members of the American Fascist Party have implicitly  been pulling the same trigger. The Second Amendment was drafted and ratified to protect the right of all citizens of the United States of America to possess legally muskets, not AR 15s. America is now apparently not only dumb, but also, and most egregiously, numb.

TOD HOWARD HAWKS

****! ****! ****!
****! ****! ****!
Guns! Guns! Guns!
Shoot! Shoot! Shoot!
Children! Children! Children!
Blacks! Blacks! Blacks!
Jews! Jews! Jews!
****! ****! ****!
****! ****! ****!
****! ****! ****!

TOD HOWARD HAWKS

LOVE AND LOVERS

by

TOD HOWARD HAWKS


Chapter 1

Jon walked down Broadway Thursday toward Tom’s to eat breakfast. He had taken this stroll hundreds of times after being at Columbia for five years during which he had eaten breakfast at all possible alternatives and found Tom’s to be categorically the best in Morningside Heights. It was a beautiful Fall morning. Monday he would begin the second and last school year at Columbia and in the Spring he would receive his MFA from the School of the Arts.

When Jon entered Tom’s, he was stunned. Sitting three down in aisle 3 on the right side in a booth by herself was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. After standing still for a few moments, Jon slowly walked toward this woman and stopped, then spoke.

“Hi, I’m Jon Witherston. May I join you?”

The young woman responded, “Sure.” Jon sat down.

“I’m Bian Ly. It’s nice to meet you,” she said.

“I’m assuming you’re a student at Columbia,” said Jon.

“Yes, I’m a senior at the College. Are you also a student?” asked Bian.

“Yes, I am. In fact, I graduated from Columbia College a year ago. Next Spring, I’ll be receiving my MFA from the School of the Arts. I’m a poet,” said Jon.

“A poet! How wonderful!,” exclaimed Bian.

“Thank you, Bian. What’s your major?” asked Jon.

“I'm majoring in Human Rights,” replied Bian.

“The world needs to major in Human Rights!” said Jon.

Bian smiled.

At that point, the waitress came over and took their orders. Both wanted breakfast.

“That is a beautiful ring you are wearing on your little finger,” said Bian.

“That a Nacoms ring,” said Jon. “Nacoms is a senior society at the College. I was selected to be a member,” said Jon. “I was Head of NSOP. Where are you from, Bian?

“I’m from Hanoi,” said Bian.

“Hanoi is a long way from Topeka, Kansas where I grew up, but I did come East to attend Andover,” said Jon.

“I also attended boarding school, but in Hanoi, not Massachusetts. I graduated from Hanoi International School,” said Bian.

“It seems we have a lot in common,” said Jon.

The waitress brought their breakfasts, which they started eating.

After finishing their meals, the two chatted for about twenty minutes, then Jon said, “Bian, before I bid you a good rest of your day, I’d like to ask you if you might like to join me to visit the Guggenheim Museum to see a showing of Vasily Kandinsky’s paintings this Saturday afternoon then be my guest for dinner at your favorite Italian restaurant in Morningside Heights.”

“I’d love to,” replied Bian.

“I’ll pick you up about 2 p.m. Where do you live?” asked Jon.

“I live in Harley Hall,” said Bian.

“Hartley Hall–that’s where I lived all four years during my undergraduate days,” remarked Jon. “ You’ve got a couple of days to pick out your favorite Italian restaurant,” added Jon. “I’ll wait in the lobby for you.”

Bian smiled again and got out of the booth.

“See you this Saturday at 2,” Jon said as he waited for Bian to leave first. Then he just sat in the booth for a while and smiled, too.


Jon arrived at Hartley Hall a bit early Saturday afternoon. He sat in the lobby on a soft leather sofa. Hartley Hall. Columbia. Four years. It had been an amazing time. Chad Willington, a fellow Andover graduate from Richmond, Virginia, was his roommate all four years. A tremendous swimmer, Chad had been elected captain of the team both his junior and senior years. He was now working at Goldman Sachs on Wall Street. Jon’s most cherished honor while he was at the College was being elected by his 1,400 classmates to be one of 15 Class Marshals to lead the Commencement Procession.

Bian came into the lounge. She looked beautiful.

“How are you, Bian? Are you ready to go see Kandinsky?” asked Jon.

“Indeed, I am,” said Bian.

“Let’s go, then,” said Jon.

The two walked across campus on College Walk to Broadway where Jon hailed a cab.

“Please take us to the Guggenheim Museum,” Jon told the cabbie. The cab cut through Central Park to upper 5th Avenue.

“We’re here,” said Jon and paid and tipped the cabbie.

The Guggenheim itself was a spectacular piece of architecture designed by Frank Lloyd Wright that spiraled into the blue sky. Jon paid for the admission tickets, then both entered the museum and took the elevator to the top of the building. Then began the slow descent to the bottom on the long, spiraling walkway, pausing when they wanted to the see a Kandinsky painting closely and talking with each other about it.

Vasily Kandinsky was a Russian painter and theorist, becoming prominent in
the early decades of the 20th Century. Having moved first from Russia to Germany, he then went to France. Kandinsky was a pioneer of abstraction in Western art. He was keenly interested in spiritual expression:  “inner necessity” is what he called it.

It took quite a while to make their way down the spiraling ramp, stopping at almost every painting to share their views. Finally, Bian and Jon reached the bottom.

“Well, that was most interesting,” said Bian.

“I agree,” said Jon. “Have you decided which is your favorite Italian restaurant in Morningside Heights, Bian?” asked Jon.

“Pisticci,” said Bian.

“Let's go!,” said Jon.

They took a cab to Pisticci. The waiter brought them menus, which they began to peruse.

“You first,” Jon said to Bian.

“I would like the Insalata Pisticci (bed of baby spinach tossed with potatoes and pancetta with balsamic reduction). Then Suppe Minestrone (with a clear tomato base and al dente vegetables). Finally, I would like the Fettuccine Al Fungi (handmade fettuccine tossed with a trio of warm, earthy mushrooms and truffle oil),” concluded Bian.

Jon followed. “I would also like the Insalata Pisticci, then the Suppe Minestrone, followed by the Pappardelle Bolognesse, then the Burrata Caprese. Thank you.”

Bian and Jon ate their meals in candlelight.

“Tell me about growing up in Hanoi,” Jon asked Bian.

“I am an only child, Jon. My father is Minh Ly and my mother is Lieu. My father was the youngest General in the war;  nevertheless, he rose to second in command. He has been a businessman now for a long time.

“My childhood was like those of most children. As I grew older, I loved playing volleyball. I read a lot. I began learning English at an early age. I had lots of friends. I love my father and mother very much.”

“Why did you come to Columbia,” asked Jon.

“Columbia, as you know, is one of the greatest universities in the world, and it’s in New York City,” said Bian.

“Why did you choose to major in Human Rights, Bian,” asked Jon.

“The world, and the people and all other living creations on it, need kindness and love to heal. All have been sick for millennia. I would like to help heal Earth,” said Bian.

Jon was struck by Bian’s words. He felt the same as Bian.

The two continued to share more with each other. Finally, it was time to go.

They took a cab back to campus and Jon escorted Bian back to Hartley Hall.

“I’d like to exchange phone numbers with you. Is that OK with you?” Jon asked.

“Of course,” said Bian.

“Thank you for a wonderful day, Bian,” said Jon.

“And you the same, Jon,” said Bian.

PEACE ON EARTH THROUGH LOVE


Turning the World Right-Side In

by

Tod Howard Hawks


PREAMBLE:  All we have is our little planet, Earth. For the vast majority of my life, I have thought, “What would it be like to have Peace on Earth?” But for only two, maybe three, weeks every year, usually around Christmas, I would see the phrase “Peace on Earth," usually on Christmas cards. But after Christmas, I would not hear or see that sanguine notion for 11 more months. The longer I lived, the more this annual ritual bothered me. At Andover, I had studied European history. At Columbia, I had majored in American history. Over time, I increasingly came to the realization that in both prep school and college, I had essentially been studying about wars on top of wars and their aftermaths:  millions and millions and millions of human beings being killed. Then, when I got curious, I used my computer to find out that, according to many scholars, only a little over 200, out of roughly 3,400 years of recorded history, were deemed “peaceful.” Humanity, I concluded, had a horrible track record when it came to effectuating “Peace on Earth.” And during my lifetime things have not gotten any better.  

SPIRITUAL ECOLOGY:  There is one land, one sky, one sea, one people. The boundaries that divide us are not on maps, but in our minds and hearts. John Donne was prescient. Earth is as impoverished as its poorest Citizen, as healthy as her sickest, as educated as her most ignorant. If we pollute the upper waters of the Mississippi, then ineluctably we shall pollute the Indian Ocean. If we continue to pollute our air, the current 8,000,000,000 Citizens on Earth will die. All species will be accorded the same concern and care as Citizens. The imminent threats of nuclear holocaust and catastrophic climate change we need urgently to prevent. This is the truth of Spiritual Ecology.  

CAMPAIGN FOR EARTH:  If we can wage war, why should we not wage peace? Nations are anachronistic;  therefore, there will be none. There will only be Earth and Citizens of Earth. Each Citizen will devote a sizable number of years of her/his life to the betterment of humankind and Earth. All military weapons--from handguns to hydrogen bombs--will be destroyed, and any future weapons will be prohibited. All jails and prisons will be closed, replaced by Love Centers (see below). Automation and other technological advances will enhance the opportunity for all Citizens exponentially to realize their potential, personally and spiritually. There will be no money. All precious resources and assets of Earth will be distributed equally among all Citizens. The only things Citizens will own are the right to be treated well and the responsibility to treat Earth and all its Citizens well. All Citizens will be free to travel anywhere, at any time, on Earth. All Citizens will be free to choose their own personal and professional goals, but will do no harm to Earth or other Citizens. All Citizens will be afforded the same resources to live a full, safe, and satisfying life, including the best education, health care, housing, food, and other necessities throughout Earth.

LOVE:  The only way to change anything for the good, for good, is through love. Love is what every living creation on Earth needs. Love Centers are for those Citizens who were not loved enough, or at all, especially at their earliest of ages. Concomitantly, they act out their pain hurtfully, sometimes lethally, often against other Citizens. Citizens who are emotionally ill will be separated from those who are not. Jails and prisons only abet this deleterious situation. Some Citizens in pain may need to be constrained in Love Centers humanely while they recover, through being loved, so they do not hurt themselves or others. In some extreme cases, Citizens may be in so much pain that they remain violent for a long time.  Thus, they may need to be constrained for the rest of their lives, but always loved, never punished. In time, Citizens, when loved enough, will only have love to give, and the need for Love Centers will commensurately decline.

EARTH:  In 1948, Eleanor Roosevelt chaired the commission that wrote the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. UDHR, with some updates and revisions, will serve as the moral and legal guidepost for Earth.

GENERAL ASSEMBLY:  To honor and remember the former nations on Earth, one member will be elected by Citizens from each of these former nations to serve a one five-year term as a member of the General Assembly. In succeeding elections, Citizens currently residing at that time in areas that were formerly nations, will again, in perpetuity, vote for one Citizen also residing in that area, for a one five-year term as a member of the General Assembly.
  
FIRST VOTE:  The first vote of all Citizens will be to establish CAMPAIGN FOR EARTH. Majority rules. All Citizens will have access to Internet voting, as well as access to cell phones and other types of computers. Citizens will have her/his own secured ID codes. Citizens will have to be 18 or older to vote. Citizens will be encouraged to bring before the General Assembly all ideas and recommendations, as well as any concerns or complaints, which will be considered and responded to promptly. Citizens’ ideas and recommendations will be formed into proposals drafted by members of the General Assembly. Citizens will vote on these proposals of each month during the days of the following month. Citizens of Earth will be Earth’s government. Members of the General Assembly will be facilitators who will work with millions of volunteers. There will be no president of Earth.

ALLCOTT MOVEMENT:  If the multinational corporations that now rule Earth do not abide by the outcome of a majority vote in favor of CAMPAIGN FOR EARTH, Citizens of Earth will instigate the Allcott Movement, a one-at-a-time mancott, womancott, girlcott, boycott--hence, Allcott--against each multinational corporation unwilling to relinquish control of its global business and give it, and all its assets, to Citizens of Earth. Citizens will continue the Allcott Movement until all multinational corporations have done the same. All personal and smaller-business wealth will be converted into resources to be distributed equally to all Citizens. All proceeds in excess of what’s needed reasonably by each Citizen will be saved for future generations. No violence of any kind will occur during the transfer of these resources. Citizens will take these steps because they are the moral, the right, steps to take to save all living creations on Earth, and Earth itself.

CELEBRATE AND SHARE: If you were to take a photograph of humanity and gaze at it, you would see a beautiful mosaic of mankind of different, beautiful colors. If you could step into the photograph, you would hear a melody of languages and dialects. You could have a worldwide picnic with all your sisters and brothers and experience different customs and taste different, delicious foods. And in moments of silence, all of you could pray in your different religions, separate but together at the same time. You would also share the same human laughter and joys and feel the same sorrows and cry the same tears, all in Peace on Earth eternal. All of you would come to delight in these differences, not dread them. You would look forward to celebrating and sharing with your family, not killing them. The spiritual whole would be larger than the sum of its sacred parts.

A QUANTUM LEAP:  The world, over millennia, keeps evolving. Over 3,200 years of recorded history, powers, nations keep shifting, sometimes seismically. Now is the time for not only the grandest seismic shift ever, but also the one that will save Earth and all living creations upon it. It is time for Earth to become Earth--not a scattering of over 200 nations with artificial borders, but an Earth that has one land, one sea, one sky, one people. The boundaries that have simplistically divided us for eons are not on maps, but in our minds and hearts. The air and water of Earth, even the pandemic, take no notice of national borders, nor should we, the Citizens of Earth. Technology, with its innumerable advances, has made us into a world when all can become one. We are free to be our real selves, to spend our variegated lives not aggrandizing, but by sharing and giving. Rather than dreading our superficial differences--our different skin colors, our different cultures, our different religions, our different languages--we can explore and enjoy them. Let us finally be what we truly have been forever, one big, worldwide family of humanity. No more wars, no more weapons, no more killing. No more hunger, no more homelessness, no more hopelessness. No more ignorance, no more illnesses, no more social classes. This is the quantum leap of which I speak.

PEACE ON EARTH:  Wealth is not worth. The mansuetude of loving, and being loved, is. When love is your currency, all else is counterfeit. Citizens will be able to go about creating their own happiness that is built on love-based personal relationships and professional activities. No longer will human beings be able to profit from another’s pain. With love at the center of being and living, there will be no more wars, no more dictators, no more corruption. Finally, there will only be Peace on Earth forever.

Copyright 2022 Tod Howard Hawks

A graduate of Phillips Andover Academy and Columbia College, Columbia University, Tod Howard Hawks has been a poet and a human-rights advocate his entire adult life.

todh21376@gmail.com

(Please share this commentary with others and email me if you wish to join all the other Citizens of Earth around the world in helping to save Earth through love.)

Do you want Peace on Earth forever, or do you wish to own the biggest piece of it you possibly can?

TOD HOWARD HAWKS

They're a lot of sick people out there, lonely people, homeless people, hungry people, hopeless people, people who drink lots of alcohol, sniff *******, shoot ******, swallow amphetamines by the handsful, starving children, children who are captured and forced into the worldwide, multibillion-dollar business of child *** trafficking, billions of people who are still treated brutally because of the color of their skin, the slant of their eyes, the religion they practice, people of color who are disproportionately thrown into squalid, for-profit prisons for years, victims of all kinds of inequalities, iniquities, and God knows how many rich people, mega-rich people, who wittingly and unwittingly promote, participate, and prosper in these malevolent practices abetted by known and unknown people who are never caught, never held responsible for their evil deeds, their complicity in these atrocities by people and politicians and presidents and potentates and despots and kings. And so many of us turn away from all these horrors, watching sit-coms on TV, playing the back nine, cheating on their spouses, making gobs of money, going to their houses of worship and mouthing chapters and verses, remaining unconscious of the implicit duty we all share in helping our fellow man and woman and child. Shame on us all.

TOD HOWARD HAWKS

You got 20, 30 minutes, so start singing
your songs.

You got 20, 30 minutes, so start writing
your poems.

You got 20, 30 minutes, so start writing
your novels.

You got 20, 30 minutes, so start acting
your parts.

You got 20, 30 minutes, so start making
your money.

You got 20, 30 minutes, so start saying
your vows.

You got 20, 30 minutes, so start raising
your children.

You got 20, 30 minutes, so start saying
your  goodbyes.

You've had 20, 30 minutes to live your
whole life.

That's it. That's all.

TOD HOWARD HAWKS

I was in 6th grade when I proved the infinite, not the finite, was reality.

I took my 12-inch ruler and pretended it was a magic ruler. It had three buttons on its bottom end:  the left, the middle, and the right. The left button elongated the ruler. The middle button activated the magic drill bit on the top end that could penetrate anything. The third button retracted the elongation.

I took my magic ruler to one of the big windows in the classroom and opened it. I pushed the top end of my magic ruler through the opening and pressed the left button. My magic ruler began to elongate, first through the limbs of trees, then through the sky and clouds, until it went through Earth's atmosphere. It kept elongating. My magic ruler went through our solar system, then through our galaxy, then through outer space deeper and deeper, elongating and elongating it seemed like forever. Finally, it stopped. It had hit something. So I pressed the middle button to activate the magic drill bit. It began drilling through whatever had blocked the elongation.

The magic drill bit kept drilling and drilling and drilling, then drilling even more. Finally, it drilled through the blockage, so I pressed the left button and my magic ruler began to elongate again. It elongated for a long, long, long, long time. When I realized that it could elongate forever, I pressed the third button to retract it, which happened very fast. When it came back through the open window, it was again an ordinary 12-inch ruler.

I took my ruler and sat it on the top of my desk. Then I got a pencil and tore out of my spiral notebook a piece of paper. I wrote down the number 12 and divided it by 2 and got 6. Then I divided 6 by 2 and got 3, then 3 by 2 and got 1 1/2, then 1 1/2 by 2 and got 3/4, then 3/4 by 2 and got 3/8, then 3/8 by 2 and got 3/16, then 3/16 by 2 and got 3/32, the 3/32 by 2 and got 3/64, then 3/64 by 2 and got 3/128, and so on. I realized then that it did not matter in which direction I went. All directions never ended. I had proven infinity, not the finite, was reality.

So why the illusion of our seemingly finite world?

The answer is, we know truth from untruth, a paradox that is paradoxically not paradoxical. The illusory finite is paradoxically the pathway to infinity. It's like a kid growing up. There is a lot of things to learn, and it takes a long time to learn them.

There was no Big Bang. No telescope, however big, will ever see the end-edge of the universe. If we attain enlightenment of our souls on Earth, then when we die, they will become one with the infinite Cosmos that has no form, no beginning, no end:  It is eternal love.

TOD HOWARD HAWKS

There is a difference between personhood and behavior that the vast majority of humanity still does not realize.

Personhood is sacred, inviolate. Every human being who has ever been, is, and will ever be, is sacred at her/his core.

Behavior, on the other hand, which is too often hurtful, if not much worse, is the consequence of the pernicious lack of both awareness of her/his sacredness, and concomitantly, her/his failure to assimilate it into their being.

Only love can nurture the realization of personhood. And because so many human beings are never loved enough, if at all, they are left only with their behavior that, all too often, manifests itself in myriad nefarious ways:  slavery, bigotry, racism, torture, killing, war, and, in its own way, the worst:  global inequality, which should be called iniquity.

To achieve Peace on Earth forever, all must come first to the realization of the difference between personhood and behavior, then find ways to ensure all human beings are loved and loved and loved.

TOD HOWARD HAWKS

America is as rich as her poorest citizen, as healthy as her sickest, as educated as her most ignorant.

We are more concerned with goods than goodness.

May we be servants to all others and masters of ourselves.

If a man doesn't keep his word, he soon finds out he has a limited vocabulary.

The mountain is deeper than it is high.

Repentagon

If you are going to err, err on the side of generosity.

"Evil" is the word "live" twisted.

I open my heart so I may enter yours....

The poem is the sound, publication an echo. The sound is more important than the echo.

Are you shocked to find out that I'm human and therefore imperfect, or are you embarrassed to realize that you are the same...?

One cannot impose what's right;  one can only evoke it.

The Second Coming will be the coming to the realization that each of us is sacred, that all things are divine.

The only thing our country recycles well is pain.

Take the high road. There's less traffic up there.

It is easier to find a publisher than to find your heart.

To save Earth, you have to planet.

Beliefs expressed anonymously are coward's clothes.

Out on a limbo.

Racism is one of the worst forms of mental illness.

We used to just waste human lives. Now we turn lives into human waste.

Someone once asked me, "Do you have a hobby?" I thought for a moment, then replied, "Yes, I do. I collect beauty--beautiful music, beautiful art, beautiful memories...."

Labels are for ketchup bottles.

In our nation's capital, we have more probes than probity.

An avalanche, a mountain's revanche.

All people live downstream.

The greatest rage is when you scream, you cannot hear the scream.

Adobe abode

NRA or NEA?

Danger has anger in it, tragedy rage.

The sound of a siren has become our national anthem.

Do not confuse your pain with your worth.

Knowledge is finite, wisdom infinite.

Wealth is not worth.

A paradox is paradoxically not paradoxical.

Love is my religion, and my politics, too.

I am crazy with clarity.

War has no warranties.

THE GOOD NEWS:  Our next world war will be our last.
THE BAD NEWS:  It will last only 10 minutes.

Know truth by untruth.

The deciding vote cast is the bullet fired by the assassin.

Less commerce, more mercy.

Things cling.

You don't need a policeman or a teacher or a priest to teach you right from wrong. You only need to have been loved.

When love is your currency, all else is counterfeit.

Those who remain silent in a democracy are complicit in its destruction.

I have 8 billion friends on Earth. It's just that I haven't met them all yet.

I saved a billion dollars today. I didn't buy a Caribbean island.

Do you want Peace on Earth or would you rather just own a huge piece of it?

How many friends does a person need?  Only one, her- or himself.

We have many religions on Earth, all believing in the same God, but calling the same God different names.

The only way to become a traitor is to cease to be true to yourself.

I will die for anyone, but will never **** anyone.

The only thing worse than a despot is the people willing to brook him.

Don't tell me your title. Bring me your heart.

There are no illegitimate children, only illegitimate parents.

It is never the wrong time to do the right thing.

A politician makes calculated decisions, a leader moral ones.

Noble instead of global.

All works are autobiographical.

Lincoln used a little to say a lot. Most use a lot to say nothing.

Most are familiar with the epigram "Ties that bind." Despots's favorite is "Lies that blind."

Power should empower, not oppress.

Ideals are ideas with an "l" on the end. The "l" stands for love.

What does it matter that our flags are waving if our spirits are flagging?

What good is it to receive a medal if we have no chest to pin it on?

All wars are internecine.

In war, censorship is the first amendment of the 1st Amendment.

The CIA has the freedom to warship as it pleases.

The cannon of ethics.

Victory without honor is not triumph, but turpitude.

I am a racist, a human racist.

We are made taut by what we are taught.

It is easier to study novels than ourselves. It is easier to write essays than to assay our own worth.

Self-acceptance is the synthesis of all that is strong and weak in us. These alloys become allies, forming a better, more durable, more flexible mettle.

Rebearth

Poetry is like the ocean wind:  It blows only for those sails that are open.

Avoid a void.

We are all in treatment. It's just that some of us are treated better than others.

Most affluent people think the common good is a mutual fund.

Onership

Pretension, smugness, fatuity:  even high society has its richuals.

Some like heavy-metal music. I like precious-metal music:  Beethoven, Bach, Mozart.

A square is a neurotic circle.

Meanness is smallness.

Let your love be a moral poultice.

Allude to yourself.

Be all you can be:  Be yourself.

We are ordained when sunlight touches our brow.

I have an infinity with God.

Soular energy.

Light is the ultimate luxury.

If I were truly your superior, I would sit beneath you.

We are tied together not in knots, but in a tapestry.

It is not right to profit from another's misery.

You cannot hoard love.

Utopia is those streets paved with kindness.

Will is the intent to allow.

More enduring than fame is flame.

If a man were a tree, fame would be his branches, greatness his roots.

All great men have met before.

Unfortunately, the relationship between parents and their children are junk bonds.

To be a perfect human being is to be imperfect.

Who among us has not hurt?

The shame and stigma belong to those who remain ignorant and fearful of, and therefore bigoted against, those who have the courage to seek the help they need to help themselves.

TOD HOWARD HAWKS

Sweet dreams, my dear Patsy,
why'd you have to die? I cried
when you sang CRAZY 'cause
that's the way I am. I would have
been a singer, but cannot sing
a note; the ring of your sweet
voice made me feel so warm.
The way they swarmed you after
every song you sang made my
heart swell and swell. I longed to be
with them, but understand, you see,
I live in North Dakota, not in Tennessee.
Heaven is your home now. I hope
I'll meet you there. But 'til I die,
I'll keep on playing records,
only ones you always sang.
So sweet dreams, my dear Patsy,
so gentle and so kind. I'll hear
you singing in everyone in
everyone of mine.

TOD HOWAD HAWKS

Slights amighty, awful, dreadful deeds, winter
blizzards in the heart, that's what life's about.

Slaves of old, slaves of new, all of them knew
of endless toil then death, that's what life's about.

Billions poor, few are billionaires, children
starving round the world, that's what life's about.

Torture, ******, killings all, wars that never cease,
air and oceans now foul and fetid, that what life's about.

Crusades and inquisitions, all in name of God,
hangings, crucifixions, that's what life's about.

Money, megalomania, titles, medals, prizes,
self-indulgence plenty, that's what life's about.

Did someone mention love and loving, or was
I hearing things? Those should be what life's about.

TOD HOWARD HAWKS

All is love.

The finite, though illusory, is paradoxically the path to enlightenment, to infinity, to love.

Our world is on the cusp of extinction.

Humanity is an infant. It needs to grow up fast.

From its inception, humanity has aggrandized, warred, killed.

A minuscule percentage has loved.

Of all potential behaviors, love is the least realized and most powerful positively.

Why has humanity not fully embraced it?

Only love can save our world.

Love now and forever.

TOD HOWARD HAWKS

I used to hate,
but once loved, I
feel sorry for you now.
I feel sorry you
were never loved.

You who loathe
and discriminate, I
feel sorry for you now.
I feel sorry you
were never loved.

You who wish
the colored hell, I
feel sorry for you now.
I feel sorry you
were never loved.

You who'd torture
and even ****, I
feel sorry for you now.
I feel sorry you
were never loved.

You are humankind
but still unkind, I
feel sorry for you now.
I feel sorry you
were never loved.

TOD HOWARD HAWKS

This is an invitation to the world to love instead of to ****.

Our greatest existential threat is ourselves, our own inaction. We, and all other living creations on Earth, are on the cusp of extinction.

But you--especially you as poets--can begin a wave of love around the world using the Internet, not for profit, not for oppression, not for war, but to love Earth and save it.

Each of you is a match, which when struck, can start the fire of love around the world, and even those who misuse power to keep their power, letting so many of their sisters and brothers worldwide continue to go hungry and homeless and hopeless, to be tortured and enslaved, then finally to be forgotten, even those cannot escape the flames of love.

Go to your hearts and souls where your love lives, then use the Internet to tell the 8 billion Citizens of Earth you love them all, and you care for all of them, as you care for your children, your spouses, your friends.

Use the Internet for love. Use the Internet to save Earth. And use the Internet to ask all others to do the same.

(Please see my commentary PEACE ON EARTH THROUGH LOVE below on my site.)

Once the fire of love is started, it cannot be extinguished by racial supremacists, despots, or any other groups or individuals.

The more you share love, the more love you will have to share.

TOD HOWARD HAWKS

Let us begin with your smile
while my fingers find their way
through your hair where beauty
is glistening gold. I am told
your neck needs no necklace,
for it is one in itself. Your cerulean
eyes see through my heart,
my most sacred part,
which I give to you eternally.
Your soft cheeks  brush against
my own as my lips meet yours
as the moon begins to shine.
All that is mine is yours.
And as I begin to share with you
all of me on this bed softer
than clouds now disappearing,
you and I melt into one another,
not just for these hours of darkened
ecstasy, but forever.

TOD HOWARD HAWKS

The United States of America has never been a democracy. Our Constitution, drafted and ratified in 1787, legalized slavery in all 13 nascent States. Eight of our presidents were slaveholders, including George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, who owned more the 600 slaves. Though the 13th Amendment legally abolished slavery in 1865, the KKK , founded also in 1865, began to flourish in the Deep South when U. S. troops were recalled in 1877. White Supremacists used a vicious range of deterrents to keep Blacks from voting:  Deep South State constitutions and laws;  poll taxes;  literacy tests;  the "grandfather clause";  and outright intimidation, including lynchings that occurred at their peak from 1890 to 1920. Today, Trump supporters have swept through almost all State legislatures "legalizing" myriad ways to keep minorities from voting, as well as other ways to invalidate their votes. In addition to brutalizing Blacks throughout our nation's history, we must not forget the genocide perpetrated by our government against indigenous peoples who had populated the continent for millennia, culminating between 1860 and 1890 with the coup de grace of Wounded Knee. "Manifest Destiny" was not democracy. It was manifest inhumanity.

TOD HOWARD HAWKS

At least they roll the credits slowly--
I mean, at the end of DOWNTON ABBEY,
the hundreds who worked their butts off
so you and I could see the stars on screen.
We human beings have been delusional
for millennia. Pharaohs, emperors, kings,
presidents, not to mention tycoons, millionaires--
now billionaires--and "prominent" people
from all walks of life, those who attended
Eton and Andover, the Ivies and Oxbridge
thinking as though they are inherently
better--superior, as it were--to all others
when, in truth, all human beings--indeed,
all creations--share the same divinity.
What a grand illusion it has been, Civilization,
from Sumer to the present! Willl we ever see
truth? Will we ever know that we are all one?
Or will we all perish from catastrophic
climate change or nuclear holocaust before
we achieve enlightenment?

TOD HOWARD HAWKS

I am blessed with a burden. I wish to save Earth and all living creations upon it. It can be done. It is utterly doable. But I am only a catalyst. I need your help. I need all your help. Please read what is below again and email me at todh21376@gmail.com so we may join hands and hearts and save our only home, Earth, to live in peace and love forever.


PEACE ON EARTH THROUGH LOVE


Turning the World Right-Side In

By

Tod Howard Hawks


PREAMBLE:  All we have is our little planet, Earth. For the vast majority of my life, I have thought, “What would it be like to have Peace on Earth?” But for only two, maybe three, weeks every year, usually around Christmas, I would see the phrase “Peace on Earth," usually on Christmas cards. But after Christmas, I would not hear or see that sanguine notion for 11 more months. The longer I lived, the more this annual ritual bothered me. At Andover, I had studied European history. At Columbia, I had majored in American history. Over time, I increasingly came to the realization that in both prep school and college, I had essentially been studying about wars on top of wars and their aftermaths:  millions and millions and millions of human beings being killed. Then, when I got curious, I used my computer to find out that, according to many scholars, only a little over 200, out of roughly 3,400 years of recorded history, were deemed “peaceful.” Humanity, I concluded, had a horrible track record when it came to effectuating “Peace on Earth.” And during my lifetime things have not gotten any better.  

SPIRITUAL ECOLOGY:  There is one land, one sky, one sea, one people. The boundaries that divide us are not on maps, but in our minds and hearts. John Donne was prescient. Earth is as impoverished as its poorest Citizen, as healthy as her sickest, as educated as her most ignorant. If we pollute the upper waters of the Mississippi, then ineluctably we shall pollute the Indian Ocean. If we continue to pollute our air, the current 7,500,000,000 Citizens on Earth will die. All species will be accorded the same concern and care as Citizens. The imminent threats of nuclear holocaust and catastrophic climate change we need urgently to prevent. This is the truth of Spiritual Ecology.  

CAMPAIGN FOR EARTH:  If we can wage war, why should we not wage peace? Nations are anachronistic;  therefore, there will be none. There will only be Earth and Citizens of Earth. Each Citizen will devote a sizable number of years of her/his life to the betterment of humankind and Earth. All military weapons--from handguns to hydrogen bombs--will be destroyed, and any future weapons will be prohibited. All jails and prisons will be closed, replaced by Love Centers (see below). Automation and other technological advances will enhance the opportunity for all Citizens exponentially to realize their potential, personally and spiritually. There will be no money. All precious resources and assets of Earth will be distributed equally among all Citizens. The only things Citizens will own are the right to be treated well and the responsibility to treat Earth and all its Citizens well. All Citizens will be free to travel anywhere, at any time, on Earth. All Citizens will be free to choose their own personal and professional goals, but will do no harm to Earth or other Citizens. All Citizens will be afforded the same resources to live a full, safe, and satisfying life, including the best education, health care, housing, food, and other necessities throughout Earth.

LOVE:  The only way to change anything for the good, for good, is through love. Love is what every living creation on Earth needs. Love Centers are for those Citizens who were not loved enough, or at all, especially at their earliest of ages. Concomitantly, they act out their pain hurtfully, sometimes lethally, often against other Citizens. Citizens who are emotionally ill will be separated from those who are not. Jails and prisons only abet this deleterious situation. Some Citizens in pain may need to be constrained in Love Centers humanely while they recover, through being loved, so they do not hurt themselves or others. In some extreme cases, Citizens may be in so much pain that they remain violent for a long time.  Thus, they may need to be constrained for the rest of their lives, but always loved, never punished. In time, Citizens, when loved enough, will only have love to give, and the need for Love Centers will commensurately decline.

EARTH:  In 1948, Eleanor Roosevelt chaired the commission that wrote the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. UDHR, with some updates and revisions, will serve as the moral and legal guidepost for Earth.

GENERAL ASSEMBLY:  To honor and remember the former nations on Earth, one member will be elected by Citizens from each of these former nations to serve a one five-year term as a member of the General Assembly. In succeeding elections, Citizens currently residing at that time in areas that were formerly nations, will again, in perpetuity, vote for one Citizen also residing in that area, for a one five-year term as a member of the General Assembly.
  
FIRST VOTE:  The first vote of all Citizens will be to establish CAMPAIGN FOR EARTH. Majority rules. All Citizens will have access to  Internet voting, as well as access to cell phones and other types of computers. Citizens will have her/his own secured ID codes. Citizens will have to be 18 or older to vote. Citizens will be encouraged to bring before the General Assembly all ideas and recommendations, as well as any concerns or complaints, which will be considered and responded to promptly. Citizens’ ideas and recommendations will be formed into proposals drafted by members of the General Assembly. Citizens will vote on these proposals of each month during the days of the following month. Citizens of Earth will be Earth’s government. Members of the General Assembly will be facilitators who will work with millions of volunteers. There will be no president of Earth.

ALLCOTT MOVEMENT:  If the multinational corporations that now rule Earth do not abide by the outcome of a majority vote in favor of CAMPAIGN FOR EARTH, Citizens of Earth will instigate the Allcott Movement, a one-at-a-time mancott, womancott, girlcott, boycott--hence, Allcott--against each multinational corporation unwilling to relinquish control of its global business and give it, and all its assets, to Citizens of Earth. Citizens will continue the Allcott Movement until all multinational corporations have done the same. All personal and smaller-business wealth will be converted into resources to be distributed equally to all Citizens. All proceeds in excess of what’s needed reasonably by each Citizen will be saved for future generations. No violence of any kind will occur during the transfer of these resources. Citizens will take these steps because they are the moral, the right, steps to take to save all living creations on Earth, and Earth itself.

CELEBRATE AND SHARE: If you were to take a photograph of humanity and gaze at it, you would see a beautiful mosaic of mankind of different, beautiful colors. If you could step into the photograph, you would hear a melody of languages and dialects. You could have a worldwide picnic with all your sisters and brothers and experience different customs and taste different, delicious foods. And in moments of silence, all of you could pray in your different religions, separate but together at the same time. You would also share the same human laughter and joys and feel the same sorrows and cry the same tears, all in Peace on Earth eternal. All of you would come to delight in these differences, not dread them. You would look forward to celebrating and sharing with your family, not killing them. The spiritual whole would be larger than the sum of its sacred parts.

A QUANTUM LEAP:  The world, over millennia, keeps evolving. Over 3,400 years of recorded history, powers, nations keep shifting, sometimes seismically. Now is the time for not only the grandest seismic shift ever, but also the one that will save Earth and all living creations upon it. It is time for Earth to become Earth--not a scattering of over 200 nations with artificial borders. Technology, with its innumerable advances, has made us into a world when all can become one. We are free to be our real selves, to spend our variegated lives not aggrandizing, but sharing and giving. Rather than dreading our superficial differences--our different skin colors, our different cultures, our different religions, our different languages--we can explore and enjoy them. Let us finally be what we truly have been forever, one big, worldwide family of humanity. No more wars, no more weapons, no more killing. No more hunger, no more homelessness, no more hopelessness. No more ignorance, no more illnesses, no more social classes. This is the quantum leap of which I speak.

PEACE ON EARTH:  Wealth is not worth. The mansuetude of loving, and being loved, is. When love is your currency, all else is counterfeit. Citizens will be able to go about creating their own happiness that is built on love-based personal relationships and professional activities. No longer will human beings be able to profit from another’s pain. With love at the center of being and living, there will be no more wars, no more dictators, no more corruption. Finally, there will only be Peace on Earth forever.

Copyright 2021 Tod Howard Hawks

A graduate of Phillips Andover Academy and Columbia College, Columbia University, Tod Howard Hawks has been a poet and a human-rights advocate his entire adult life.

Do not speak to me of numbers,
though they seem many,
there is only one.
Do not speak to me of glories,
though they seem many,
there is only truth.
Do not speak to me of galaxies,
though they seem many,
there is only infinity.
And do not speak to me of religions,
though they seem many,
there is only love.

TOD HOWARD HAWKS.

The poet recites his poem in a cave:
"I shall rail forever against inequality!"
It matters not that no other is present,
because the poet's audience is Cosmos.
Plato's cave was symbolic and finite;
the poet's is not, reverberating
reality is infinity is Cosmos is love.

TOD HOWARD HAWKS

When you see a man hurt
on the side of the road,
help him.

When you see a woman
in despair,
comfort her.

When you see a child crying,
hold the child,
because the child is you.

TOD HOWARD HAWKS

Why not love?
Why not try love?
Why not purify
instead of mortify?
Why own Earth
when we can share it?
Why remain strangers
when we can make
billions of new friends?
Why not join hands and hearts
instead of enslaving, starving,
torturing, ******, killing?
Why not become
a piece of world peace?
Why not love?

TOD HOWARD HAWKS

We spend all our lives at Circus Maximus.
We are preoccupied by the external,
forsaking the locus of our sacred worth
that is our hearts and souls. Rather,
we gaze transfixed by ludi of clowns
who make us laugh, at inspiring athletes,
at plays and recitals, at celebrations
of our victorious battles, at gladiators
who thrill us by killing other gladiators
and lions and Christians, even at
public executions. Politicians sometimes
come to orate. But never do we hear
a word about love and being loved.

TOD HOWARD HAWKS

Reality is infinity is Cosmos is love.

TOD HOWARD HAWKS

For what is the most precious gem?
It is the blue diamond,
but I shall hold love.
And for what is the greatest wealth?
It is to own more than any other,
but I shall hold love.
And for what is the greatest honor?
It is to have all others bow at your feet,
but I shall hold love.
And for what is the greatest glory?
It is for one to remembered by all forever,
but I shall hold love.

TOD HOWARD HAWKS

She's gone.
On and on
I think of her,
but in the end,
she's gone.

Her kiss I miss,
her eyes
still cry for me,
but in the end,
she's gone.

Those moments when
we lay together
it seemed forever,
but in the end,
she's gone.

I hold her hand
in memory
a thousand times,
but in the end,
she's gone.

TOD HOWARD HAWKS

Is life a course
or a curse,
a path
or a pathology?
Is living a blessing
or a lessening,
a miracle
or a mirage?
Is it a kiss
or a miss,
a tender touch
or simply a come-on?
The opposite of love
is not hate,
but uncaring,
simply not feeling.
Are all illnesses
psychosomatic,
a disguised, silent way
that we take out
our unconscious anger
against ourselves?
Love both clarifies
and resolves these ambiguities,
seeking always the better
over the worse.
Life can mean love,
but too often
means meanness.

TOD HOWARD HAWKS

The Gold Rushes, then and now, rush past true treasures:  that what is yours is mine is all. We need not mine, but only share.

TOD HOWARD HAWKS

The angry bangs upon my door in the middle of the night are but cries for help. I am sorry for their hurt.

TOD HOWARD HAWKS

We all know 1 + 0 = 0, but we do not get this Cosmic "joke," this infinite Cosmic truth:  0 has no beginning and no end:  It is infinity is reality is love.

TOD HOWARD HAWKS

When you are loved, you are LOVE.

TOD HOWARD HAWKS

PEACE ON EARTH THROUGH LOVE


Turning the World Rightside-in

By

Tod Howard Hawks


PREAMBLE:  All we have is our little planet, Earth. For the vast majority of my life, I have thought, “What would it be like to have Peace on Earth?” But for only two, maybe three, weeks every year, usually around Christmas, I would see the phrase “Peace on Earth," usually on Christmas cards. But after Christmas, I would not hear or see that sanguine notion for 11 more months. The longer I lived, the more this  annual ritual bothered me. At Andover, I had studied European history. At Columbia, I had majored in American history. Over time, I increasingly came to the realization that in both prep school and college, I had essentially been studying about wars on top of wars and their aftermaths:  millions and millions and millions of human beings being killed. Then, when I got curious, I used my computer to find out that, according to many scholars, only a little over 200, out of roughly 3,400 years of recorded history, were deemed “peaceful.” Humanity, I concluded, had a horrible track record when it came to effectuating “Peace on Earth.” And during my lifetime things have not gotten any better.  

SPIRITUAL ECOLOGY:  There is one land, one sky, one sea, one people. The boundaries that divide us are not on maps, but in our minds and hearts. John Donne was prescient. Earth is as impoverished as its poorest Citizen, as healthy as her sickest, as educated as her most ignorant. If we pollute the upper waters of the Mississippi, then ineluctably we shall pollute the Indian Ocean. If we continue to pollute our air, the current 7,500,000,000 Citizens on Earth will die. All species will be accorded the same concern and care as Citizens. The imminent threats of nuclear holocaust and catastrophic climate change we need urgently to prevent. This is the truth of Spiritual Ecology.  

CAMPAIGN FOR EARTH:  If we can wage war, why should we not wage peace? Nations are anachronistic;  therefore, there will be none. There will only be Earth and Citizens of Earth. Each Citizen will devote a sizable number of years of her/his life to the betterment of humankind and Earth. All military weapons--from handguns to hydrogen bombs--will be destroyed, and any future weapons will be prohibited. All jails and prisons will be closed, replaced by Love Centers (see below). Automation and other technological advances will enhance the opportunity for all Citizens exponentially to realize their potential, personally and spiritually. There will be no money. All precious resources and assets of Earth will be distributed equally among all Citizens. The only things Citizens will own are the right to be treated well and the responsibility to treat Earth and all its Citizens well. All Citizens will be free to travel anywhere, at any time, on Earth. All Citizens will be free to choose their own personal and professional goals, but will do no harm to Earth or other Citizens. All Citizens will be afforded the same resources to live a full, safe, and satisfying life, including the best education, health care, housing, food, and other necessities throughout Earth.

LOVE:  The only way to change anything for the good, for good, is through love. Love is what every living creation on Earth needs. Love Centers are for those Citizens who were not loved enough, or at all, especially at their earliest of ages. Concomitantly, they act out their pain hurtfully, sometimes lethally, often against other Citizens. Citizens who are emotionally ill will be separated from those who are not. Jails and prisons only abet this deleterious situation. Some Citizens in pain may need to be constrained in Love Centers humanely while they recover, through being loved, so they do not hurt themselves or others. In some extreme cases, Citizens may be in so much pain that they remain violent for a long time.  Thus, they may need to be constrained for the rest of their lives, but always loved, never punished. In time, Citizens, when loved enough, will only have love to give, and the need for Love Centers will commensurately decline.

EARTH:  In 1948, Eleanor Roosevelt chaired the commission that wrote the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. UDHR, with some updates and revisions, will serve as the moral and legal guidepost for Earth.

GENERAL ASSEMBLY:  To honor and remember the former nations on Earth, one member will be elected by Citizens from each of these former nations to serve a one five-year term as a member of the General Assembly. In succeeding elections, Citizens currently residing at that time in areas that were formerly nations, will again, in perpetuity, vote for one Citizen also residing in that area, for a one five-year term as a member of the General Assembly.
  
FIRST VOTE:  The first vote of all Citizens will be to establish CAMPAIGN FOR EARTH. Majority rules. All Citizens will have access to  Internet voting, as well as access to cell phones and other types of computers. Citizens will have her/his own secured ID codes. Citizens will have to be 18 or older to vote. Citizens will be encouraged to bring before the General Assembly all ideas and recommendations, as well as any concerns or complaints, which will be considered and responded to promptly. Citizens’ ideas and recommendations will be formed into proposals drafted by members of the General Assembly. Citizens will vote on these proposals of each month during the days of the following month. Citizens of Earth will be Earth’s government. Members of the General Assembly will be facilitators who will work with millions of volunteers. There will be no president of Earth.

ALLCOTT MOVEMENT:  If the multinational corporations that now rule Earth do not abide by the outcome of a majority vote in favor of CAMPAIGN FOR EARTH, Citizens of Earth will instigate the Allcott Movement, a one-at-a-time mancott, womancott, girlcott, boycott--hence, Allcott--against each multinational corporation unwilling to relinquish control of its global business and give it, and all its assets, to Citizens of Earth. Citizens will continue the Allcott Movement until all multinational corporations have done the same. All personal and smaller-business wealth will be converted into resources to be distributed equally to all Citizens. All proceeds in excess of what’s needed reasonably by each Citizen will be saved for future generations. No violence of any kind will occur during the transfer of these resources. Citizens will take these steps because they are the moral, the right, steps to take to save all living creations on Earth, and Earth itself.

CELEBRATE AND SHARE: If you were to take a photograph of humanity and gaze at it, you would see a beautiful mosaic of mankind of different, beautiful colors. If you could step into the photograph, you would hear a melody of languages and dialects. You could have a worldwide picnic with all your sisters and brothers and experience different customs and taste different, delicious foods. And in moments of silence, all of you could pray in your different religions, separate but together at the same time. You would also share the same human laughter and joys and feel the same sorrows and cry the same tears, all in Peace on Earth eternal. All of you would come to delight in these differences, not dread them. You would look forward to celebrating and sharing with your family, not killing them. The spiritual whole would be larger than the sum of its sacred parts.

A QUANTUM LEAP:  The world, over millennia, keeps evolving. Over 3,400 years of recorded history, powers, nations keep shifting, sometimes seismically. Now is the time for not only the grandest seismic shift ever, but also the one that will save Earth and all living creations upon it. It is time for Earth to become Earth--not a scattering of over 200 nations with artificial borders. Technology, with its innumerable advances, has made us into a world when all can become one. We are free to be our real selves, to spend our variegated lives not aggrandizing, but sharing and giving. Rather than dreading our superficial differences--our different skin colors, our different cultures, our different religions, our different languages--we can explore and enjoy them. Let us finally be what we truly have been forever, one big, worldwide family of humanity. No more wars, no more weapons, no more killing. No more hunger, no more homelessness, no more hopelessness. No more ignorance, no more illnesses, no more social classes. This is the quantum leap of which I speak.

PEACE ON EARTH:  Wealth is not worth. The mansuetude of loving, and being loved, is. When love is your currency, all else is counterfeit. Citizens will be able to go about creating their own happiness that is built on love-based personal relationships and professional activities. No longer will human beings be able to profit from another’s pain. With love at the center of being and living, there will be no more wars, no more dictators, no more corruption. Finally, there will only be Peace on Earth forever.

Copyright 2021 Tod Howard Hawks

A graduate of Phillips Andover Academy and Columbia College, Columbia University, Tod Howard Hawks has been a poet and a human-rights advocate his entire adult life.

todh21376@gmail.com

(Please share this commentary with others and email me if you wish to join all the other Citizens of Earth around the world in helping to save Earth through love.)

If love is infinity is reality, why is it necessary that we human beings on Earth seem to live in the world of the finite?

The answer is the finite is the pathway, paradoxically, to infinity. It's like a kid growing up. There are steps, stages, each of us must take to reach the summit, infinity. Know truth by untruth. One is all and all are sacred.

Ultimately, we shall realize the Cosmos has no beginning and no end and is, therefore, the last step before our spiritual beings exist forever in infinity that the Supreme Being created:  omniprescence, omniscience, omnipotence.

TOD HOWARD HAWKS

I will wander
into wilderness
to find myself.
I will leave behind
my accoutrements,
memories of medals,
of past applause
and accolades,
accomplishments that
warranted degrees
and diplomas
portending future
successes. I like
who I am, who
I have become. No,
I love myself, and that
is my greatest achievement,
the acme most men
are blind to as they
mistake wealth for worth.
Most would say
I will be lonely,
but they are wrong,
because I will always be
with my best friend ever,
my real self. And I will
share my joy with
squirrels and rabbits
and deer, with bushes
and broken branches
and brush, with rills
and rivulets and rivers,
with rising and setting
suns and countless
stars coruscating in
night's sky. I will say
prayers to piles of pine
and sycamore limbs
that once were live,
but now make monuments
I worship. I am at one
with all I prize.  My eyes,
even when they are closed,
see their beauty. I know
I will be blessed forever.
I lie on my bed, Earth,
and wait to join all
in solitude and grace.

TOD HOWARD HAWKS

In crepuscular skies
I descry sailboats afloat
on soft seas
out of reach
as I lie along
the sandy beach.
Do I wish
to be on one,
the one that sails
on, undeterred by
imminent darkness?
No moon there is
tonight to light
one's way,
only stars
and intuition.
Is what I wish for
not unlike life,
a journey of waves
and storms, winds
whipping at my sails?
Yes, there are also
placid passages
when one can close
his eyes and dream
of moments of
tranquility and calm.
But what of stormy
weather when whether
one can withstand
tumult, oceans of
uncertainty, swells of
hell-like hurricanes
of dread and remorse,
forces so strong
one sees no ways
from which to recover?
We only hover and hope.

TOD HOWARD HAWKS

Cosmos is Infinity is Love.

TOD HOWARD HAWKS

I am in love with this young woman.
She dances through my dreams
like a filly foal, frisky, full of fun.
She knows she is a beauty,
but wants to share with me each iota
of her new-found feminity.
She prances into my my heart
with no timidity and makes her home
there to share her love with me
unfettered, unafraid. She wraps
her braided golden hair around
my chest so I can sleep not nor rest.
The rest is ecstasy that has no end,
except a new beginning of the same.
Tame she is not. She is Eros come aflame.
Shame? Why should she be?
In some cosmic way, she has always known
that fluids she ******* are but tears
of pure passion, joy, to be savored
by her and me. Night becomes day,
but there is no end to this melody
of moans and murmurs. I hold her
in my arms forever,
this young woman whom I love.

TOD HOWARD HAWKS