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

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

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

If you had been there in the beginning,
if you had gathered round a fire with others,
if, in your primitive language, would you
have said to the others, "I wish sharing among us.
I wish no hurt or harm to any of you. I wish for
warmth when it is cold. I will lie with the one
I favor if she touches my face. When we hunger,
we will throw our spears only at four-legeds
we will eat. I love all of you. You are my brothers
and sisters." All kissed the stars, then fell into sleep.

TOD HOWARD HAWKS

My years at Andover, the oldest (1778) and arguably the best prep school in the United States, were the unhappiest of my life. Emotionally, I felt ancient. All but few of the teachers were as sodden with a kind of spititual sorrow as were most of the students. And while the campus with its spacious lawns and grand architecture was breathtakingly beautiful, and the Oliver Wendell Holmes Library would have made any university beyond proud, and all the facilities were many and first-class, paradoxically, the sum of those parts deprecated the whole . Yes, I, perforce, became learned, but at an exorbitant social and emotonal cost. Tone Grant, one of the gods of our class, because he was the quarterback of our football team, a fact that got him into Yale where he was and did the same, was indicted, tried, and convicted to 10 years in prison for embezzling over two billion dollars from customers of the company he ran. Did Andover and Yale inculcate in him the perverse values that led him to prison? He pleaded innocent before his trial, but over two billion dollars are a lot of dollars to explain away. Tone died of a heart attach in prison. My years at Andover ended with a ritual. All the graduates formed a large oval on the Great Lawn as the headmaster began to pass diplomas one at a time to his left. The first graduate would look at the diploma, and if he did not see his name imprinted in gold ink on it, he would pass it to the classmate on his left until every graduate had received his diploma. While this interminable ritual was taking place, I made a silent but solemn vow:  I would never again set foot on the Andover campus. Am I  proud I graduated from Andover, you might ask? I am proud I endured it. Others did not.

Copyright 2020 Tod Howard Hawks

Beware of big houses.
There can be a lot of emptiness in there.
What good are stairways
if all they do is take you
from one emptiness to another?
Hallways that lead you to just more loneliness.
Carpets are the softest things
that ever touched you.
Choose a bathroom;  
there are a lot to choose from.
At least their hard tile floors
make no pretenses.
I preferred the attic
on the third floor.
It was filled with things
that used to have a life.
Live children used to play
with the toys.
I remember one rainy afternoon.
My mother was in the sewing room
oblivious to my presence in the hallway,
so I slowly walked down the stairs,
put on my yellow raincoat,
walked out into the rain
and walked six or seven blocks
to the street where Loretta lived,
the girl I think I loved
but didn't know in third grade.
I stood on the side of the street
opposite her house. I stood there
in the pouring rain for quite a long time;  
nobody, I think, saw me,
but nonetheless, I felt I was with a friend.
Finally, I turned around and walked
back to my house.
Mother never missed me.
I took off my yellow raincoat,
walked up the stairway
past my oblivious mother,
found an empty room,
lay down on an empty bed and cried,
just like the rain.

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.

We have been blind since our inception, until now. Why the change? Ecology.
But ecology is only a catalyst for all other revelations, one variation on the truths of the Cosmos:  infinity;  oneness;  divinity. All truths are related, because all in the infinite Cosmos are one. Right now, the vast majority of
human beings see themselves as plausibly the only "intelligent" beings in the
universe. How absurd! First, the Cosmos in infinite. Second, do the math:
multiply 1 (the number of Earths {the one planet in our solar system that we
know supports human life}) by 200,000,000,000 (the estimated number of solar systems in each galaxy) by 2,000,000,000,000 (the estimated number of
galazies that astronomers think exist in the Cosmos). I cannot do the math, and my computer calculator can't either, but it is not necessary to calculate the
estimated number of planets like Earth that can sustain human life (as well as
other kinds of flora and fauna), because, if one could, the product would be
infinitely large;  thus, to think Earth is the only place in the infinite Cosmos
that is able to support life as we experience it is patently insane. But, for now,
Earth is all we have, so we better become aware of all the ramifications (there
are simply too many to enumerate here) of ecology if life on Earth is to survive. It is past time for all of us to open our eyes, otherwise catastrophic, existential threats will cease to be threats and become realities, and our eyes,
by our own making, will be closed forever.

Copyright 2020 Tod Howard Hawks

Breeze, ******* please into her arms,
her eyes, I try to see in them her love for me
to understand her majesty and mystery,
her candor and her kindness, hoping
winds would whip kisses to my lips.
Morning sunlight shines upon her, *******
beckoning my mouth closer. Her golden hair
I spread on white pillows, a silhouette
against pink walls, calls are crying
for another ******, must you ever
leave me alone in this paradise of love?

TOD HOWARD HAWKS

I have lived a blessed life. I have been a poet and human-rights advocate
my entire adult life. Money and the material things that it can buy have never
mattered to me;  their worth is illusory, yet, it seems at times the whole world
has bought into these falsehoods, and look where they have got us:  hunger,
homelessness, hopelessness. The 7.5 billion of us presently residing on this
planet face two foreboding existential threats:  catastrophic climate change
and imminent nuclear holocaust, while **** Trump is only concerned with
shaving a few more points off his handicap at Mar-a-lago every weekend.
So where do I find solace? I find it in the bright and beautiful I have been
blessed to experience:  meeting the dispossessd;  the social outcasts;  the down-and-outs;  the forgotten;  the socially disgraced of the world. But I have found my gold:  the goodness, in fact, of everyone, if only each knew where inside themselves to look. "Goodness" is not out there. It is deep within each
of us. Why am I rich? Because I know where and how to mine the heart
of anyone.

Copyright 2020 Tod Howard Hawks

Roy Orbison was no Luciano Pavarotti, but then Luciano Pavarotti was no Roy Orbison. Born in Nowhere, Texas, Orbison had an inauspicious musical beginning. He was shy growing up, but got a guitar at an early age. He drifted around tiny towns as he tentatively began his career and over the following years signed with several different recording companies. He remained extremely self-conscious as he slowly gained some success and wore dark-tinted glasses to allay some degree of his unease on stage. But in the late 1950s and early 60s, Orbison made it big, so big, in fact, that his songs went to the top of the charts in the U.S. as well as Europe and Australia. But by the mid-60s with the musical invasion from the United Kingdom--ironic though it was, he became close friends with the Beatles who admired his talent and songs--and the dramatic culture-change in America, Orbison's career and his popularity waned terribly. It was not until the 80s that Orbison experienced a grand resurgence of popularity, which pleased him so. But he did not have long to enjoy it. He died of a heart attack in 1988 at the age of 52. He was buried in an unmarked grave.

Copyright 2020 Tod Howard Hawks

Jeff Bezos. a really nice guy, so I hear. He is worth $190,000,000,000.

Do you think he might be willing to give some of his money to the millions and millions of children on Earth who are starving to death right now?

Do you think he might be willing to give some of his money to the 2 1/2 billion fellow human beings who are poor, or extremely poor, on Earth right now, and therefore are suffering unimaginably from the utter lack of myriad necessities of living--including, but not limited to--adequate housing, sufficient medical care, excellent education, and like their children, food enough to stay alive for another day?

Bezos has friends, over 2,000 other billionaires on Earth, 660 of whom live in America.

Bezos has megabillions, but does he have a heart?

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

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 be remembered by all forever,
but I shall hold love.

TOD HOWARD HAWKS

I have, as of yet, avoided caducuty.
Emotionally, creatively, I feel younger,
not older. Is it true that the older we
get, the more wisdom we accrue?
It seems that way to me. My scope is
broader, my vision paradoxically
keener, my understanding deeper,
my tolerance for intolerance
virtually extinct. I have never been
able to brook unkindness, cruelty in any
of its manifold manifestations. The
notions of differences among members
of the human race--e.g. degrees of social
status, the poor and the wealthy, one
IQ better than another--all and others
are specious, bootless. We all are one.
Our shared worth is within, not without.
I have gotten wiser, not older. While my
life has gotten longer, my patience for not
knowing right from wrong is shorter.
The years of my living that remain will be
like dances of insight and joy, not lugubrious
ones. I shall live them in the sunshine of
caring and sharing.

Copyright 2020 Tod Howard Hawks

The following is not a paid advertisement. It is the truth. It is arguably plausible for me to state that I received the best secondary and higher education in the world.

I graduated from Phillips Academy (more commonly referred to as Andover now), the oldest boarding school in America founded in 1778, two years after our nation was founded. Andover and its sequel, Exeter, it seems, now take turns being voted the best high school in the United States.

Though I received an essentially unequalled secondary education at Andover, I paid an exorbitant social and emotional cost to receive it. The years I spent at Andover were the worst of my life.

I chose to matriculate to Columbia College, the tradional undergraduate liberal arts school of Columbia University, over Yale
for principally two main reasons:  the Core Curriculum and New York City. More years at Yale would be like returning to Andover, anathema to me.

The Core Curriculum, now over 100 years old, is a rigorous, two-year course of studies that include philosophy, literature. art, music, language, frontiers of science, and writing. All College students, regardless of her or his majors, must take all the Core courses, which, in turn, make them learned for life. Columbia College is the only Ivy school to have anything like the Core. Living in and exploring New York City, the veritable capital of the world, for four years makes one a Citizen of the World for life, even if one decides to reside elsewhere after graduating, as I did. I now live in Boulder, CO. Columbia College's 2019 admit rate was 5.1%. Columbia College admitted a few over 2,000 applicants out of slightly over 42,000 applicants worldwide, making Columbia College the second most selective school in the Ivy League. 5.1 % admit rate:  that's about 1 out of 20.

But even Columbia has its "bad apples:"  Roy Cohn comes to mind readily. So does William Barr. But it also has Barach Obama. 84 students who studied or professors who taught there won the Nobel Prize.

So what to do with this piece CAN WE PROFIT OFF IT?

It sees to me that the maxim  DO UNTO OTHERS...is rapidly being supplanted by CAN WE PROFIT OFF IT? Our political leaders, who have never been paragons of virtue, have for 3 1/2 years have become, in a word, corrupt. The Washington Post has authenticated more than 15,000 lies emanating from the Oval Office, not to mention the cheating, the racism, and the ******.

CAN WE PROFIT OFF IT? is the new adage these days.

I say "Make America A Democracy Again!" should be.

"Casablanca" is my all-time favorite movie.
I usually only watch a movie once. If it is a
great movie, twice. "Casablanca" I have
watched probably 50, 60 times. Why is that,
you ask? There are many reasons. Every
scene is iconic. Bogart, who was expelled
from Andover, the school from which I
graduated, is not handsome, yet he emotes
a singular masculine appeal. I wish there
were a real Rike's Cafe Americain. I would
go wherever it was, even though I neither
drink alcohol nor gamble. Virtually every
actor and actress plays her or his part in a
scintillating way. The story line keeps me
rapt, even though I have seen the movie
so many times The Paris scenes are the
most romantic I have ever seen. When
Bogart helps the young married couple
from Bulgaria get enough money to get
to Lisbon, then to America, by cheating his
own casino, my heart, too, is softened.
And the dialogue at the end of the movie
is trenchant, unforgettable. But, to be
honest, the most compelling reason I have
watched "Casablanca" so many times is
that when Ingrid Bergman and her movie
husband first enter Rick's, I instantly press
"pause." Then I spend as long as I wish
staring at Ingrid's face, the most beautiful
woman's face I have ever seen, and I have
had the good fortune to see many beautiful
faces of women up close in my life, but none
as radiant and mesmerizing as Ingrid's.

Copyright 2020 Tod Howard Hawks

Each human life is but a raindrop in hurricanes or a stream of sunshine days. Every infant ever born, each breath ever taken, every toddler's many steps, each word ever uttered, every fact ever learned, each friendship ever forged, every delight and sorrow that made us happy or sad, every love that did endear us, each death that we shall mourn--all are integral parts of the whole of countless lives. These moments and millennia are the catalogue raisonne of humanity. There will never be enough books ever written, enough museums ever to capture, enough memories ever shared to achieve a full accounting of what our ancestors experienced or our descendants will discover. Each life, therefore, is a microcosm of all that has been, is, and will be. So remember, live, and envision as best you can, and be thankful you were one of many to feel raindrops and sunshine streams.

Copyright 2020 Tod Howard Hawks

Jesus wore only a robe and needed only a mount to speak to those around him. And yet his words, his wisdom, his divinity have lasted over two thousand years. But look at what has become of his legacy? Have you been to Vatican City? Have you seen the Basilica? What does it have to do with Jesus' core message?:  Love one another. The collective wealth of the Roman Catholic and Protestant churches around the world is so massive that it cannot be determined. But Jesus wore only a robe and needed only a mount. Jesus would find upon his return a sight obscene:  a colossal monetary worth of those who were supposed to carry on his teachings! Jusus would scream:  "Sell all your worldly possessions! Sell the Basilica! Sell all the priceless and precious objets d'art in your collections! Sell all your churches! Give all your money to the poorest of the poor! Do you not remember what I did when I entered the sacred temple and found money-changers? I turned over their tables! I threw their coins on the floor! I threw the money-changers out! I found corruption instead of holy caring! What was my crucifixtion for? Pray to God and care for your fellow human beings. Do it in a vacant lot. Call it the Cathedral of the Sky.

TOD HOWARD HAWKS

Charles Webb died today at the age of 81. He was the author of THE GRADUATE, which, in turn, was made into the eponymous movie in the late 1960s. The movie was a huge financial success (the soundtrack contained Simon and Garfunkel's most famous songs). But Charles, who had attended an expensive prep school and had graduated from Williams, eschewed money in general and wealth overall. I have written "Wealth is not worth;"  Charles and his wife personified my sentiment. They gave away everything of worth they had--and they had tons of things of great worth. They lived their long lives in what others called extreme poverty, but they knew early on that financial wealth was, indeed, not spiritual worth. If Earth is to survive, those who call Earth their home will necessarily have to learn and practice, to an appreciable degree, what Charles and his wife learned and practived their entire adult lives.

Copyright 2020 Tod Howard Hawks

I have a pet. His name is Charlie. He's an insect, a kind of unusal pet, I know. But he keeps me company and I feel he deserves to be alive on Earth as much as I do. I tell him he's welcome to go anywhere in my apartment he wants, except on my face when I'm sleeping. One day he's crawling along my computer keyboard;  I wait til he gets all the way across. The next day, I find him in the bathroom sitting on the edge of the sink. I don't know how he gets enough to eat and drink to stay alive, but I'm no expert on insects anyway. What I do know pretty much for sure is that he hasn't killed a human being, probably never has intentionally been unkind to one. That's more than I can say about people who are mean in spirit, or worse. I love Charlie. I have never killed any other living creature since I shot a sparrow dead with my new BB gun when I was seven and a rabbit and a squirrel with my 22 when I was in the 8th grade. I guess I finally grew up.

Copyright 2020 Tod Howard Hawks

Speak in tears when you lie
next to me and your heart is
troubled so. Let sorrow pour
from your eyes and wet the
sheets. Meet your heart and
greet it openly, though it be
filled with sadness. Let your
body shake against mine, as
my love will absorb its blows;
I know what it is to hurt.
Let empathy soak up your
sorrow. Let your catharsis
become chrysanthemums.

Tell the person on your left she/he is full of grace, then ask her/him to tell the person on her/his left the same thing.

Soon you will be in a circle.

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

Commerce or mercy?

TOD HOWARD HAWKS

All 8,000,000,000 human beings are regal--no, divine.
But several billion of them are poor or extremely poor.
The World Bank says 10,000 children around the world
die every day of starvation. Moreover, if you totaled
the net worth of only the 10 wealthiest nations, you
would find it to be $307,000,000,000,000. If you divide
307 trillion dollars by 8 billion human beings, each
human being on Earth would receive $46,250, but the
poor right now try to survive on less than $2.00 a day.
Does this bother any of you as much as it does me?
But if we coronated every human being on Earth, there
would be far, far, far fewer children dying every day
and far, far, far human beings trying to survive on
less than $2.00 a day.

TOD HOWARD HAWKS

Cosmos is Infinity is Love.

TOD HOWARD HAWKS

Crimes and recriminations, swear oath to the Constitution, so help me God, Charlottesville, good men on both sides, a merry-go-round of sychophants and con-men, love letters to dictators, not up, not in, partying with Epstein, ******* prostitutes and playgirls, Maga rallies and riots. turning Oval Office into black box, pulling kids, even babies, from mothers's arms, a wall too far, no bridges, can't read or write English, pandemic a "Democrat hoax," Mar-a-lago back swing, under the bus, orange skin and orange hair, no empathy, blaming others, one impeachment after another, take 'em to court 50-60 times, racists, neo-Nazis, white supremacists, KKK, won by a landside, storm the Capitol, hang Pence, **** Pelosi, another day in democracy, Air Force One, America last.

TOD HOWARD HAWKS

Lierary critics are people who wish they could write creatively, but can't. Music critics are people who wish they could play a musical instrument, but can't. Theater critics are people who wish they could act or write a screenplay or direct, but can't do any of them. Sports critics are people who wish they could throw a football 45 yards, hit a curve ball, shoot like Curry, but remain on the sidelines, in the dugout, or on the bench. What they can do is get angry if anyone disagrees with them so much so they lose readers and get fired. A plot gone awry, a sour note, forgotten lines, a dead dialogue, a misdirection, an interception, strike three, fouled out, a visit to the unemployment office. All could happen, and do. But nobody's perfect, right? C'est la guerre!

Copyright 2020 Tod Howard Hawks

I cried not for two days, but for two years. "I've lost my best friend," I said to myself as I walked through the snow to the fields in the park. Of course I loved her. For two years I cried. I sat down in the snow leaning against the trunk of of a tree. That was forty years ago. I still do not know how and exactly why I could have cried steadily for two years, but I had. Maybe I was unconsciously mourning the loss of the love I never received from my mother who remained deeply depressed throughout her life. I don't know. Cara never knew anything about this. I remember the evening when I stopped crying. I just stopped. I guess I had cried enough. But two years crying every waking moment of evey day. Unbelievable. What happened to me so long ago makes me think of Steinbeck because he had an exquisite sensitivity to life. He is my favorite novelist because I sense he felt powerfully about what he was going to write. So many writers contrive. The great ones feel first.

Copyright 2020 Tod Howard Hawks

They were like cut flowers,
arranged but deranged in some
basic way, which is to say, their
smiles were frozen, never chosen.
They did not cheer;  they mirrored
one another. They did not lead;
they followed. Their laughter was
hollow. Their problems stemmed
from being cut from their emotional
roots:  They'd root for the home
team, but it seemed they'd never
grow, never know the joy of letting
go, only the cant, the chanting
of school yells, a fool's hell
for not feeling. At best, their
beauty was pressed and dried;
Too bad they died, devoid of
themselves. We must put them
on our shelves to gather dust.

TOD HOWARD HAWKS

Played catch with me once
(as in "one" time)
Never had a conversation with me.
Never said he was proud of me.
Never asked me how I felt.
Had three letters typed
by his secretary sent to me
in the seven years I was at
Andover and Columbia;
the word "love" was typed.
Never  said he loved me.

TOD HOWARD HAWKS

Tuesday morning the green leaf
was bent, not broken. Red pickled
beets held up the book of San
Francisco poetry. I spread apple
butter on hot toast. To someone
less discerning, death seemed far
away. Had I not noticed the
slight curl, I might have cheered
the yellow sun. But Friday, death
came. Without lament, the leaf was
grey, not green, mud-brown and brittle.

Copyright 2019 Tod Howard Hawks

Death is but a step away,
but love is always in us.
10,000 illnesses threaten
our lives each day,
but love is our great protector.
Acts of empathy, compassion
are bulwarks against our strongest foes.
It goes without saying that love has many allies:  
an open heart, arms extended, a consciousness of kindness--
all are redoubtable measures to allay our fears and misery.
Many suffer, but to ameliorate their pain is
but one swift sweetness away. Alas,
we shall offer succor to those who feel no hope;  
we shall displace despair with an air of caring
to bring our bodies home. There is room
for all in this world that seems so bleak.
We seek only goodness to spread like a goddess
to all who hurt and hunger, to help our Earth's rebirth
and realize God's goal.

TOD HOWARD HAWKS

Death, no dearth of hubris,
you took my love away. Now
I lie until I cry and miss your kiss
death took away, your hugs that
kept me warm. Death, I tell you
now you better seek night's
darkness never to be seen, for
if I ever spy your shadow against
rough, brown bark of sycamores,
I'll come toward you with axe in
hand and leave you hacked in
piles of chips under which I'll
slip a match and watch 'til morn
your flames fly so high only
blackbirds can smell your acrid
fumes while I hum tunes of your
black good-byes.

TOD HOWARD HAWKS

Some people love only a
particular kind of face, only
a certain color of skin, only
a distinctive accent in another’s
voice, only a spelling of a
last name like their own.
They probably prefer a blank
canvass to one of Picasso’s.
They need no eyes, not even
a heart:  bigotry blinds their
sight;  the suffering of others
they do not feel or see;  their
soul is dark and sick. I prefer
different faces, eyes as blue
as robins’ eggs, brown or black
as Mother Earth from which we
all come. Show me different
dances, different clothings,
different customs. Teach me
of the variegated ways so
many others live and fall in
love, making babies of skin
colors, one different from the
others, but all crying for mother’s
milk like infant members of a
Greek chorus. We need a
deus ex machina to turn
racism into the rhapsody
of love.

Different kinds of beautiful, black, brown,
red, yellow, deep blue eyes, slanted ones,
drums beating against a mountain side,
flutes floating through jungle vines, soft
prayers murmured on golden steppes,
mosques, cathedrals, churches on a country
hill, puppies, swallows, mountain lion
cubs, long, blonde hair, ***** curls, swirls
of laughter, tears of solace, tender drops
of rain upon her face, breezes blowing
sails homeward, silent moments between
passion and sunrise.

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

DIRT POOR, SPIRIT RICH

I am dirt poor, spirit rich. I wouldn’t
have it any other way. Wealth is
not worth. When Jesus spoke to those
who gathered round him, he did not
tell them how to get rich. He told
them to love one another. This was
spiritual teaching of the highest
order. Do not confuse spirit with
religion:  they are antonyms. My
father wanted me to become rich,
very rich. That’s why he sent me
to Andover and Columbia. Instead
of becoming a Wall-Street lawyer,
I became, and remained, a poet and
a human-rights advocate. My life
could not have been richer. Religion
is man-made. Spirituality is heart-
felt. That is not to say religion
doesn’t have bits and pieces of
spirit in it, but religion to me means
the untold wealth and worth of all
world religions, while billions of
world’s human beings remain dirt
poor. When Jesus spoke to the
poor, he did not  speak to them at
the Vatican, in a cathedral, in a church,
or in a mosque. He spoke to them be-
side the sea or on a hill. If you have
spiritual truths to share, you can do
it in a vacant lot. The few years I
spent in a cathedral were vacant,
vacuous. The years I have spent with
the homeless, the hungry, the hopeless
have been rich and full. Where does
the Supreme Spirit spend her/his
time? The answer is she/he is omni-
present, as we all should be.

Copyright 2020 Tod Howard Hawks

Do not cross me,
because if you do,
I'm out of here.
I'm not perfect,
but I always try
to do what's right.
Treat all others
with respect. Prejudice
is the ugliest disrespect.
If you think and act that
you're better than any
other, forget me. If you're
racist, you're morally blind,
and I'm out of here forever.

TOD HOWARD HAWKS

Don't have much to say, cept I'm dying. Guess everybody could say that, couldn't they? The difference is that I look now through the rear-view mirror more than I used to, seeing the moments of laughter and love that blinded me, at least for a nightime or two, of what was really happening. Making out at 15 while we watched "The Twilight Zone." The terrible sadness I felt at the world's best prep school, the lonliness, the meanness of those from Greenwich and Darien. A kid from Kansas, I wasn't like they were, thank goodness. I hate racism;  I was reared and loved by a Black woman. Several weeks ago, I got an email from a young Air Force nurse stationed in Syria. Inside of two weeks, we fell in love over the Internet. Then she asked me for money. I told my best friend about it. He showed me articles that were blueprints of the "epidemic" of the "Military Romance Scam." I was heartbroken. I guess I still am. That's probably why I'm so depressed, thinking about dying and so.

TOD HOWARD HAWKS

I saw the spirit of Dorthea Lange as I looked out my window two days ago.
It was not an accident. It was not an apparition. It is time for her spirit to
come again to the great American wasteland. It is time for Dorthea to prepare for another dispiriting, but at once brutal and honest, recording of the anguish and torment and crushing poverty that awaits so many of us in the near future. No, she will not be taking portraits of Bezos and Buffett and Gates and the other other American billionaires;  rather, her spirit will see again the homeless, the jobless, the hopeless, the hungry. the utterly forlorn and forsaken of millions of us in interminably long soup lines and fellow citizens lying on folded cardboard boxes on cold cement sidewalks of virtually every city
and town in our great America. Perhaps Dorthea will create another photographic classic like "The White Angel Breadline."  No doubt, the spirit of Dorthea will be joined by the spirits of the other photographers who chronicled the American misery of the Great Depression for the Farm Bureau Administration:  Walker Evans;  Gordon Parks;  Jack Delano;  Russell Lee;  Carl Mydans;  Arthur Rostein;  John Vachon;  Theo Jung;  Ben Shahn;  John Collier;  Marion Post Wolcott. The spirits of Dorthea and her colleagues will document again the scourge of rural poverty and the exploitation of sharecroppers and migrant workers.  Dorthea Lange's iconic "Migrant Mother" is the photographic equivalent of John Steinbeck's "The Grapes of Wrath." Steinbeck won a Nobel Prize for his literay canon. Dorthea Lange should have won a Nobel Prize for her photographic portfolio. Shortly, we all shall feel the presence of Dorthea and her fellow photograpers, for soon our fellow Americans will be without jobs, without homes, without food, without hope. In fact, the beginning of this abject disaster is aleady behind us, but we are blind to what is to become.

Copyright 2020 Tod Howard Hawks

Do not worry,
I am sorry.
I thought you loved me,
but I was wrong.
I longed to be with you,
but go on your way now.
I'll see you often
in my dreams.

TOD HOWARD HAWKS

Dumb and ignorant are not synonyms. Dumb, well, means dumb, but ignorant means uneducated. Dumb people will vote for Criminal Trump. Ignorant people may vote for Criminal Trump. Educated people, people who know the principles of democracy, will likely vote for Biden, not because he is brilliant, but because he is decent. Our nation was built on slavery and genocide. Blacks and the autochthonous were the victims. The progeny of slavery is racism. Racism permeates America. Criminal Trump, a vitriolic racist (redundant, but for good reason) himself, as was his father, will sell his rotten soul to garner four more years in the Oval Office rather than in a prison cell. Dumb, dumber, and dumbest, right? Criminal Trump wouldn't mind a little plagiarism, would he? He is functionally illiterate. Dumb as a rock. So we come full circle:  simply, there are more dumb people and uneducated people than reasonably intelligent people in America. But it doesn't take too much intelligence to mark a ballot or to wave the Stars and Stripes or to hate others whose skin is a slightly different shade than yours.

Copyright 2020 Tod Howard Hawks

Early May.
Grass now green.
Lilacs bloom.
Red, yellow, blue
tulips supplant
winter's constant cold.
Warmer air
now through
her hair
fair and golden.
We kiss.
Robins, bluebirds
try out
their wings.
Skies take on
blue's hue.
Hope palpable
fills fields
once buried
in silver snow.
We know
wheat and barley
begin to grow.
Maple tree leaves
are being born
on only weeks ago
were barren limbs.
Spring sings.

TOD HOWARD HAWKS

Earth is not a puzzle, but we have made it into one, into over 200 artificial pieces called nations. But castastrophic climate change should have reminded us that there is only one land, one sea, one sky, one people. Yes, people look and speak and pray and live differently one from another, but these "diiferences" are essentially cosmetic. Earth is, indeed, interracial, but this is a strength, not a weakness, not a reason to be racist. This is it, folks. Earth is the only place where human beings can live for a very long time. Most of us are myopic. They don't see the big picture--the ONLY picture. Either we get along, or it's "so long." The way we get along is by doing away with these artificial differences, these artificial borders, borders that the air and water of Earth pay no heed to, not does the pandemic. People fear others because they appear different, but the real cause is that these people don't know themselves, their real selves.

PEACE ON EARTH THROUGH LOVE

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,” mostly 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. Most scholars believed 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. Earth is as poor as its most destitute 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. The water and air of the world care nothing about national borders, nor does the pandemic. 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. Citizens will have to be 18 years old or older to vote. All Citizens will have access to Internet voting, as well as access to smart phones and other types of computers. Citizens will have her/his own secured ID codes. 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 have the first two weeks of each month, every month, to vote on these proposals of the previous month. Members of the General Assembly will be facilitators who will work with millions of volunteers. Citizens of Earth will be the Earth’s government. There will be no president of Earth.

ALLCOTT MOVEMENT: Citizens of Earth will instigate the Allcott Movement-not boy-, not girl-, not woman-, not man-. but the nonviolent Allcott Movement-against each multinational corporation and every mega-rich individual unwilling to abide by the democratically held, worldwide vote in favor of the CAMPAIGN FOR EARTH. Citizens will continue to use the nonviolent boycott against recalcitrant multinational corporations, and, in a similar nonviolent manner, will continue to use viable pressures against the recalcitrant mega-rich of the world. All smaller-business wealth will be converted into resources to be distributed equally among all Citizens. All proceeds in excess of what’s needed reasonably by each Citizen will be saved for future generations. Consequently, Earth, which for millennia has been turned inside-out will be turned right-side in. Citizens will take these steps because they are the moral, the right, steps to take to save all of us, all other 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, sometime 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 corruption, no more dictators, no more wars. 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 is a poet and human-rights activist.

todhawks@gmail.com

Dear Mrs. Scott:

I am Tod Howard Hawks. I am a human-rights activist and a poet. I am a graduate of Phillips Andover Academy and Columbia College, Columbia University.

This is entirely a humanitarian undertaking, albeit of monumental proportions:  I, and no one else either, will be making a single penny for collectively helping to save Earth and all living creations upon it. We all are volunteers. I am emailing you to ask for your help.  

I believe it is utterly possible to achieve Peace on Earth forever, the explicit goal of my commentary (see below). If we fail in our collective efforts to do so, Earth, our only home, will be no more. Thus, I am asking you to play an integral role in this absolutely most important endeavor.   


EARTH LOVE:  PEACE ON EARTH FOREVER

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,” mostly 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. Most scholars believed 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. Earth is as poor as its most destitute 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. The water and air of the world care nothing about national borders, nor does the pandemic. 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. Citizens will have to be 18 years old or older to vote. All Citizens will have access to Internet voting, as well as access to smart phones and other types of computers. Citizens will have her/his own secured ID codes. 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 have the first two weeks of each month, every month, to vote on these proposals of the previous month. Members of the General Assembly will be facilitators who will work with millions of volunteers. Citizens of Earth will be the Earth’s government. There will be no president of Earth.

ALLCOTT MOVEMENT: Citizens of Earth will instigate the Allcott Movement-not boy-, not girl-, not woman-, not man-. but the nonviolent Allcott Movement-against each multinational corporation and every mega-rich individual unwilling to abide by the democratically held, worldwide vote in favor of the CAMPAIGN FOR EARTH. Citizens will continue to use the nonviolent boycott against recalcitrant multinational corporations, and, in a similar nonviolent manner, will continue to use viable pressures against the recalcitrant mega-rich of the world. All smaller-business wealth will be converted into resources to be distributed equally among all Citizens. All proceeds in excess of what’s needed reasonably by each Citizen will be saved for future generations. Consequently, Earth, which for millennia has been turned inside-out will be turned right-side in. Citizens will take these steps because they are the moral, the right, steps to take to save all of us, all other 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, sometime 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 corruption, no more dictators, no more wars. Finally, there will only be Peace on Earth forever.

Mrs Scott, please email or call me (see below for address and number) so I might elaborate on and elucidate the aforementioned.

I am impecunious, but I believe my heart is as big as yours.

Blessings,

Tod Howard Hawks

18 June 2021

email address:  todh21376@gmail.com
phone:  303-939-0561

Our eristic world, can we make
it irenic again? Can blue skies
make our blue feelings dissipate,
our intemperate feelings sanguine?
When shall we realize that you and
I are one, that all rivulets become
one stream, that all streams become
one river, that all rivers flow into one
ocean? The air that you breathe is
the air I breathe. John Donne was
prescient:  When one dies, all are
diminished. The bombs we build
now traduce us;  weapons make us
weak. Blood in our bodies is meant
for our hearts and tributaries, not
to sodden ground into gore. No
more, I say! Our hands are meant
for helping and for healing;  our
eyes for seeing inequities, iniquities
that still abound. All around are
injustices that penetrate, that per-
meate our souls. Was Earth meant
to perpetrate these wicked ways?
Is Earth dearth of goodness? Surely
not. It has been turned inside out.
We must ameliorate. This is our fate.
So Adam ate an apple…. Earth was
once Eden. Is God so vindictive as
to keep us thus enslaved? We need
not pray forever to make this change.
All rivulets fall into one ocean. You and
all others are one. Our hands and hearts
are joined. God gave us this Earth.
Let us all be good gardeners and
give Him back his Eden. Amen.

Copyright 2019 Tod Howard Hawks

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

TOD HOWARD HAWKS

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.)