Living into a world free of war and violence
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- Olaf Egeberg
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- Academic background in biochemistry and 3 years of theology. Directed three nonprofits, 34 years writing "Coming Home", construction
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This article was written for 6.5 billion people. Hopefully, you’ll find it to be an “activator” in article format. It’s a device to trigger action towards having our world become WMD-free. It’s an “activator” because it speaks to a DEEPER part of the reader than is usual:
--deep enough to motivate many individuals whose job, in some way, supports having WMDs to withdraw their support (quit or be reassigned), starting right now.
--deep enough to motivate a change of mind with many individuals who are in power positions (government officials, politicians, military officers, etc.), motivating them to redirect WMD funding towards (A) immediately dismantling WMDs and (B) supporting those who lose their jobs as they go for new work.
--deep enough to motivate those of us who want a WMD-free world to be of real help to those who lose their job and need assistance in their transition into non-WMD employment.
--deep enough to motivate a world of people to take an evolutionary step into the WMD-free world that’s waiting, a more secure planet for all our generations to come.
This article is adapted from the last few pages of the book: COMING HOME. (The book is free and online.) I believe the article is controversial enough to build its own way into public attention -- once we give it a boost.
Best wishes,
Olaf
WMD Free At Last
Olaf Egeberg
The intensifying WMD problem
We live with the increasing threat that someone is going to use a nuclear weapon. These weapons are proliferating. Information on how to build them is out now (on the Internet, of course) and stolen materials are available. On top of that some nuclear weapons (“suitcase bombs”) have gone missing since the dismantling of the Soviet Union. And now we have suicide bombers who can take a small nuclear bomb wherever around our globe they are directed to go.
So more of these super-lethal bombs are out there now. And with this increase in nuclear weapons, I believe we’re also getting an increase in governments, terrorist groups and crazed individuals who are willing to use them.
Along with nuclear weapons there is also the terrible threat of biological weapons and other “Weapons of Mass Destruction” (WMDs). It’s, therefore, all WMDs that we need to address now. Because a single use of any one of these weapons could create the worst horror for millions of us in just a few seconds time. In that terrible moment countless unsuspecting and innocent persons, possibly you and/or I, would meet a violent death (or a drawn-out death from a biological agent). And for those who are exposed but not killed by the weapon, life would continue on from that moment as suffering, bone deep, physical and mental, suffering.
A FAMILY affair
The seriousness of a WMD event and the increasing likelihood that one will happen puts us now in an EMERGENCY situation, world-wide. This is a true emergency because NO ONE is in control. No nation or even association of nations is now able to stop the “illegal” development of WMDs. The instructions are on the Internet. No one is in charge and the danger is only getting worse. We’re heading straight for an event in which a great number of us are going to die or be left with anguish and there is absolutely no need for that to happen.
Nuclear, biological and other weapons of mass destruction are just too terrible for us to have on this planet any longer. Their possession is no longer a particular government’s or organization’s affair. It’s a family affair now (our global, Homo sapiens family). With their proliferation we’re seeing an immense danger for all of us, world-wide. No one is in control. It’s time for our family to take charge of the WMD issue.
And because a single event is so horrific, and because the likelihood of one happening is getting closer and closer, then right now, this very minute, is the very best time for us, as a world-wide family, to begin dismantling our WMDs. This is an EMERGENCY! We have this unbelievable event ready to happen. Is anything gained by waiting one day longer? Do you expect a better opportunity to come up at a later time? We have to snap out of our dream state now. SNAP! We’re in a bad WMD situation and we have to act fast. This is the exact right time for the dismantling to begin.
Our NEW global situation
It’s easy to understand how and why these weapons were developed, but their need is over now. Our world is in a new and different situation now that WMD-making secrets are out on the Internet and terrorists are now in the picture. What’s even more important about our situation at this time, is that we’re beginning to wake up to our greater possibilities here. So suddenly all WMDs are obsolete. They have NO place in the world of our bloom. Our life here together is too precious for us to allow this threat any longer, not even one second more.
It’s, therefore, no longer right for any one of us to continue supporting any weapon of mass destruction (and thus the perpetuation of a WMD world). Because we’re a greater people who are here for a greater life than WMDs will allow us. It’s, therefore, no longer right for any politician, or representative, or government official or organization leader to support having WMDs. It’s not right for any president or leader of any country, or any military or paramilitary officer or anybody else to have the authority for perpetuating WMDs any longer. Our reality has changed.
The action required
We now need these people of power to start work right away towards the dismantling of the WMDs that their government or organization has been having up to now. We need these people to do what it takes to reassign all the funds that have been intended for supporting WMDs to now go (A) towards the elimination of WMDs and (B) towards the immediate support of those who lose or leave their WMD related job (supporting them in their transition into new employment).
And it’s not just the leaders and people of power who are responsible for stopping the WMD threat. If your work supports having WMDs in any way, then you are needed to withdraw your support now, too. That’s the action that’s necessary for this emergency to end.
Whether you are a secretary, or a mechanic, or a bookkeeper, or a janitor or an office manager whose work, in some way, supports having WMDs (and, therefore, the perpetuation of a WMD world), or if you are a driver, or military person, or contractor, or laborer, or scientist, or trash collector, or technician or any one else whose job supports the having of WMDs, please stop right now (as soon as it’s possible). Because that “stopping” speeds our move into the WMD-free world that’s waiting.
Our higher authority
It doesn't matter what you have been asked to do or how important the people are who expect your continued support for WMDs, you are acting from a higher authority now. You are acting for the family. More important than following the orders of a government or military official or of an official in any organization that uses terrorist tactics, is acting for the good of our family, our global promise – brothers and sisters, all. The security and wellbeing of our family means that no government or group can continue to hold on to its WMDs. They’re not allowed any longer.
So we have a much higher authority than any government or organization has over us. We have our precious family, world-wide that we’re all related to (as DNA proves), and we don’t want the family hurt.
So it doesn’t matter how big an official your boss is, or how much authority your government or organization has given him or her, you are your own person. Speak for the family.
“Boss, I can’t do this any more. Please have me assigned to work that doesn’t support having WMDs. WMDs are out of any nation’s control now and the chances of an event are only increasing with time. This disarmament occasion might be our LAST opportunity to eliminate these things. You and I are needed in the dismantling to remove our support, starting right now.”
That’s one way to end the WMD support-work that you have been doing. There are countless other ways, too. Say what you have to say and do what you have to do to remove yourself from doing WMD support-work any longer. Doing that adds its measure towards our emergency’s end.
Going first
Don’t expect a rush of approval for what you are doing. People who are first to withdraw their support have to do so even when others don’t yet understand. So greet the challenges that come from being the first (or among the first) person in your office, or your group, or your military unit, or your organization, to withdraw your support for WMDs. Because someone there, anyone, has to be the first eventually. You’ll be acting to end the emergency and to bring an important security to our family, all 6+ billion of us, family members every one. And what you do will make it, of course, a great deal easier for others to follow.
Besides withdrawing your support from having WMDs, your attention is also needed for getting WMD funds redirected quickly towards the dismantling of these weapons, and towards giving you (and others who leave or lose their WMD related job) support for your transition.
What’s more, if you leave or lose your job because it serves WMDs in some way, then ALL of us, not just the government, should be giving you support. By your good act you have helped us in our need for a WMD-free world. We’d like to show our helpfulness, too. By withdrawing your work for WMDs, you give a gift of great value to the whole human family and to all our generations to come. Your actions take us all a step further into a world that’s safe, caring and free.
Getting support
It’s not an easy thing that you do, to be sure. We’re aware of that. There are all kinds of explanations, expectations and pressures for you to keep doing the work you have been doing. And you might have a big family to feed, or huge debt, or big expenses for housing, children’s education, transportation, health care and other important needs. Unless support is quick in coming, you might not have enough money to pay for these expenses. In this temporary situation things will be tough before they get better.
All this is the very reason we non-WMD people need to be there for you, right away. Your difficulties can’t wait for government support to materialize. Let us know who you are so we can be useful. We want to learn how to be a supportive family now. This is an emergency.
Our neighborhoods can be especially useful at this time if they are organized to be helpful. And we’ll need websites that help us help you and others who have left or lost their WMD support job. We’ll need websites for getting new employment, and for getting training, if need be, and for finding financial assistance, helpful contacts, support people, housing opportunities, support groups and other forms of care. The more helpfulness we can give to all who leave WMD related jobs, the faster the exodus happens. By the largeness of our generosity we make it easier for the emergency to end quickly, and for these weapons to become history as we make our move now into a world that is WMD-free.
By withdrawing your support from WMDs you have a direct effect on bringing a more evolved world into being. And when we’re WMD-free, at last, and we’ve gotten used to being in that safety, people will look back to see how, after decades of their threatening presence, we became a WMD-free world. Many will be interested to know about those who brought their WMD support-work to end suddenly, and what it was like for those individuals who were among the first to stop. They will know that they have their security because of you.
Don’t worry at all about someone else taking your job when you leave. Funding for that job ends as momentum builds and WMD funds are reallocated. What’s more, anyone who has been touched by the “Wake Up” or by their own larger thinking, won’t even think of taking that job. Because the person who takes your job will be supporting the continuation of a WMD world and because of that she or he is a true accomplice in a most horrific crime against humanity when, not if, one of those things goes off anywhere world-wide. Anyone who takes up your old WMD related work will be supporting the intensifying likelihood of a great family tragedy. However, they will quickly follow you out of that work as soon we help them to understand that supporting WMDs any longer, perpetuating a WMD world, is a wrong, unevolved, unauthorized, unethical and hurtful thing to do.
What about “hold-outs?”
“But,” you might say, “what if most governments and groups dismantle their WMDs but not everyone follows? What if there are ‘Hold Out’ governments or groups that hang on to their WMDs so they can wave them at us and demand that we do what they want?”
We’ve long been perpetuating the belief that if we keep our WMDs, no other power would ever use theirs against us because the retaliation would be too terrible. But that belief doesn’t work any longer. These are different times now. We now have terrorist organizations (not just nations) that can bring on a WMD event. And these groups are rather secret and dispersed. If one unleashes its WMD among us, there’s no nation or place to bomb in retaliation. WMD retaliation is simply out of the question. The old belief doesn’t hold up any more. So the basic rationale for continuing to have these things is now gone. Only vague, obsolete fears keep WMDs going.
Besides, any government, group or individual who holds out and keeps their WMDs after everyone else has dismantled theirs, can expect to be the target of a weapon 10,000 times more powerful than their WMDs. I’m talking about a world of people who now have the Internet so we can organize to radically isolate that government or group and give it a most miserable time until it is eager to join the rest of us in our move into a WMD-free world. How great the mistake would be to hold out and keep WMDs when our whole family of non-WMD people would feel seriously violated, mad and fired up to organize against you. That’s a LOT of power. It doesn’t matter at all how big and powerful your government might be, our family is a LOT bigger and a LOT more powerful, still. We have more than enough capability to cut off its oil, raw materials, money exchange, manufactured goods, services and any other trade it normally depends on from non-WMD people.
And ANY banker, broker, investor, business owner, transporter, or supplier who continues to support a “hold-out” government or group that perpetuates the WMD world, is hurting us all. Any officer, or technician, or worker, or manager that allows continued trade, is only perpetuating the emergency we need to end now. These individuals will do what they do only as long as they are ignorant of how really wrong that action is at this time. Because our situation has changed. They won’t, however, stay ignorant long in a world of people who are eager to be WMD-free. That education should be easy for us to deliver.
As a hold-out nation, or group or individual, you, therefore, won’t have much support to carry on. Besides, you won’t find it at all worthwhile to hang on to your WMDs while the rest of the world is coming together for our security and prosperity and a WMD-free future for all our generations to come. There are over 6 billion sisters and brothers who don’t want to be touched by a WMD and don’t want any weapons around that can cause death and terrible suffering to so many innocent and unsuspecting persons, millions of us, and all of a sudden. Boom. Just like that.
If you were a hold-out government or group, you would quickly find that a WMD would not really be useful any more. Because you can’t have dominance over a family of 6 billion people. You would have to have a soldier for every three or four people to keep us from organizing. If you tried to threaten even a part of this family you would find a world of people who would be quick to make you wish you hadn’t. It’s just too easy to organize now, now that we have the Internet. And organizing to protect ourselves from the immediate threat of such a terrible weapon is something everyone would be eager to do.
Governments that go first
Expect, therefore, that the governments or groups that go first will do so knowing that others might be hesitant for a while or not yet interested. That’s to be expected. We will never be at a time when everyone disarms their WMDs at the same moment. Isn’t that so? That means we will never move into a WMD-free world unless some nation leads the way.
Hooray, therefore, for the government that goes first. Because it will start dismantling all its WMDs while other governments or organizations still have theirs. After the many decades we’ve had of WMD threat, fear, cost and oppression, this leadership move is a heroic act. It’s heroic because it, at last, breaks through the impasse so we can be set free. Without some nation being first we won’t ever get ourselves out of a WMD world and into our glory.
Even more important, however, is the Hooray, Cheers and Toot-Toot for you, me and every other individual who helps this advance to happen. We’re birthing a WMD-free world for heaven’s sake. We’re acting as a family that wants to get rid of these things and have a better life here together.
Bravo!
This article was adapted from the last pages of the book: “COMING HOME: A Crossover Bible For Christians, Muslims, Jews And Members Of Other Religious Faiths As Well As For Thoroughly Non-Religious Persons.” This little (172 page) book is available free online (in safe PDF format) from www.changesahead.net.
The book comes in hardback form, too. You can order it at cost ($20.48 plus shipping) from Lulu publishers: http://www.lulu.com/content/493066
You can e-mail me at: olaf@changesahead.net Permission to reproduce this article, wholly or in part, is FREELY given.