Killing: Justifiable?

לֹא תִרְצָח

"You shall not murder"(Exodus 20:13)

Taking a life is one of the harshest acts on earth (not only to the victim but also to the killer itself).

When one unintentionally takes the life of another human being not only it interrupts the existential cycle of that person, but it also brings upon itself the pain, the guilt, the horror of having extinguished the life of a fellow human (in such cases, no karmic consequence is born).

On the other hand when one murders somebody (i.e. killing with intention) not only it viciously annihilates someone, but it also stamps itself with the seal of sin (bearing, thus, serious karmic consequences).

Let’s delve a bit more into this issue…

Pacifists often label soldiers (and thus, Governments) as murderers. I beseech them to reason.

In a war context, there is no murder when soldiers fight against soldiers and, by mistake or direct consequence, civilians are killed. A soldier does not plan to kill others, he does not wake up with an urge to kill people; he’s not even sure if he’ll take somebody’s life that particular day and, most soldiers even pray that innocent people may be spared; even though having been trained to kill and knowing that killing will occur, at some point, during the conflict. This sort of killing is justifiable.

“However, if it [city] does not make peace with you, but makes war against you, then you shall besiege it. When the Lord your God gives it into your hand, you shall strike all the men in it with the edge of the sword.” (Deuteronomy 20:12-13).

Murder: premeditated killing. The murderer awakens craving for blood; he plans when, where and how to viciously kill other humans and prepares himself “spiritually” to carry out his plan. The anticipation of such act gives him the butterflies; the pleasure of seeing flesh being ripped off causes him to bite his lip. He sickles others' life (in accordance with his plan) and reaches an orgasm. From him spurs the seed of evil. The light he bore when born is no longer. He militates against creation, but most importantly, against the Creator. He breaks the commandment...thus, it is unjustifiable.

Another form of planned killing is euthanasia.

Is it murdering or killing? It could be said that it is murdering (since it is carefully planned, premeditated) and it could be said that it is killing (especially if one looks at it as being perpetrated for “altruistic” reasons), depending on the personal beliefs and moral values of each person.

Regardless of what we think of it, euthanasia always affects the ones staying behind: pain, guilt, sorrow (even if mixed with relief); and karmic debt.

Is it justifiable or not? In my personal opinion it is not; for I dare not interfering with God’s plan for his creatures. If, by karmic debt, one must go through (what apparently is an undeserving and) a less dignified path-to-demise; who am I to meddle with its karma (and by consequence, adding up to my own karmic debt)? However, I do acknowledge Free Will and if others wish to bring upon themselves such burden, then it is their choice. It is between them and the Lord.

Share your thoughts: is killing ever justifiable?

For further discussion on this theme, please beam over to LS' realm: Here

Happy Anniversary MAX: 2 Years!

On the 24th of May 2007 a wonderful journey began, through the blogosphere, that has enriched me in indescribable ways.

It all started with In what consists the feminist cause nowadays? And its first commentator was the very first person I built a friendship with, here at Blogger: Amelia.

Amelia is a sweet young woman, whom (when we met) had recently arrived from Indonesia to Finland, and was still going through an adjustment process, but still supported baby MAX and encouraged it to go on – thank you so much, girl, you know you are in my heart always!

Then, Karen and Shan came along; then Choc Mint Girl, Sabina, the Oswegan, Gallardo, and others; but even though many of them have gone their way they should know that they are still on my thoughts, and I am grateful for their initial support.

Later in 2007 I met some amazing mates, and deepened some old acquaintances, that made me look forward to blogging every week and with whom I have superb conversations:

LS: my dear friend, you know you are the greatest verbal gladiator I have ever met; and you have rendered my Blogger Universe much more interesting. It is a true honour to cooperate with you on Graffiti, and to hammer (and be hammered by) you on our debates. Thank you, darling.

Alexys: my sista! I simply love you, girl: your intelligence, your love, your sense of humour, your laughter, your love for music, your respect for others and your humanity are simply the bomb. Thank you for your support and Love.

Mel: my man, I remember well how we met and boy, am I ever so glad we did *big smile*. We have come a long way: from Attitude to SlogBite (Sidebar: people, if you haven’t joined SB yet; join now). I love conversing with you, and I respect you a great deal, and you are my running-mate. Don’t forget that in 2012 we are taking the White House by a storm lol. Thank you for your support.

Anna: my darling friend, you are an amazing human being and you deserve all the blessings in the world. Thank you for our conversations, for making me laugh and for your friendship.

Peter: my mate from Downunder. You know I value our friendship a lot. I love learning things with you, your wisdom, your love for the family institution, your care. Thank you ever so much.

Lynda: the kindest friend. Our conversations are excellent and inspiring. Your aura transmits peace and I love your essence. Thank you so much for your friendship and support, darling.

Zhu: my French friend (or should I now say Canadian friend?). I adore Zhu’s open mind, free spirit and respect for human life. She has been supporting me for these past 2 years and I feel blessed for it. Merci infiniment, ma cherie.

Liza: such an adorable friend, whom I absolutely love. Thank you so much for your love, care and friendship.

Cidão, Juca, Adriana, Luma and Carla: my Brazilian friends. 4/5 have migrated to Etnias, but they were here practically from the start to read my articles in Portuguese, and we became good friends. Obrigada pela amizade, pessoal!

Bob: the Prince of the Astrostuff. I always look forward to hearing from you, and we share the appreciation for African rhythms (thanks for visualising my weekly musical videos). Thank you for your support, man.

Fernando and Hanna: these two amazing friends helped to spread the fruits of my intellect throughout the web and encouraged me to proceed with my writings and translations (they were kind enough to let me translate the intellectual delicatessen that is their literary work). Gracías, Proto...Grazie, caríssima!

Delirious: darling, I always look forward to hear your take on issues, and I appreciate your non-stop support: thank you.

Then, in 2008, I met Swu (whom I simply adore), Renny (my favourite Norwegian), Looney (from whom I learn a lot), Burcu (a dear friend): thank you for your thoughts and support.

This has been MAX’s entourage: a group of sublime friends and readers.

And for the most recent and future readers: thank you for gifting us with your presence here!

Before I leave (this post is getting huge now), I would like to thank and send my love to a group of people whose support has been paramount: Circulus Ciceronis and Dux Probus – I love you, guys!

And to get this party started I would like to share a cool song with you, by Bob Marley feat. Lauryn Hill, which I dedicate to my dearest Inspiration.

Happy Anniversary MAX!

Image: Birthday Table by Fedinand Georg Waldmüller

The Lusosphere: Equatorial Guinea

Motto: Unidad, Paz, Justicia/Unité, Paix, Justice/Unidade, Paz, Justiça.

(Transl: Unity, Peace, Justice)

Equatorial Guinea is located in Central Africa and, is comprised of a Continental region (Río Muni, including some offshore islands such as Corisco, Elobey Grande & Elobey Chico) and an Insular region (that consists of the islands of Annobon and Bioko [formerly known as Fernando Pó] where the capital of the nation is: Malabo [or Santa Isabel]).

(Malabo/Santa Isabel)

1472: Fernão do Pó (while looking for a path to India) discovered the Island of Bioko, to which he called Formosa (= beautiful); however the island was named after him.

1474: The Portuguese colonised the islands of Bioko, Annobón and Corisco; and turned them into slave trade stations.

1493: The Portuguese King D. João II (John II), claimed to be the Lord of Guinea and the first Lord of Corisco.

1641: The Dutch West India Company established itself in Bioko without the consent of the Portuguese King; and centralised its slave business (from the Gulf Guinea) in the island.

1648: The Portuguese kicked the Dutch out of Bioko, replaced the Dutch company by their own company (Corisco Company) which did exactly the same transactions as the Dutch's. They also erected the first European building on the island: the Fort of Ponta Joko.

1713-1753: Corisco Company sells slaves to France (that bought up to 49,000 Guinean slaves from Spain and England).

1778: The islands' deeds (including the rights to free trade to the mainland between the Niger and Ogoue Rivers) were ceded to Spain, through the San Ildefonso & El Pardo Treaties (Between Queen Maria I of Portugal and King Charles III of Spain), in exchange for territory in the American continent.

Equatorial Guinea became a full Spanish colony.

Demographics

This country has a population of +/- 504,000 people.

Fang: 87.7% of the population (with 67 tribes, indigenous to Rio Muni)

Bubi: 6.5% of the population (indigenous to Bioko Island)

Mdowe: 1.6%

Annobon: 1.1%

Other: 1.4% of the population (mainly Spanish).

Religion

Equatorial Guinea is mainly a Christian country (Christianity is professed by 92% of the population). 87% of the population is Catholic; 5% is Protestant or other; 5% follow indigenous beliefs; 0.5% is Muslim; 2.5% followers of Baha'i and other.

Language

The official languages are Spanish (since 1844) and French. However, in July 2007, President Teodoro Obiang Nguema announced the decision for Portuguese to become the nation's third official language (so that it could meet the requirements to apply for full membership in the CPLP [Comunidade de Países de Língua Portuguesa = Community of Portuguese Language Countries]). The CPLP website already states that Portuguese is this country's third language, although its application is still under assessment.

Music

There are at least three types of folk genres in Equatorial Guinea: the mvet (a cross betwen a zither and a harp. This genre can only be learned by initiates of the bebom-mvet society; and it is a type of call-and-response with a chorus and drums alternating); the balélé and the ibanga.

But the most famous genres in this country are the Pan-African styles like soukous and makossa.

Since there is not much musical material, from this country, on the web; I will be sharing with you the Pan-African styles.

This week, we will start with the soukous (also known as rumba or kwassa- kwassa, that I absolutely love, and had the pleasure to learn how to dance it many years ago). The video below shows how soukous is danced; and let me tell you, these girls dance! Enjoy...

Next Stop: Mozambique

Sex, it depends...

Lysistrata: There are a lot of things

About us women that sadden me,

Considering how men see us as rascals.

Calonice: As indeed we are!

Aristophanes suggested in one of his plays, Lysistrata (411 BC), that women should withhold sex as a mean to force men to end the Peloponnesian War.

Here we are in 2009, and Kenyan women have followed Aristophanes' advice: they have withheld sex to protest “their country’s bickering leadership”.

Just like Lysistrata called upon all Greek women to go on sex-strike; a women’s activist group called upon all Kenyan women (including the Premier's and President's wives) to boycott sex until the principal leaders would sit down, talk and get their act together. The women are sick and tired of the political instability that stormed through their country (which already sickled more than 10,000 lives in 2008) and want their politicians to focus on the country's welfare and security rather than on their personal ego and tribal issues. After all, they are concerned with their children's future.

The women used sex-withholding to get their message across and...It worked. At the end of 7 days President Mwai Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga met, and began to set up political reforms.

In Aristophanes' work, Lysistrata and the women won...and in real life so did the Kenyan women.

In Lysistrata, after a certain amount of time women began to get desperate for sex and so they started to desert; however their leader restored discipline upon her comrades and so the fight went on.

I wonder what would have happened if the Kenyan men would have managed to get by without sex for more than week...would the Kenyan women have started to desert as well?

This issue raises a few questions: is sex more important to men than to women? Can women take the Sex-Fast longer than men? Are men more sexual than women? Is sex the solution for women to solve political issues?

Let’s try to answer them...

Is Sex more important to men than to women? In my opinion, sex is important to both genders. They both have sexual desires, they both get the fever from times to times, they both enjoy copulating, and they both aim at the orgasmic final.

Can women take the Sex-Fast longer than men? There are men who take the Sex-Fast longer than women; and then there are men and women who can handle it just fine (through a lot of meditation and physical exercise; or simply because they have no sexual appetite at all). So, again...it is not a question of gender; it is either a question of mental strength or pre-disposition for sex (or lack of it).

Are men more sexual than women? Society has brain-washed us into thinking exactly that; but it is simply not true. Women are as sexual as men; only women were taught that it is not nice to express their sexual urges unless they fancy being called tarts: rubbish.

It is not in the best interest of society to have a bunch of castrated, repressed, women walking around: these are as dangerous as serial-killers.

Is sex the solution for women to solve political issues? Well, it depends on who is running the country. You see, in Lysistrata it is assumed that all Greek men were heterosexual and desperate for sex, hence the women’s plot worked.

Nowadays, we should not assume that all men are heterosexual (even those who are married), so if activist groups were to call upon women to go on a sex-strike, this would work on heterosexuals and sapphics, but would not work on homosexual political leaders (who, if married to women, would even be grateful if they’d leave them alone); therefore activist groups would have to call upon everybody to go on a sex-strike. Would this work? In a free society, perhaps; in countries where political leaders (only now) have perceived that women use sex as a tool for manipulation and so are considering to pass bills that allow men to rape their wives in case they do not feel like having sex, I guess it would never work.

So, why did it work in Kenya? It worked because Kenya is like the Greece depicted in Lysistrata: it is assumed that all men are heterosexual; and if someone comes out of the closet...it is shot dead.

«A Kenyan man has sued activists who called on women to boycott sex to protest the growing divide in the nation's coalition government. James Kimondo said the seven-day sex ban, which ended this week, resulted in stress, mental anguish, backaches and lack of sleep, his lawyer told the state-run Kenya Broadcasting Corp.» (source: CNN)

Image: Faust trying to seduce Margarete by Eugéne Delacroix

Musical Video: Kalú Mendes

I would like to introduce you to this lovely song by Kalú Mendes (a famous artist from São Tomé & Príncipe), entitled "Cacharamba só"...

Enjoy!

The unsustainable levity of Laughter

I love laughing. Laughter is good: the skin loves it, the hair shines and the spirits thanks you for it.

However there is a proper time to lash the air with risibility (no, this article is not about the etiquette of cachinnating).

There are situations at which people start laughing, that have always thrown me to the land of stupor…

Situation A: a person is walking smoothly; suddenly slips on dog poop (mainly in Europe) or on a wet floor and falls on its butt. Everybody starts laughing without even thinking of the possible outcomes of such incident (to break its coccyx, its leg or to injure its back etc).

Situation B: a lady engages in illicit office behaviour; and in a rush, leaves a certain office to go back to her desk. One of her co-workers realises that her clothes are in disarray and that her skirt is unzipped...instead of discreetly telling her to compose herself, what does this person do? It spreads the word throughout the office, causing the rest of the co-workers to laugh at the lady (thus, humiliating her).

Situation C: someone is out with a group of friends to eat pizza. As they savour the delicious Italian dish, its bowels start dancing to their own beat, causing the individual to release gas (one of those loud ones, that usually have no odour – fortunately, considering the situation). Everybody starts laughing and making a big deal out of something that could happen to anybody. Do they stop to think of the humiliation they’re putting their friend through?

Anyway, what is so funny about flatus? It is quite a natural biological reaction.

Situation D: a kid, in a classroom, is so nervous that he wets himself. Everybody starts laughing at him, and the teacher just lets them. Obviously this academic master has some serious psychological issues, and the kids who laugh at something that could easily occur to them, were obviously bred in homes where parents ignore the concepts of good manners, compassion and respect.

Situation E: a funeral is taking place. People are joined to bid goodbye to a loved one (or even a friend), when someone decides to cachinnate. As much as one tries to understand this odd reaction; one can’t avoid being shocked at the apparent lack of respect for the bereaving ones. Why laugh, why at a time like this?

Some human beings tend to laugh at misery, public humiliation, pain, embarrassment etc.

However we should analyse what is behind the need to yield to risibility in certain situations...is it because some people feel nervous about it; is it because they are immature; is it because they are simply mean, evil, disrespectful; is it because they lack manners or is it because they are a poor excuse for a human being?

I would really like to comprehend...

Image: Sacred and Profane by Giovanni Baglione

Blog Carnival: What a Weird Day

It happened in the year of 1986...

My family and I were at Amoreiras Shopping centre (image above), having a family lunch.

Suddenly we hear "Ladies and gentlemen, we would like to warn you that there is a fire occurring in the premise. Please be so kind to leave the building so that your safety is safeguarded. Do not panic and slowly walk towards the emergency exits"

My father panics...my mother remains cool...my brother and I look at them both waiting for instructions.

Mom: Take the kids out, while I pay for the meal.

Dad: Are you crazy? Didn't you hear it? The building is on fire...you'll pay the meal later on...[my brother and I look at each «But if the building will burn up, how will mom pay the meal later on?» my dad gives us that chilly look]

Mom: Take the kids and I will meet you at the parking lot.

We leave. Once we get to the parking lot, my brother starts crying "I am not leaving without mom!", I look at my dad and say "Dad, let's go back and fetch mom. We can't leave without her...we are a family, if we die we die together!" my dad was shocked, but he "obeyed" us.

My brother takes the lead and walks towards the stairs; my father says "Let's take the lift!" I reply "But we are not to ride the lift when there's a fire...at least that's what they teach us in school" my brother nods in full agreement (I can sense that our father is on the verge of killing us both). Dad looks at us and says "well, we are not suppose to go back to a burning building either, are we?"

We take the lift.

As we walk towards the restaurants area, we hear our mother singing her lungs out...."Relax, don't do it when you want to go to it/ Relax, don't do it...when you want to come..." the three of us run towards her...there she was, drinking her coke and singing out loud. My brother and I start laughing. My dad goes like "What are you doing?" my mother places the glass on the table and answers "There is no fire! So, I just sat here waiting for the fuss to finish..." my father nodded; we sat and waited for everybody to get back to serve us our lunch...

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This is part of Zhu's Blog Carnival: What a Weird Day, if you wish to participate click HERE find out how, and read her weird day (it is incredibly funny).

Video: São Tomé & Príncipe

A quick view of what São Tomé & Príncipe is all about...

Enjoy!