Odjak

In three words I can sum up everything I’ve learned about life: It goes on.
Robert Frost

There are several billions of people on earth.

People do things. They take action.

Action in return creates reaction.

Overwhelming! Just too much!

At first, I resolve to avoid all action that will create a reaction.

I crave for stillness, to stop the process.

I expect to do no harm.

Yet I live. I need food, shelter, security…

I must live in symbiosis with each and all of the billion people.

————-
According to Wikipedia:

There are several classes of symbiosis:

Mutualism, a relationship in which members of two different species benefit and neither suffers. (+ +)

Commensalism, a relationship in which one party gains some benefit, whilst the other suffers no serious disadvantage. (+ 0)

Parasitism, in which one member of the association benefits while the other is harmed. (+ -)

Amensalism, in which the association is disadvantageous to one member while the other is not affected. (− 0)

Neutralism, in which both organisms are unaffected. (0 0)

Competition, in which both organisms are harmed. (- -)
—————–

I’d rather live in Mutualism, Commensalism, and Neutralism.

And stay away from Parasitism, Amensalism, and Competition.

But how?

TURKS ASK FOR JEWISH HELP ON ARMENIA

Jewish Telegraphic Agency, NY
Feb 6 2007

Turkey’s foreign minister asked U.S. Jewish leaders to lobby against
a resolution that would label the 1915 mass killings of Armenians
as genocide.

Abdullah Gul met for 90 minutes Monday night with representatives
of the United Jewish Communities federation umbrella group, American
Jewish Committee, Anti-Defamation League, Jewish Institute for National
Security Affairs, American Jewish Congress, Chabad-Lubavitch, B’nai
B’rith International and the Orthodox Union.

He asked for assistance in facing down legislation sponsored by Rep.
Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), who is Jewish and who has a substantial
Armenian-American constituency.

Schiff’s resolution has garnered 169 co-sponsors.

Gul and the Jewish leaders also discussed U.S.-Turkish relations,
Israeli-Turkish relations, Jewish-Muslim relations and the Turkish
Jewish community.

http://jta.org/page_view_breaking_story.asp?intid=6829

“Every man alone is sincere. At the entrance of a second person, hypocrisy begins.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson

From Wikipedia:

Hypocrisy is the act of pretending or claiming to have beliefs, feelings, morals or virtues that one does not truly possess or practice.

A person engaged in hypocrisy is called a hypocrite.

Though hypocrisy is frequently invoked as an accusation in moral, ethical, or political debates, theorists in several academic fields have studied the utility of hypocrisy, and in some cases have suggested that the conflicts manifested as hypocrisy are a necessary or even beneficial part of human behavior and society.

In organizational studies, theorists like Nils Brunsson have discussed the paradox of the morality of hypocrisy.

Brunsson reasons that, despite conventional social reactions to it, hypocrisy may be an essential guard against fanaticism, and may be to the benefit of high values and moral behaviour.

Who would you like to be?

A fanatic or a hypocrite?

Wikipedia says:

An alliance is an agreement between two or more parties, made in order to advance common goals and to secure common interests.

We form many alliances throughout life.

We get married, have business partners, we join action groups or political parties…

Some of these alliances are well defined.

Some are very nebulous.

A few questions:

To start with, how conscious are we of our goals?

How do we know that the party we’ll be forming an alliance with share with us the same goals?

Is this a long-term alliance or a short-term one?

How will the alliance end when one or both parties want to “terminate” the alliance?

And finally, how much consideration do we give to the ethical aspects of an alliance?

Some examples:

Should a political party with a reputation to defend human rights form an alliance with a racist group in order to win the elections?

Should a democratic country train the army of a country run by a dictator in order to beat a common enemy?

Should a person form an alliance with a third party that goes against the interests of an alliance already formed?

In other words,

You as a human rights activist, would you form an alliance with a KKK member in order to evade prison?

You as the boss of an environmentally conscious company, would you form an alliance with the mob to help settle a labor dispute?

You as the partner of a law firm, would you reveal information on one client in order to win the case of another?

These may seem like extreme cases.

My limited life experience tells me that these things happen.

We then cover it all up. With hypocrisy.