Late the date before yesterday and very tired I arrived here and checked in to a Casa Familiar. More of that later. I may leave here today yet, west bound through Santiago.
The US Navy base is only moments away by air. It is enough for an American to be nearby on the other side of the razor wire and mine fields.
A side bar on the map of Cuba I carry says in part, two Marines were killed at Guantanamo at the beginning of the Spanish American War in 1898. Afterward President Theodore Roosevelt signed an agreement with the new Cuban government leasing the bay indefinitely for 2000 gold coins per year. The agreement was forced on the new government through the
Platt amendment. "Since 2002 the base has included a detainment camp for captured
al-
Queda personnel deemed to be a risk to US national security."
We know from recent reports over 100 people are still held more than 10 years later without trial or hope of release. Some could argue this is a form of psychological torture more severe than the physical torture some are reported to have suffered at our hands. And what of those who must tend this facility? They too suffer on our behalf?
You would be surprised to know my father Charles came to
Gitmo as it was called then and perhaps still. He retired from the US Navy Reserve at the onset of Parkinson's disease. He passed 10 years later. Both he and my mother Anne are at rest in Arlington National Cemetery. He worked nearby as a civilian in a US Navy Bureau of Yards and Docks office later torn down to expand the cemetery.
I wondered what he might have to say to all that has happened at Guantanamo from another vantage point? This is what came to me.
This is a mere snapshot in time of some of your history. It is the past, it cannot be changed. I make no judgment about it. What will you choose to create from this point forward?
You are not masters of the technologies you have created. Many of you remain unaware that all things are connected energetically. If you continue down the same path you will destroy yourselves. There are unavoidable consequences for everything you think and do. You are powerful creators or your experiences individually and collectively. Doing nothing is doing something.
Climate change still in in its early stages is upon you. Your children will suffer the consequences if you allow contamination of your atmosphere to continue unchecked.
For those of you coming to these words for the first time do not give up in despair. Before a new day breaks there is always a time of darkness. It is worth repeating the only thing you can change is yourself. It takes determination, persistence and discipline to overcome years of cultural conditioning. The choice is yours as in all things. Put another way your True Nature (Love and Light) will not blossom until you water the garden. Know too in your hour of greatest need help is always available from the Source many of you call God. But you have to ask.
For those of you already high on the ladder of expanding consciousness your work remains to hold love, joy and peace in your hearts. Go where the greatest need of the moment takes you. Do there what is called for with love and compassion. You make a contribution to the well being of the whole by giving of yourself in service to others. When you stumble remember to love and forgive yourself. Your intention matters more than an unattainable state of perfection.
Live the high ideals of your founding fathers not your worst fears and doubts. Let your acts of love and compassion speak for themselves.
End the embargo of Cuba. Close the Guantanamo Bay
carcel/jail. Return you part of Guantanamo Bay to the Cuban people. It is the right time. It is the right thing to do.
Peace Rider for Charles, Commander, US Navy Reserve, at rest.
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