Time for change

Dani Novak

When my elder daughter graduated from College we a few of the parents sat together in the living room sharing thought s about the children when the conversation shifted to stereotype Gypsies and negative comments became more and more fearful and full with poison.  Being Jewish, born and raised in Israel I learned that similar accusations were made against the Jews over the centuries, this turned a red signal in my head and I said: “Once similar words have been spoken against the Jews, for example that they drink he blood of children for Passover and thousands of innocent people died because of this over the centuries”. One of the parents present, an educated person, asked me then directly: “But they don’t do this anymore, right?”

This response brings to our consciousness phenomena of universal ignorance which brings untold suffering to millions of people all around the world.  I define this phenomenon as “The quiet whispers of hatred in the living room”.  When young children are brought up in a household where the parents and relative have a hateful and ignorant point of view about another race or culture of people who live in a close physical proximity, the seeds of hatred enter into the receptive and innocent minds of young children and poison them.  The unconscious fears that are being created that way sprout in young adult years causing the infected person to cause untold harms to other people and to their own soul.

My life was directly affected by these phenomena because my parents grew up in former Yugoslavia where three most wonderful nations: Bosans, Croats and Serbs share the land.    Even though these nations share many customs and language the religions differ and phenomena of “The quiet whispers of hatred in the living room” are so wide spread there.  This explains the rise and popularity of the Ustasha philosophy in Croatia even now.

Because of these phenomena I my parents together with thousands of others lost most of their family, their spouses and most of my life I lived like a boat without a rudder or anchor in a stormy sea.

Slowly my awareness grew and I became more and more committed to be part of a movement for change.  It is up to us to insure that the past will not repeat itself.   No one else can do it for us.  We must believe and have Faith in the inherent goodness and innocence of ALL human beings.  In particular those people who are most far away from Love Reason and Tolerance. These are the steps that must be followed:

• Awareness of the phenomena
• Understanding the source of the phenomena
• Working on ourselves so we can clear and purify ourselves first from every trace of fear, hatred or anger towards the people who are affected by this but seeing these folks as mentally ills who need help
• Creating a strong media based movement that will focus on human values and on the unity of mankind and also on the beauty of diversity of different cultures
• Working with governments and official institutions to outlaw and subsequently treat infected people
• Most important: Working with governments and departments of education across borders to design programs for young children that will help them grow sane and strong in their deep inherent human capacity of Tolerance and Love for all