Parable ofthe Death Angel
Suspected Bombers
Thesuicide bomber is the phenomena of the times. He (and she) is outsideWestern psychology, and not totally within Eastern psychology, althoughEastern spirituality places the bomber within Islamic martyrdom,granting him instant paradise for resisting oppression. But when weconsider the aspect of killing innocent people in his martyrdom, itbecomes most difficult to comprehend, unless we conclude there are nolonger innocents in the global struggle for justice--either one is partof the problem or part of the solution!
One is guilty of doingsomething or guilty of doing nothing--there is no escape ornon-involvement, for it appears the time has arrived for everyone to getinvolved. Soul singer ancestor James Brown has a rousing song shoutingthe line, "Get involved, get involved, get involved." This is the mantraof the times, for apparently lack of involvement by the globalcommunity has given rise to the suicide bomber.
In occupiedPalestine, the bomber had little choice in face of the heavily armedIsraelis with their citizen soldiers. But the bomber has become anessential element in the asymmetrical warfare waged throughout theMiddle East, not only is he utilized in Palestine, but Lebanon, Iraq,Afghanistan and Pakistan.
An American radio talk show hostspeculated that perhaps God was using the suicide bomber to awaken theWest to its moral bankruptcy and degeneracy. He asked why should theWest and those moderates in the Muslim world, not be shaken to theirbones for their hypocrisy. He said the bombers were thus agents sent byGod to address the world of its sins.
We must ask would God senddeath angels to kill the innocent? According to the Bible, God used thedevil to torment Job, although the devil was not allowed to kill him.Have times changed to the extent man has become so wicked his very lifemust be taken to awaken him to spiritual realities--that there must bejustice for all or justice for none?
Yes, even the innocent arenot beyond the wrath of God's death angels, who spare none, man, womannor child, even the sick and elderly, even funeral goers are not exempt!The death angels are thus non-discriminatory, equal opportunity agentsof terror! But it is terror in response to terror, state terror in thecase of Israel, American state terror in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Wasnot 9/11 a response to decades of American exploitation in the MiddleEast, its greed for oil, disrespecting the plight of the bleeding Arabmasses, stunted, ignorant, diseased and impoverished? Even the talentedand educated see no future except in martyrdom with its imaginaryParadise full of unlimited virgins.
The suicide bomber representsthe most desperate moment in the human spirit, when the spirit ispressed against the wall with no other choice but to strike the pose anddon the persona of the death angel. There must be a better way forhumanity for suicide is the ultimate mark of hopelessness.
Andyet the death angel is not so different from children in the Americanghettos. In Washington, DC, the children were asked what they imaginedfor their future--they could only imagine what kind of funeral theywanted, for they knew death was all that awaited them in the hood.
Perhapshalf the homicides in the hood are suicides because the victims weretoo cowardly to take their own lives, forcing someone else to kill them.Thus, they were passive death angels, but death angels none the less.
Injusticeis the cause of death angels, thus justice the solution, economic andpolitical justice, cultural justice free of imperialism, and lastly,spiritual justice that is free of reactionary religiosity, making themslaves of the past rather than free men and women striving for aprogressive future.
--Marvin X
from Beyond Religion, toward Spirituality, essays onconsciousness, Black Bird Press, Berkeley, 2007. Revised 5/5/10
MarvinX's latest book is The Wisdom of Plato Negro, Parables/fables, BlackBird Press, 309 pages, $100.00. Order from Black Bird Press, 1222 DwightWay, Berkeley CA 94702. There will be a people's reading from the bookon Saturday, May 15, 2pm, at the African American Museum Library, 14thand Martin Luther King, Jr., downtown Oakland. The bookparty/read-in/teach-in is a benefit for Black Bird Press. Admission isfree but donation requested. Seating limited. RSVP 510-637-0200.
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