Wisdom and Compassion Need to Become Action

By Andreas Toupadakis, PhD

Contributing Writer for Wake Up World

Nothing happens until our words turn into actions. The difficulty that our generation  has is that when it comes to direct action, we stall. There is no solution to terrorism but one, no matter how much money the citizens of the world will invest to stop it. It will simply increase. Why? It is because terrorism is the result of the increasing gap between the rich and the poor. Humans with great offices and power in this world will tell you that  the cause of terrorism is something else. Do not believe them. They are trying to protect their power, which has been accumulated at the expense of the starving millions of the world.

Personal responsibility is the only solution to stop terrorism and the lack of personal responsibility is the beginning of terrorism. As long as people around the world are starving by the millions and other people around the world are living in a world of plenty, terrorism can not be stopped. So instead of searching to find terrorists, why don’t we search for justice? Instead of searching to find new weapons technology, why don’t we search to find the starving millions and feed them?

Let the people of this world with their credit, stocks, saving accounts, and retirement plans to give  a piece of bread to their starving brothers and sisters around the world and see what will  happen. If they want to have peace and have a future, let them non-violently force their  governments to use all the immeasurable resources they use for bombs and spying on one  another to give a clean cup of water to those who have none.

If you want to make a difference in our world and therefore to your own life, then  you start with yourself. And what do you do? You renounce the securities of this world and you give them to those who have less than yourselves. Gandhi said:  ‘You become the change you want to see in the world.’

If any one of those who want to see a better world is sincere let him/her start with  the self. If any kind of leader of this world desires to offer leadership for a better world let him/her renounce all material possessions like Gandhi did and follow his example. If  citizens desire to see a future for their children let them follow the example of Gandhi’s
and the early Christians.

The leaders of this world are ready to stain the whole world with innocent blood  again. It would not be the first time but the third and most likely the last one. Military  force will intensify the hatred toward the countries using it and terrorism will continue to be  a threat to everyone. We have become again the evil we deplore. We already have ignored  the fact that biological, chemical or nuclear terrorism would be thousands of times worse. If  the people of the world stay in the phase of just talking without using non-violent civil  resistance and direct action, we will soon see the global catastrophe that no one would like  to see or  can even imagine. If we choose to stay simply talkers, that day is not very far  from us.

It Starts With Us

The world’s war and peace situation will never be addressed as long as the major  powers continue to hold on to their weapons of mass destruction. Inspectors are not  needed in countries like the U.S., Britain, France, Russia, and China in order for the world to  know that they already possess these offensive and criminal nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons and long-range missiles. Yet children in those countries are not dying  from sanctions.

Why is it a crime for Iraq and other nations to seek these  weapons but not for the so-called “great powers”? But as someone once said, the world  knows that they fail to match power with responsibility and have licensed themselves to be  shepherds who prey on their sheep. We cannot grasp the fact that while most American,  English, French, Russian and Chinese children enjoy their playgrounds in safety, children in  other nations are mutilated and killed by American and English bombs and mines.

Permanent members (U.S., Britain, France, Russia, and China) of the security council  are promising security to the world while their arsenals posses such destructive power that it is enough to destroy, even by mistake, what they claim to secure. Would it not be wise  for the people of a planet tormented by fear and greed make a Security Council for themselves made up of countries that do not posses weapons of mass destruction? And  would it not be wise for that Security Council to be a group of countries that represent all  religions? Would a mature humanity still talk about crusades and holy wars? How objective  could a world security council be when four out of five of its members are Christian nations?  Would Pakistan, a Muslim country, be a permanent member of the Security Council if it had  6,000 nuclear bombs?

If today’s authorities in every country were honest enough to entertain these  thoughts, perhaps the world could be saved from the coming omnicide. But in reality, the politicians or the soldiers cannot save the world, only the ordinary peoples. Only when the  people heal their fears and greed and give their extra money (resources)  to relieve their neighbors, will  omnicide be avoided. If  people cannot do that, then it seems like they will run to the caves soon. Their leaders will  not be able to save them. They will realize that all writings and talks were in vain because  they did not accept and practice the truth that “your brother is the same as you”. Probably  the very few who will survive will learn to share in the caves, and they will finally learn that we are  all one.

In matters of conscience, numbers are meaningless. If we do not care for the  beggar at our doorstep, we will not care for the thousands of people dying everyday in our world in agonizing death inflicted by our tax money. Only if we unconditionally care for our  friends and family will we care for the suffering of the people on the other side of the globe.

We need to start where we are. How many people practice the exhortation “if you have  two, give one to the one who has none?” If we know the answer, then we know the future.

Do not judge this message as religious, atheist, political or propaganda. Just try to  practice what you know is the only way to have peace on earth. You might say “But there is no hope because there is too much ignorance around ready to destroy life.” That might be  true, but do it anyway because that is our duty and that is the way we find true happiness  and meaning in life. Socrates said: “An unexamined life is not worth living.”

How does the  abolition of these terrible weapons start? It starts with us.

Previous articles by Andreas Toupadakis:

• Glorifying Peace Instead of War
• Creating Your Future – Arise Great Warrior, Arise!
• Unifying The Global Peace Movement – Challenges and Solutions
• The Real Face of The Empire
• Science, Secrets and Corporate Slavery
• Crisis in Science: Scientists’ Responsibility for the Survival of the Human Species
• Awaken Students! Education is for Self-Awareness and Inner Growth
• Quitting the Nuclear Labs – a Scientist’s Plea for World Peace
• Civilization Is for Making Peace, Not War
• Wisdom and Compassion Need to Become Action

About the author:

Born on the beautiful island of Crete in Rethymno, Greece, Andreas Toupadakis received his B.S. in Chemistry from the Aristotelian University in Thessaloniki. He has lived in the U.S. since 1978, and received his Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of  Michigan in 1990. Following a career in industry, academia and two US Government laboratories, in 2001 Dr. Toupadakis resigned from a classified government position maintaining nuclear weaponry at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California to actively contribute to the peace movement.

Since 2005, Dr. Toupadakis has been teaching at UC Davis, including courses in General Chemistry, Organic Chemistry and Physical Chemistry for Life Sciences. A proponent of the Socratic dialogue method, he was the winner of the 7th annual ASUCD Excellence in Education Award as UC Davis’ educator of the year in 2009. He is also the author of three chemistry study guides, and teaches two popular freshman seminars at UC Davis  every quarter: “From Self-Awareness to Personal Growth  for True Success in and After College” and “World Music as a Means to Embrace Diversity and Reach Self-Discovery”.

Besides teaching chemistry at UC Davis, Dr. Toupadakis has taught chemistry at several other colleges and universities in the U.S. and in Greece, and has also given lectures and written articles on life planning through wise career choice, career change and career satisfaction, and sustainable living across campuses in the U.S., Greece, Japan and recently in India.

His personal website, TheLifeCurve.com, is devoted to student success during and after college. Dr. Toupadakis spends a great deal of his free time with his students at his organic garden plot, which is provided by the Experimental College Community Garden of UC Davis. He also encourages his students to have their own garden plots.

Visit TheLifeCurve.com for more information, or check out more from Dr. Toupadakis here on Wake Up World.