Unless you have been living under a rock, you must be aware of the most intense and beautiful battle of our times.
The battle between Virtue, Peace and Basic Human Decency, headed by Pope Leo (quite a Lion, he), versus Darkness, Cruelty and Malignant Narcissism, headed by none other than the Orange Man who runs, or better ruins, our lives.
It has been pitted as a battle between two diametrically polar-opposite Americans.
And that's where we miss the point.
The immediate trigger, to pile on Trump and his cowardly minions by all of us, and so cogently articulated by Pope Leo, was in my opinion
Trump's Truth Social post, on the night of April 7:
“A civilisation will die tonight, never to be brought back again.”
This was the final straw on the world's weary back.
The Caucasian Alpha Male, who Trump so fervently represents, has done EXACTLY THIS over centuries.
The Native American Indian civilisation.
The Aztecs, the Mayans, the Aborigines, the African slaves—the list is endless. The brutality and savagery that obliterated many of these civilisations over centuries were now to be revisited.
We all had knots in our stomachs that night.
Pope Leo, American though he may be, had served much of his life as the Bishop of
Peru and was no stranger to stamping out a civilisation
by the Conquistadors.
And that is precisely when the gloves truly came off.
Enough was truly enough!
Pope Leo took the Mad Orange Man by the horns, or better by the tail.
By berating the Pope and dragging him into the mud, Trump understood that the clock was ticking on the absolutely insane war he and the Israelis had begun.
When and if this war truly ends, the Pope's intervention will enter into the history books as being the turning point.
Of course, there was severe blowback from the flailing American economy.
The fact that the entire global ecosystem was at risk of collapse due to one tiny strait of Hormuz.
The fact that the NATO allies baulked at joining the war.
The fact that Mossad intelligence was pure bull-shit.
The fact that Viktor Orban lost.
All these factors played a role.
But suffice to say that Trump, and the totally malevolent Pete Hegseth, blinked while the Pope was clear-eyed and laser-focused. That’s what turned the tide.
No question.
There is one piffle I have with the Pope’s tirade, however.
He rightly lashed out at the tyrants waging this disastrous war.
But he absolutely had to reprimand the Mad Mullahs running (or ruining) Iran as well.
The Khomeinis and his tyrants had been killing their own citizens for years.
They haven't been called out in this conflict.
The defenders of the Faith will argue that the Pope speaks out against tyranny by the followers of his Faith.
The Islamic clergy should deal with their Mad dictators.
But then Trump and Hegseth are not Catholics.
Why should they listen to the Pope then?
The Pope showed exemplary luminosity, grace, and Rockstar Courage in confronting this dreadful war.
How l wish leaders of other Faiths would rein in their tyrants.
Jewish Rabbis, in one voice, should condemn BiBi on his genocidal trips.
Islamic scholars and clergy should rail against their tyrants and lean on the side of Democracy.
The Russian Orthodox Patriarch should stop mollycoddling Putin.
This list can go on forever.
Besides, during the last decade in power out here, Hindutva may not be genocidal in nature, but its harassment and bullying of innocents who belong to other religions, for simply expressing their faith, must be unequivocally condemned by the RSS, the lodestar of Hindutva.
Celebrating Hindu Civilisation of 5000 years.
An Emphatic Yes.
Bashing minorities to achieve that objective
An Emphatic No.
The one thing I always wonder is why did the Vietnam War dragged on for 21 years,
And this one could be over in a few months?
Here credit must go to social media.
Whereas in Vietnam, it took years for information to filter through, to be processed and for revulsion to set in,
Here Instagram and FB, and TikTok ensured the outrage to set in globally in Godspeed Time.
In sum then:
We are essentially a frightened, malignant, violent species as humans.
But we are also capable of Peace and Love and Brotherhood.
We are capable of ensuring the fraternity of Nations and of Peoples.
Somehow, despite the Doomsday scenarios, we discover the innate goodness of the Human spirit.
It may take us time, but we will get there.
Suffice to say:
Thank you Leo for igniting that spark of the Light !!.
.
.
.
.
I do not believe in the concept of God, but it is odd that the word Hormuz is the Persian word for GOD, etymologically derived from Ahura Mazda, the Lord of Wisdom, the Wise Lord.
Funny that He was hiding in that tiny little strait to help us find ourselves.