From: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
On Behalf Of Peter
Sent: Thursday, March 13, 2008 9:32 PM
To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com
Subject: RE: [FairfieldLife] Anybody get the ledger today...?
Rick, can you post a link to it? Thanks
I don’t think they put the editorial page online, but I posted the letter
here. Here it is again, in case you didn’t see it. Mr. Ed can post his.
In response to Sabrina Eklund's and Wilda Hadley's letter ("Fairfield can
survive without M.U.M.," Feb. 21):
Of course it could. And most of us could survive without one of our kidneys.
But I'd rather have two. I agree with their contention that the "campus is
not the only thing that makes this town golden," but I think they
underestimate the influence of the meditating community, of which the campus
is only a subset.
In response to their question, "If our town wasn't thriving before, why did
you come here?," the obvious answer is that a bankrupt, deserted campus was
available at a bargain – hardly a symptom of a "thriving" town. The
community was eager to see it occupied, and welcomed the meditators with
open arms. That welcome may have been abused on occasion, sometimes
egregiously, but the meditators' net effect has been overwhelmingly
positive. They have created or imported businesses that have employed
thousands over the years, and have been a driving force behind many events
and accomplishments of which all Fairfielders can be proud.
Clashes are inevitable whenever cultures intermingle. But over time,
friendships, marriages, business partnerships, and simple proximity blur the
lines of segregation, and eventually, separating the cultures becomes as
difficult and potentially as lethal as separating conjoined twins. We have
long since reached that point in Fairfield. "Born and raised here" now
refers to hundreds of younger meditators, many of whom are having children
of their own. Meditators have been here for 35 years and couldn't leave en
masse if they wanted to, nor would most leave even if MUM were to shut down.
But hypothetically, if they did leave, Fairfield's economy and culture would
be devastated.
In case you think that all meditators are of one mind, they are actually a
very diverse, eclectic group. Most are not vegetarians, they are among the
congregations of most local churches, many are politically conservative,
many don't care which way their houses face, and many don't even meditate
anymore. I, for instance, have been meditating since the '60's, but am no
longer part of the TM Organization. They booted me out five days after 9/11
for being involved with Amma (the "Hugging Saint" who comes to Iowa each
summer).
We don't live in a black and white world. If you want to be true to yourself
and to reality, avoid simplistic generalizations. Every person, group,
community, religion, and nation is an intricate mix of virtue and vice,
wisdom and foolishness. We all tend to fortify our egos by regarding our own
group as superior, but in fact, none of us has all the pieces of the puzzle,
and we'll never solve it until we learn acceptance and cooperation.
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11:31 AM
