Toto for Peace

Is it me or does anyone else feel like they’re standing in a cornfield in Kansas eying The Scarecrow from Oz? “He went that-a-way.”

The lead article in the Week in Review in Sunday’s New York Times flabbergasted me. It was called “Peace? Sure. I’ll See What I Can Do,” and it detailed President George W. Bush’s non-engaged engagement in the peace process in the Middle East.

Aaron David Miller, a longtime peace negotiator, and author of a new book coming out this spring called “The Much Too Promised Land,” says that Mr. Bush has sniffed “the fumes of greatness that hover over this problem.” Can you spell legacy?

I’m back in the cornfield with the That-A-Way go-to guy. Eyes crossed, unable to decide which fork in the road to take. No yellow brick in sight. Or, like in Iraq, no road at all.

What I want to say is: Who the hell does George W. Bush think he is? This delegate-not- delve, warmongering, childish, indulgent, Teflon, C.E.O. president who considers himself a war leader dares to even attempt to broker a peace in the Middle East! A goodly portion of the Middle East is lacking peace BECAUSE of him. Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.

I demand to speak to Toto at once!

Blessed Ode friends, I truly believe that until we make peace within ourselves, our homes, our families, our communities, our towns, our states, our countries, engaging in peace in other places is futile. We must let Toto pull the curtain back on our own lives. When we stop making war, we’ll give peace its chance.