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Gratitude and Truth at the Rhubarb Lounge

By Robert C. Koehler In the morning, thank you, thank you In the evening, thank you, thank you In the middle of the day, thank you, thank you In the deep dark night, thank you, thank you Yeah, I’ll second that. The words are from the Sara Thomsen song “Rhapsody of Rest,” but more specifically, […]

‘Got Any Tennis Balls?’

By Robert C. Koehler Every bullet fired into a crowd penetrates the national soul — or so it seems to me, as I continue to grapple emotionally with the Trump-rally shooting in Butler, Pa. on July 13, which left one attendee murdered, several others wounded and the shooter himself dead. As with all such shootings, […]

Swatting at the Noose of Cynicism

By Robert C. Koehler As hard as I try, in the privacy of my own being, not to get caught up in the scathing absurdities of the moment — e.g., the presidential election, America’ looming fascism, our love of money and war (to name a few) — yikes, here I am, caught up in it […]

Love Always Comes Out of Hiding

By Robert C. Koehler . . . Your soul comes out of hiding. I understand that you are blessing me.. . . I find myself — still — groping in wonder. What a coincidence this was. About a week ago my friend Mike emailed me, telling me he and his wife had been going through […]

Assanges’s Freedom Is Also Ours: To Tell the Truth

By Robert C. Koehler After twelve years — including five years of solitary confinement at Belmarsh Prison in London — Julian Assange is free. God bless America! He wasn’t extradited to the U.S. to stand trial, where he faced a sentence of 170 years in prison for violating the so-called Espionage Act. Instead, he took […]

If You Have a Problem, Kill It

By Robert C. Koehler The term is “banal militarism” – that is to say, violence and the preparation for violence so utterly commonplace that most people don’t even notice. Banal militarism is as American as apple pie. It’s also global in scope. As Richard Rubenstein writes: “Part of the reason for the relative immunity of […]

Power, Ego and Godliness

By Robert C. Koehler OK, the big question: Should our country – USA! USA! – return to a place of godliness? Suddenly the nation’s stewpot of controversy started boiling over, thanks to Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito being secretly recorded agreeing with a fake conservative at the Supreme Court Historical Society dinner last week. The […]

Is Abolishing War Possible?

By Robert C. Koehler If we can end, let us say . . . slavery — the legal “ownership” of other human beings — can’t we also end other great social wrongs? Can’t we also end war? As I ask this question, I am suddenly bludgeoned by an unexpected irony, since the United States ended […]

Voting for the Lesser Evil?

By Robert C. Koehler The election paradox looms. Do I calm myself down, steady my hand, pull the lever for Joe, even though it feels like voting for Netanyahu? Even though it feels like I’m loosing another bomb on Gaza? I’ve had a number of intense conversations with friends about this recently, the essence of […]

Welcome to the Beloved Community

By Robert C. Koehler We will not evolve into the future with closed minds. And nothing closes the human mind – either individually or collectively – like the weapons of war . . . and the freedom to use them. Step one: Dehumanize those you’re about to kill (i.e., accuse them of being who you […]

A World Under Spiritual Construction

By Robert C. Koehler There’s something happening here . . . Consider, for instance, the recent announcement by Union Theological Seminary, which is affiliated with Columbia University, that it is divesting from “companies profiting from war in Palestine/Israel” – and, not only that, fully supports the student encampments (at Columbia and all across the country) […]

Cluster Bombs vs. Open Hearts

By Robert C. Koehler Mine! Mine! Mine! Praise God . . . This is perhaps the worst thing human beings do: They take their deepest values — connection, love, empathy — simplify them down to a religion, a name (Christianity, let us say, or Judaism, or whatever) and suddenly they have a flag to wave […]

War, Money and Universities

By Robert C. Koehler Peaceful protest, violent response – that says it all. Human politics – from global to local – remain mixed with hatred, dominance and . . . well, dehumanization. We’ve organized ourselves across the planet around one primary principle: the existence of an enemy. The division between “us” and “them” can be […]

The Humble Pen Takes on the Mighty Sword

By Robert C. Koehler Here’s an anniversary no one wants to celebrate: The Columbine school shooting — April 20, 1999 — just passed its 25th anniversary. Fifteen dead (including the two shooters), twenty-one injured. A new era begins . . . Why, why, why bring up such a horrific event? Perhaps because it hasn’t stopped. […]

The ‘Accepted Insanity’ of World War III

By Robert C. Koehler “Mr. Netanyahu faces a delicate calculation — how to respond to Iran in order not to look weak, while trying to avoid alienating the Biden administration and other allies already impatient with Israel’s prosecution of the war in Gaza.” Yeah, this is virtually nothing: a random, utterly forgettable quote pulled from […]

Survival Without Bombs or Borders

By Robert C. Koehler An enormous flash, a mushroom cloud, multi-thousands of human beings dead. We win! Nuclear weapons won’t go away, the cynics — the souls in despair — tell us. You can’t put the genie back in the bottle. You can’t, as Gen. James E. Cartwright, former head of U.S. Strategic Command, once […]

No One Owns the Future

By Robert C. Koehler Even the international condemnation of the Israeli devastation of Gaza often feels tepid. Consider, for instance, the words of U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres, in the wake of Israel’s April 1 drone strike on a convoy of cars from World Central Kitchen, a disaster relief organization bringing food to starving Gazans. […]

War and the Soul of Desperation

By Robert C. Koehler I call it “naked insanity,” as in: the emperor has no clothes. He has no sane and transcendent values, no wisdom — not when it comes to survival. Global governance is consumed by power. Those who have it insist on keeping it, no matter the cost. Hence: nuclear weapons . . […]

A One-State Solution Could Transform the World

By Robert C. Koehler Probably fewer ideas are treated with more contempt in today’s world than . . . ahem: a one-state solution for Palestine and Israel, with, good God, every resident equally valued, equally free. “Snort! No one wants this! It’s not possible — it’s not true!” My reply to the cynics is this: […]

Transcending Cultural Erasure

By Robert C. Koehler Oh Lord, kumbaya . . . As I absorb the daily news of war and global devastation, I sing these words to myself — quietly, yes, secretly, lest I ignite instant flash-bang sarcasm from the surrounding world. What next? A flower in a rifle barrel? Sarcasm spits in the face of […]

The Tears of War Belong to All of Us

By Robert C. Koehler First you call them terrorists. Then you say you’re defending yourself. Moral problem solved! You can kill as many of them as you want. Well, maybe there will be consequences later (and maybe not), but for the moment you have overcome your own moral barriers and can start doing your job […]

Changing the World with Fire and Love

By Robert C. Koehler The easiest way to cope with the news is to shrivel it into an us-vs.-them abstraction and, thus, to extract as much humanity from it as possible. I’m thinking about the recent protest death of Aaron Bushnell, who set himself on fire — doused himself in flammable liquid, lit a match […]

The War on Gaza: Public Relations vs. Reality

By Robert C. Koehler For its victims, war is . . . yes, hell. For the rest of us — the onlooking and supportive patriots — war is an abstraction embedded in ignorance, a.k.a., public relations, served up for public consumption. At least that’s the way it’s supposed to be. The reality of war should […]

Diversity in the Crosshairs

By Robert C. Koehler “Welcome to Dearborn, America’s Jihad Capital . . .” No, this is not the official “you are now entering Dearborn, Michigan” sign, at the corner of Michigan and Wyoming avenues, or whatever. This prosperous Detroit suburb — not only the hometown of Henry Ford but my hometown as well, the place […]

Neck Deep in the Big Muddy

By Robert C. Koehler Read the news, hup, two, three, four! “Top United States officials prodded Israel on Monday to do more to protect civilians in the Gaza Strip . . .” Thus began a recent, and oh so typical, piece of war reportage. It was purveyed by the New York Times but it’s something […]

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