We have tried to achieve this vastness in our souls for years. We have always wanted to recognize and accept people – not for the ill-temperedness they display due to certain exterior reasons, but for the spiritual immensity of their inner worlds, their silent spiritedness, their energetic harmony, and their continual openness to self-reform. And it was impossible for us to think otherwise. Such acceptance is required by the superior commands of faith, a testament to its universality. Indeed, while we have always tried to embrace our own faith completely, we have also regarded other religious thoughts and philosophical ideas as a natural part of our life. We have always sought coexistence. Our slogan has always been “accept everyone for who they are, and show respect.” And we have always tried to be faithful to this principle and have never condemned or abused anyone due to differences in religion, faith, sect, or opinion.

Though we have suffered various kinds of abuse, and were subjected to insults and degradation, we never responded. We never responded despite the fact that we had many legitimate reasons to do so. We endured various forms of abuse and humiliation, but we considered retaliation in kind as a cruel principle. We always believed the eternally inherent honor and privileges of being human should not be forsaken for temporary attributes like grudge, hostility, anger, and barbarity. Hoping to express these emotions without causing doubt or confusion, we even humbly bowed our heads and placed them on the ground, hoping to serve as steppingstones on the paths of those who we thought possessed good intentions. Such behavior for the sake of tolerance is a form of humbleness and submission; and while behaving in this manner, if we have unconsciously insulted our faith in any way and sinned, may God forgive us! We have continuously exclaimed, “Respect for all humanity.” We tried to live like shadows, to prevent being obstacles. We never anticipated anything from those whom we embraced with understanding, whose ideas we welcomed with respect. All we asked was mutual respect; this much we would expect simply out of our humble appreciation of their being human.

Indeed, we have never singled out anyone. As our hearts beat with love for the whole of humanity, we never demanded anything in return for our compassionate care. If we had made such demands, continuing our broad and sincere relations with all the nations of the world would have been impossible; ties based on expectations can never survive. But we want our relationships with others to last forever, and for that matter we chose to establish these relations on the belief that every human being is an example of God’s art.

We lived our lives accordingly, offering our love and respect to everyone (perhaps we have gone too far in showing our love, and some people mistook our kindness for hostile intentions). We showed kindness and displayed our humanity at every opportunity. We did not discriminate against anyone based on “worth”; we tried to live beyond such measures. We waited for the propitious moment when the eye of reason would convene and integrate with sound judgment. I believe that, as humans, we have a right to this basic expectation. Lesser expectations would be disrespectful to the honorable human being, whose potential exceeds that of the angels.

Indeed, for many years, while opening our fountains of deepest love, we’ve often been overwhelmed by the hope that our seeds of affection would germinate in lands of hatred, hostility, anger, and conspiracy. And many of those in our society that share this dream responded positively from their hearts:

Make a sound, my brave one, or don’t you hear me?
For years I have stood with you in my imagination.
I live with the hope that you will rise up and come…
My heart, shining with hope, awaits you.
At times it flies in the skies; at others it crawls on the ground…
Everywhere is in ruins, a festival for owls.
Bridges have fallen one by one and the roads are without travelers.
No one stops by anymore, the fountains have run dry…
Arise and come just like in the dreams!
Early one morning on your white horse,
While watching you in my spirit with my closed eyes.
Arise and come just like in the dreams!

Overcome by the magic of this splendid ideal, millions began to utter words of love. Though at first this love was only a trickle, in time it has transformed into a cascade. Now it is a symbol of revival for everyone.

This is another dimension of God manifesting His greatness. Sometimes, by allowing the weakest ones to fulfill great achievements, God shows that intermediary causes have no real significant value and reminds us of His sublimity in many different ways. What we have lived through was of a similar nature. It was as if the One of Eternal Power opened the gates to the hearts of others for ordinary, simple individuals like us, virtually bestowing upon us to become Solomon with his vast kingdom of love; and even if it was only temporary, the evil spirits of grudge, hostility, and conflict were so shocked that they became delirious with their evil desires.

Then, it was the time for the heroes of tolerance to speak. The Earth turned into pure gold in their hands; coal transformed into diamonds, and poison turned into sherbet. While they were satisfied with the willingness of society to reclaim its true nature, society also rejoiced at discovering its own spiritual depth and essence. Indeed, kindness converged with graciousness, and the souls, weary from years of bloodshed, tears, and the festering of evil, rejoiced at their good fortune. At last, everyone sat beneath open skies singing songs of love. Everywhere, light overwhelmed darkness, and the roars of hostility and animosity were replaced by the comforting ballads of love and brotherhood. Revenge and grudge idly awaited their fate, and hostility and resentment slowly shrank and faded away.

We were delighted and anticipated that those who were conscious of their humanity would adorn their souls with feathers from Gabriel’s wings, reach the heavens frequented by the angels, and raise a new voice composed of the divine. A new voice that would not allow the groaning of conflict, lies, slander, and defamation.

Disappointingly, however, a marginal but adamant group, driven by hostility, aggression, anarchism, and slander, a group whose strength and extraordinary efficiency lie in its destructiveness and its bellicosity, has obstructed this awakening like fiends. They have attempted to block this progress by swaying some people who were confused and undecided. They have attacked religious thought and defamed religious people. They have labeled everyone with an ideology; for them, some people were “religionists” – whatever that means – while others were members of a cult, thus sowing fears for fundamentalism, they ignited flames of discord.

Tyrants have oppression on their side,
but the innocent have God on theirs.
Persecuting people may be easy today,
but tomorrow they will certainly go before God.

We have remained silent; silence is the way we respond. Retaliation in kind is a tyrannous principle in our book. We do not fight back physically, nor do we reply to their curses. Acting without force against those who use force, and remaining silent before those who utter abuse: these are requirements of the covenant between us and our consciences. God never created us with teeth to bite, nor did He create us with claws to savage others. Each individual acts upon their character, and we consider acting violently as disrespectful to ourselves. Thus, we have swallowed our words when we could have spoken out loud.

While others have revealed the darkness in their souls, we are presented with the opportunity to praise God’s favors upon us.  We will not overshadow our time in this transient world by harming others, speaking evil words, or hurting others’ feelings; in the spirit of Yunus the poet, we will appeal to everyone to love one another. 

While doing so, we will remain loyal to these words, as written by Bediuzzaman: “I am forgiving all the troubles, tortures, and calamities I had to suffer for so many years. During my whole lifetime (of over eighty years), I have tasted nothing of the worldly pleasures. My life has passed on battlefields or in prisons or other places of suffering. I was placed on disciplinary segregation for months. They have treated me, at war tribunals, as if I were a savage. As for those who persecuted me, who banished me from one town to another, who tried to imprison me with many charges, and those who reserve a place for me in the dungeons: I forgive all of them.”

Indeed, I vow that as a believer I will share these emotions. I vow that I will not be upset with anyone or break away from them. I vow that I will welcome death with pleasure. I vow that I will accept the suffering from His Majesty as one with the loyalty that comes from His Beauty. And finally, I have no authority to speak on behalf of God’s rights, but with the regards to my violated personal rights, I vow that I will not demand them from anyone on the Day of Judgment.

On the last day of summer

Ten hours before fall…

….My grandfather took me

Out to the Wall.

For a while he stood silent

Then finally he said,

With a very sad shake

Of his very old head,

“As you know, on this side of the Wall

We are Yooks.

On the other side of the Wall

Live the Zooks”

Thus, The Butter Battle Book, written by the well known author, Dr. Seuss invites the young reader to the world of Yooks and Zooks. The colorful illustrations of the book show from the first two pages that Yooks and Zooks are creatures quite alike in appearance with the only difference that Yooks dress in blue while Zooks are dressed in orange. Hence one cannot grasp at the beginning why a wall stands between them. Yet, the following words of the grandfather introduce to the reader another “important” difference without delay.

Then my grandfather said

“It’s high time that you knew

Of the terrible, horrible thing that Zooks do

In every Zook house and in every Zook town

Every Zook eats his bread

With the butter side down!”

“But we Yooks, as you know,

when we breakfast or sup,

spread our bread,” Grandpa said,

“with the butter side up

That’s the right, honest way!”

Grandpa gritted his teeth.

“So you can’t trust a Zook who spreads bread underneath!

Now, I see you smile at the “horrible” crime Zooks commit but don’t dismiss it as a funny little story. Rather try to remember how your own parents, your teachers, or even books you read shaped the way you looked at others. How much of this acquired knowledge and experience caused prejudice, fear, and hostility? Or if you please, take a greater challenge and ponder on how you interact today with people that are different from you. Do you erect walls or do you build bridges?

As you reflect on yourself and your life consider how the grandfather Yook delivers an important warning to his grandchild.

Every Zook must be watched!

He has kinks in his soul!

That’s why, as a youth, I made watching my goal,

watching Zooks for the Zook-Watching Border Patrol!

In those days, of course

the Wall wasn’t so high

and I could look any Zook

square in the eye

If he dared to come close

I could give him a twitch

With my tough-tufted

Snick Berry Switch

Isn’t it interesting that the difference between Yooks and Zooks instead of becoming a reason for curious attraction toward each other became a pretext for hostility and suspicion? Then again, this is no novelty to us, is it? When fear and hostility join hand, the clash is sure to come.

For the Yooks the clash began when one day a Zook named Van Itch slingshot the Grandfather’s “Tough-Tufted Prickly Snick-Berry Switch.” The Yooks then developed a machine with three slingshots interlinked, called a “Triple-Sling Jigger.” This gun worked once (Van Itch got scared and ran off), but the Zooks counterattacked with their own creation: The “Jigger-Rock Snatchem,” a machine with three nets to fling the rocks fired from the Triple-Sling Jigger back at the Yooks’ side “just as fast as we catch ‘em.”

Page by page the conflict between the two sides escalates and leads to a long arms race for bigger and better weapons to outdo the other, which unsurprisingly brings the Yooks and Zooks on the scary threshold of mutual destruction.

The Butter Battle Book was written during the Cold War era, and many critics think that the book reflects the concerns of the time, especially the perceived possibility that all life on earth could be destroyed in a nuclear war. The book’s apparent position regarding the arms race could be one of the reasons why The Butter Battle Book was once removed from the shelves of public libraries during the Cold War. Another reason could have been educators’ worries about the inappropriateness of introducing the idea of annihilation to young children.

The Butter Battle Book has also been seen as an enjoyable satirical work, with its depiction of a deadly war based on a senseless conflict over something as trivial as a breakfast food. The book’s delightful illustrations and its tongue twisting rhymes make the book fun to read.

Let’s go back to the book because meanwhile, both the Yooks and the Zooks have come to the end of their race. Both sides have developed the same equally powerful destructive bomb: “the bitsy big boy boomeroo.” On the last page of the book grandfather and Van Itch stand still about to drop the bomb and we hear the grandchild’s fearful cry:

“Granpa!” I shouted “Be careful! Oh Gee!

Who’s going to drop it?

Will you…? Will he…?”

“Be patient,” said Granpa. “We’ll see.”

“We will see…”

You may feel unsatisfied with the inconclusive ending, yet some literary critics deem it perfect for provoking discussion on how Zooks and Yooks might develop alternative ways to solve their problems. In fact, this entire book could be an excellent manual for peace studies educators to incorporate conflict resolution on both small and large scales.

On the other hand a National Review article published in July 27, 1984 (shortly after the book came out in print) draws attention to the idea that the inconclusive ending of the book could do damage to the cause Seuss is professing. The article claims that: “By ending inconclusively, with neither side having fired a serious shot and with each side wary of the nuclear weapons of the other, Seuss reminds us that nuclear weapons have kept the peace for nearly forty years now.” According to this article children may as well conclude that the surest way to achieve peace is to remain strong albeit strong at times might translate into inventing and possessing weapons of mass destruction.

Parental or teacher guidance during the reading of this book could be of great help in this case. Thought provoking questions can be addressed such as: Can the non-existence of war be considered real peace? Is a cold war the most peace that can be achieved?

Conclusion

Because history seems to repeat itself The Butter Battle Book and its message are far from obsolete even today, two decades later. As we hear with dread news of wars and ongoing nuclear armaments, as the map of the world is marked with more “hot spots,” we get the gut feeling that maybe we are living in the land of Yooks and Zooks. We feel that it is imperative to promote peace and prevent the infamous prediction of the so called clash of civilizations.

If we, people of this world, should wage a war why not wage one to eradicate poverty, ignorance and hostility? If we should take up arms can’t they be sound education, tolerance, love, and mutual understanding? With the situation as it is, it seems like we don’t possess the luxury to lay back and say: “We’ll see…. We will see…”

It brings hope to see that many people think likewise and have already rolled up their sleeves for the noble cause of peace making. The opportunities to get involved in this noble cause for peace are limitless starting from nonprofit organizations promoting tolerance and peacemaking to small groups that act against prejudice and discrimination. If you feel you are too insignificant to make an impact, then here is something simple to do; read The Butter Battle Book with a child and talk about all the beauties that come with peace.

Mirkena Ozer pursues creative writing at University of Georgia, Atlanta.

References and notes

1. http://www.thefreelibrary.com/The+Butter+Battle+Book.-a03363441.