I am a huge fan of peace. Destruction, oppression of peoples, killing, people getting hurt or going hungry are usually part of war. I don't want any of those things to happen to me, and I don't want any of those things to happen to ANYBODY.
However:
Those sorts of things happen outside of war, too. And war can be necessary.
Not everyone agrees with me. I have been friends with Mennonites who believed that it was never ever right to take another human being's life.
"That's is God's right alone," they said.
"But what if a criminal were holding a gun to your wife's head, and you could step in and kill him before he killed her?"
"I would have to let God take care of that. It's wrong to take a life."
I've lived with Quakers who had similar beliefs. I think that is a beautiful thing. I have tremendous respect for their determination to live by their values. I'm sure the world is a better place because they are in it.
I myself would blast the living crap out of anyone that threatened my loved ones. I would be so angry that someone was trying to hurt them.
This is so much of what I hear from peace protestors, too.
ANGRY ANGRY ANGRY
whoa.
Back it up, people. What's so funny 'bout peace, love and understanding?
I like peace. I WANT to be on your side. My heart says, Don't hurt people!
But the wiser grown-up part of me also knows that it takes hard measures to set things right after they have gone wrong.
And something has gone wrong. Saddam did stuff he shouldn't do.
So did America.
So did the U.N.
And what do we do now? We can't go back in time and make a better choice. We are now, we are here, living with the consequences of everything that went before.
What type of consequences do we want to live with in the future? THe consequences of war? Or the consequences of not-war?
I say not-war, because I am not sure that the state of things in Iraq were what I could call peace.
Or the state of things in America.
I am not sure about it. I don't know. I wish I understood. I wish that I had been reading things all along and learning about the situation before it had come to this.
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Article comments
1 - Eric Olsen
You are very honest and open and you are not wrong. War is terrible and grim and all the things you think it is, but sometimes the alternative is worse. This is one of those times.
There is so much material to read, but just follow this column down the last couple of weeks and make up your own mind - both sides are pretty well represented.
2 - Rob
You are right that it is hard to study enough about this war and the circumstances that led to it, but we all have to make the effort to educate ourselves, and not merely let someone tell us what to think. Blogs like this are generally good, because conscientious bloggers will site facts as necessary, and will give credit if proved wrong. Still there are some that will advance their opinion in hopes that you won't fact check them, and you have to, whether you agree or not.
IMO, the protesters more or less fear something that might happen, suspension of civil liberties, imnposition of "Pax Americana" etc, and they protest it in hopes of staving off these things. The more extrememe ones will say that this is already the case, and events only reinforce their opinion.
3 - The Theory
hahahahahaha... i'm mennonite. kind of... grew up in a mennonite church and go to a an ex-mennonite church half the time and a baptist church half the time.
*grin*
peace.