Peace Isn't Always the Answer

Most people who would read this blog know that I am somewhat of a pacifist - not a strict pacifist, but I definitely am a peace lover. I even mentioned this past Sunday in church how American nationalism intertwining with the church really bothers me.

I read this excert from an LA Times article in THE WEEK and it made me think. It didn't totally change me, but it made me think. Please read and tell me what you think.

"If you want peace, prepare for war," the Roman general Flavius Vegetius Renatus counseled more than 1,600 years ago. This was not belligerence, said Bruce Bawer, but wisdom based on history and human nature. Our world has always included rogues and bullies who prey on the weak, and the more prepared and willing a nation is to defend itself, the less likely it is that it will have to go to war. But the fast growing "peace racket" denies this age-old truth, insisting that all war is unjust.
It goes on to say how they have no quarrel with murderous dictators like Kim Jong Il or Fidel Castro, but that the U.S. is the source of most or all of the world's oppression and poverty. College courses teach that if terrorists kill American civilians, it is wrong to respond with violence. Instead, we should try to reason with these fanatics. It's a message that could only appeal to pampered young Americans totally insulated from the realities that Vegetius spoke of centuries ago. As George Orwell once observed, "To abjure violence, it is necessary to have no experience of it."

For me, it's the line about "insulated pampered young Americans" that really got to me. I haven't been in a situation where I have been attacked. But I guess Martin Luther King was in that situation and he responded without violence.

What do you think?

Contradictions

I have seen a couple people commenting on things like this and it got me thinking. It's part of my being an "acrobat."

Why am I this virtual pacifist when it comes to war but I love, I mean love in a way that stirs my heart, movies like Saving Private Ryan, 300, The Matrix, and Lord of the Rings. I think that the HBO Miniseries called Band of Brothers is the single best piece of film-making on the face of the earth. That's just a story of the European front of WWII. I read all of Steve Ambrose's books on WWII. I'm unsure if my love for those movies is my sinful nature or if my views on war are just inconsistent. Just because I like something doesn't mean it's not sinful. We long for lots of sinful things. Maybe war is just a sinful thing that I resonate with, but my true heart's conviction is that it is wrong.

What do you think? Do you have any similar contradictions? I must be an acrobat to talk like this and act like that.

Middle Eastern Mickey

Click this link HERE and you will see why war hurts my heart so much. This is the image of the other side and what they are teaching their children. I think the translation is trustworthy but I can't say for sure. To be honest, it frightens me. Can we ever have a world with true peace? In the words of maybe the smartest man of all time, Rodney King, "Can't we all just get along?"

P.S. You will have to watch a short commercial before the video on the link. The one I saw was about fishing with your kids which is strange when connected with the video.

"Support Our Troops"

I read this article today in the LA Times about how men and women who have been injured in Iraq have to go through layers and layers of bureaucracy to be able to receive disability aid and many are forced to make a decision between receiving a $8,000 check or receiving continuing aid from the VA. Many are making this decision while suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

The above story is about a soldier being supported by some friends who are lawyers and businessmen, but most don't have that kind of support.

It seems to me that helping these people out is how we can "support our troops." I don't think that you have to advocate war to support our troops. Our own government and military sure supports more fighting, but I don't think this story helps me believe that they "support our troops." I would love to try and find out more how we can be activists for this issue. I would rather be positive in helping fight for aid for these injured soldiers than just denouncing the war effort or denouncing Bush or something like that. It just seems more productive.