1.19.2007

I am a Pacifist

I think. Actually I am not sure, but it is the closest that I have been to one yet in my life. I just have run out of reasons where violence is justified as the solution. I don't see how violence promotes peace. The only way it does that seems to be by fear.

It seems like we continue to waste time and money in Iraq. Do you know that the US has spent around 1 trillion dollars on the war? Couldn't that money have been better used giving the world clean water, food, housing, and preventative health care? We would still probably have a lot left over. Maybe we should sink money into people, not weapons. Maybe, but I don't know.

Now don't get to concerned. I will still support the military and government even if I don't agree with it. I also feel that is something that shouldn't change. The government just brings up a lot of questions in my mind. I just think that it would be hard for people to hate us if we gave them food and water.

But again, I don't know

2 comments:

Nathan Hackman said...

Are you sure you are a pacifist? I understand what you're feeling, but consider these things. The 1 trillion dollars spent in Iraq wouldn't be spent on feeding the hungry even if there wasn't a war. In many cases that money wouldn't have been spent at all. Your concern there has more to do with the fiscal mentality of our government than with violence. You are correct in your belief that violence is never a justified solution. Violence is never a solution, period. The problem with living in a flawed world is that violence is sometimes all we are left with. Consider the 800,000 that were slaughtered in Rwanda while the UN not only refused to use force to intervene, but actively opposed those who were willing to do so. The result was genocide, which was only ended when a military force rose up within the country to end it. What options were available to stop the genocide in Nazi Germany? Did that war end anti-semitism? Was that war without purpose because it failed to do so? People today often argue for sanctions over force. Isn't starvation just a quieter form of violence? At the end of the day I believe that a peaceful life is the best life to live, but sometimes life doesn't give a choice. No matter how much we may wish that the world was a perfect place filled with good intentions we can never escape that fact that in every society, at every economic level, there exist people who will kill and destroy to advance the agenda of evil. Somewhere, sometime, a line must be drawn to stop them. I fully respect those who are willing give up their lives rather than use violence, but what about those who don't make that choice, but have their lives taken anyway? What about the three year old girl cowering in a corner somewhere in the Sudan while evil men search for her? If some man demands my wallet on the street, it is his. If he comes into proteinstar's house while I'm around and tries to touch one of those beautiful children, he is dead. I respect the fact that you have such an open view of the world, not many do, but I for one feel that pacifism over simplifies Creation, and the tormented realities that our imperfection forces upon it.

Anonymous said...

Hey....sadly i believe that i am starting to think your way....i don't necessarily like war...but it could just be because i could never see myself fighting....hmmmmm.....i don't know....something to think about....