Last week the number of American casualties in Afghanistan exceeded 2,000. It's interesting how certain milestones lead to soul-searching. These 2,000 are in addition to the more than 4,000 U.S. military dead in Iraq. Then there are the hundreds, perhaps thousands of dead from other nations involved in the conflict. Not to mention the many thousands more from Iraqi and Afghani militaries and militias and insurgency groups. Over a hundred thousand civilians have died in Iraq and tens of thousands in Afghanistan. God know how many people have been injured, many in ways which will keep them from every being contributors to society again. We humans are so destructive. When I see totals like these it makes me wonder anew about Original Sin. Are we programmed from the "get-go" to be violent toward each other?
Jesus' unwillingness to participate in the insurgency of his people under Roman rule and his apparent passivity in the face of death can appear clueless. Why didn't he take up arms? Instead he said that those who live by the sword die by the sword.
Speak louder Jesus, we have trouble with our hearing.
Any thoughts about the boondoggle of the Afghan and Iraqi conflicts? When it is permissable to strike back? Why are we so inept when it comes to peace-making?
1 comment:
Two more reasons to study the Bush era and seriously weigh the potential return to Republican rule (and reflexive militarism.)
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