“It is true, political problems are not solved by love and mercy. But the world of politics is not the only world, and unless political decisions rest on a foundation of something better and higher than politics, they can never do any real good for men. When a country has to be rebuilt after war, the passions and energies of war are no longer enough. There must be a new force, the power of love, the power of understanding and human compassion, the strength of selflessness and cooperation, and the creative dynamism of the will to live and to build, and the will to forgive. The will for reconciliation.” - from Introductions East & West. The Foreign Prefaces of Thomas Merton
I have been reading Merton quotes to post in blogs that I write. I found this interesting and complex. As our gov't tries to figure out what to do in Iraq now I find myself embarrased to not really know how different governmental processes work. When I listn to Diane Rehm on NPR, I am constantly reminded of how stupid I am concerning these things. The topic yesterday was about what to do now in Iraq. This week I read in the Press our 3 options of Go Big, Go Long, Go Home. So I thought i'd comment on my ideas of what to do.
After 911, I was pissed. I was convinced that we should go after somebody. First Afghnistan and then Iraq fed this anger or as Merton calls it, "the passions and energies of war". But as things progressed and things didn't really turn out as pleasant and cut and dry as I had planned, I started to wonder what the hell we were doing. Then I started looking for somebody else to blame. I have learned a lot about what I think about war in the past 6 years but haven't really figured out what to do in Iraq now. I was speaking with a friend yesterday about this and I said that we can't just leave, but I don't want us to stay either. How are we going to get out of there and not screw things up further?
The answer I have come up with is "I just don't know and I hope somebody else does". So, you have now just wasted a few minutes reading this and hearing no clear conclusions. Hope you're happy.
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4 comments:
i guess that's part of why we elect officials who we trust to research and make the best decisions. When they don't, it seems plain to us where they went wrong, though when they were getting to the going many of us were prepared to go along.
Get that? Gotta go.
I just wrote a ton and lost it because my email "hasn't been varified yet." That sucked. Let's see, I think basically what I said was that I don't like war. I agree with most that we need to focus on how to fix things now. I also feel hopelessly inadequate when discussing the war or politics in general...mostly because I spend most of my "reading" time with "Good Night Moon," and "There's a Wocket in my Pocket" instead of GR Press. I do have some idealistic solutions.
1. Change the role of the UN to "Mediator" and have them facilitate world leader conflict resolution summits where it's kind of like a tournament...for a week. 12 leaders sit around a table with 1 UN rep mediating. They walk through the basic steps of conflict resolution and can't move onto the next table until everyone has "cleared".
2. Once everyone has cleared with all the other leaders they then need to hug eachother
3. Only after all of the world leaders have completed this process can they return to their home countries and continue with other pressing business.
4. These summitts should be held at the beginning of each new election and just before the end of a term of someone else.
5. Absenteeism will not be tolerated and those countries will receive sanctions that will amount to no less than 30 lashes with a wet noodle infront of their entire nation.
Some of the above is obviously in jest, however...I do believe that as adults they should be able to resolve their problems without having to result in violence.
That's what I want to teach my children, at least.
What's going on, dry spell?
no dry spell, I was on vacation and didn't want to write. Now I have more time and will continue to rant about seemingly useless things. I'm gonna write tonight on my men's retreat idea. I hope you can help. your intelligence and scholarship would draw a different crownd and give some ballance to my emotional tirades.
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