Watching the news this morning, I had a sense of deja vu. My mind took me back to March 19, 2003. My husband and I were still living in Philadelphia. We were with another couple, enjoying a day of exploring Bucks County. We were browsing in a market when we heard President Bush announce that we were going to war in Iraq. We all looked at each other with a silent "oh no!".
This morning I am listening to the news, hearing that we are about to send missiles into Syria. I read a news site that says only 9% of the American people approve of that. Yet, it seems as if it's probably going to happen. I have that same sense of "oh no!".
SYRIA:
I see the photos. Heartbreaking and sad. People are being bombed out of their homes. Civilians of all ages are being killed. Who is carrying on this madness? Why? Is it because of religion, or ethnicity, or power? Does it matter? I can't see any chance that this world can have peace. Syria has warned of serious retaliation against the United States and says there will be "global chaos" if this begins. It makes me so sad. Yes, I am a little bit frightened by the prospect of World War III. But mostly I am just very, very sad. Our beautiful planet and much life on it would die. Look at nature; we have been given so much. But trees will die, flowers will die, mammals will die, fish will die, humans will die. The earth will be stricken. It's just all so sad.
As I look out my window I see a beautiful day. How many more like it will there be? Am I over-reacting? I hope so...
I've been told that I worry too much. Maybe this is an example. I am a Cancer, after all. They worry.
I would describe myself as a pacifist. I really don't think that I could ever kill anyone, even if it meant that I would be killed, let alone order the killing of someone. History, though, shows us that sometimes people have to be stopped. It seems that the world produces (usually) men who have such a need for domination that nothing is allowed to get in their way, even to the point of whole races of people like the Jews and gypsies being targeted in Germany before and during WWII, and many countries being attacked. These people seem to carry others along with them to a frightening degree, and I have to ask myself if this is right.
ReplyDeleteI've put a quote below, which you may or may not know. What the best course of action is though, I'm really not sure. Diplomacy appears to have failed.
"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing."
Edmund Burke
Irish orator, philosopher, & politician (1729-1797)
I think Edmund Burke's quote is true. I have always thought that there were many more good people than evil people, but that evil people seem always to find a way to make the most trouble. I agree with you that a few (usually men) have such a need for domination that they can destroy many lives and make many other lives miserable. It's just sick that they don't value any lives other than their own. I really do not know what I would do if I were in a leader's shoes, I really don't. I wish they could just find a way to eliminate the trouble makers without so much collateral damage.
ReplyDeleteAlso, thank you for your thoughtful comment, artist.
ReplyDelete