On the news today somebody from the White House leaked that Iran will be attacked next month. I'll trust that this wasn't unsubstantiated rumor, that NPR checked out its sources.
What can you do with people who only see the world in terms of Good Guys and Bad Guys, who have the world's largest military at their disposal, and whose apparently only solution is to attack? They don't hear reason. They don't admit fault. They don't think through to outcomes. Through their decisions and actions over the last six years more than six hundred thousand people have died, more than seventy percent innocent. A newly elected Congress hasn't been able to curb their aggression.
I'm holding my head in my hands. My eyes can't focus. They want to start another war. I want to scream "STOP IT!!!!!!!" But it would be shouting into deep space, where the sound doesn't even leave my mouth.
In a different report this morning a man was talking about 'peace through strength'. It's an admirable moniker. It sounds full-bodied and patriotic. It expresses a desire for peace.
But it's only peace on the surface. Strength is a friendlier word than dominance, which is what is really going on. Peace at this superficial level only means nobody dares confront. Underneath we have fear and resentment in those under domination. The image of peace is only as valuable as an imitation Rolex.
Real peace, as I often preach, cannot be had by competition and domination: it can only be had by cooperation and equality. It must be cultivated over a long period of time. It involves the risk that when you hold out your hand in offered brotherhood it may be grabbed and you're pulled off balance, and once off balance you can be thrown and hurt. Those who can only imagine aggression as a solution in this situation aren't wise or visionary enough to be leaders.
I'm tired of being ruled by those who believe that an image of strength is the height of respectability when they know little strength of spirit and loving. I'm tired of having to submit to the dictates of playground bullies. And it makes me sick to think that in a month, should the leak from the White House prove to be true, thousands more innocent people in another land will die because America's leaders only know how to attack. God help us all.
