Sunday 28 October 2007

We are waging a civil war against ourselves

I abhor violence. I tend to look the other way when I am threatened. I tend to question how people can get so involved in conflict that the value of human life and well-being is diminished. I've seen people - reasonable, intelligent people - turn into ravaging maniacs because of anger, hatred, and bigotry. I've seen the world fight wars. I've seen how conflicts around the globe spark bigger conflicts, and how compromises turn into demands. I've seen moderation stamped out by intolerance, and activism drowned by ignorance. And so it continues. Our world fights with itself. Every war we fight is another civil war - humans fight humans; spirits fight spirits. There is no "us" and "them" - and people are often confused by that. The boundary lines we inhabit might determine the freedoms and prosperities we might receive, or decide your fate for you before you get a chance to breathe. Nothing is certain, anywhere you live.But we fight with ourselves again. The current world: Iraq? If the in-fighting would just cease, if people would just embrace their society instead of trying to destroy it, the "occupation" would end, and the struggle for freedom would begin with new friends. The fighting has to stop.Palestine elected terrorists to govern, and they got terrorism in their government. They have been engulfed in civil war, and it can only stop when people decide to make it stop. Hamas was elected to power not to govern Palestine, but to express discontent with Israel. Again, the hatred brews and the results have come from it: death, destruction, war. The fighting has to stop.Darfur has mass genocide. People are routinely, systematically raped. People die because they are of a different skin type. Mass, horrific, fighting. Blood, war, death; the fighting has to stop.Here at home, I pride myself for the good fortune I have been lucky enough to be awarded. But I recognize the problems. The two party system of government, coupled with an ever-increasing lame duck president, continue to display their own impotence to help solve these world problems. We've been immersed in our own failures, and every good intention is drowned by critics from past mistakes. Republican and Democrat fight to appear to have a better image, when the world fights wars. Politics over leadership. Who can make the other look worse, instead of how can we help each other. Squabbling over no-confidence votes and non-binding resolutions, when people fight wars both at home and abroad. People fight. The fighting has to stop.I believe military intervention can bring peace, and it is necessary in many situations. But the constant fighting has to stop. All we do is run around in a great circle of fighting; never ending, ceaseless fighting. People die, needlessly, every day - proving our own ineffectiveness to coexist. We are all apart of the same sea - surely one day the ocean will stop trying to divide itself.

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