America 2010: When War Is Treason

Hush little children,
Put your head to sleep;
Forget the world's sorrows,
Let the darkness creep.

Forget all the analysis. Forget the false parsing, the breaking down of strategy and useless political wrangling. Forget all the slick propaganda - even your own. And ask yourself: why do we wage war?

There's no honest socially acceptable answer. But there are many socially acceptable answers we forgive: "To preserve freedom", "To fight terrorism", or the very desperate lie: "To fight the good fight". We know that's not the truth but it's most comforting when one can spread lies with impunity. Makes you can think you can lie about most anything and get away with it. And of course you can - for a time.

But we also know lies must be carried on the backs of people, that someone must pay for our sins. We certainly don't want our own lives and loves gutted in the name of Today's Big Lie, but someone must bear that cost. We are the carriers of war, spreading it like a disease hoping the symptoms never touch us. But that's hoping against hope.

I don't say these words in condemnation, but to bring salvation.

War porn

I ask you again: why do we wage war?

What is to be gained from sacrificing the truth? Who are we fighting? When does it end? Where does true hope lie for our future?

I met a man once, a man who wanted only one thing in life: to be something he was not. He relentlessly sought to accomplish this impossibility and if he pulled it off, he'd be the greatest man in history. Quite a prize! Everywhere he went he carried two things: a square peg and a round hole. Each day he'd try to fit that square peg into the hole, and in times of stress - a.k.a. encroaching reality - he'd squeak the loudest. Most annoying!

He loved to hear the naysayers, feeding off their negativity, proclaiming himself an eternal optimist, a man of courageous heart. "I don't cut and run!" Success was always just around the corner, today's progress made it only that much closer! He was fighting the good fight to benefit all mankind, for if one lie can be true they all could. Dreams of a madman, wasting precious time, funded by blood and misery.

There's only one enemy to destroy and that's the lie within. It is ourselves with whom we wrestle and do battle. That's a struggle that cannot be won by the military. Peace is a byproduct of commitment. It cannot be negotiated, it doesn't require treaties; it's just facing the fact you have to have it in order to live. One by one we'll realize this and turn around, starting the long journey back. How long and painful that journey is is up to us.


Why do we wage war?

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