Let Us Wage Peace

The conservatives will say it can’t be done. Conservatives usually begin with a negative because change is the thing they fear most, and since fear is father to hate, when they are sufficiently afraid, they begin to hate change. By definition they tend to measure their lives against the past, and, as a result, spend much time looking backwards to what they were taught "life should be,” and only rarely ahead, to what "life might become.” This would be all right but for the fact that most who live in the past believe that the rest of us should live in the past as well. Bible in one hand, Koran in the other they point to laws by which we all must be governed, ancient laws laid down for ancient peoples, by God, they assure us; they go on to say, that if we fail to abide by these laws we will be punished, even unto death, after which we shall burn in hell. Pretty scary. Thus, Fear and Hate, the devil’s handmaidens, become the enforcers of these ancient laws, though with all the tools of the modern world at their disposal. Perhaps "weapons” is a better word than "tools,” for the moment fear or hate touch any tool it becomes a weapon.

We have now entered the conservative paradox, using the tools of Satan to apply the will of God. Clinging to their hunger for jihad, or "the rapture,” or, to use a word that both embrace, Armageddon, conservatives wait hopefully for fear and hate to destroy our sinful world. Sad, because all they have to do is turn around, just for a moment, to realize that fear and hate are phantoms, and that the war they hunger for is being waged in their own hearts.

But what about God in the 21st Century? How does God, today, wish us to live our lives? Strangely, the same rules apply. "Love thy neighbor,” (New Testament), "Begin all things in the name of God who is Mercy and Compassion,” (Koran), and the oldest and perhaps most germane, "They will beat their swords into ploughshares/and their spears into pruning hooks./Nation will not rise up against nation,/nor will they study war any more.” (Old Testament: Isaiah)

The message is this: Despite the lies of a thousand generations war has never led to peace, nor will it ever. Only peace can lead to peace. Therefore, this suggestion is humbly made. Let us wage peace as we have waged war. With the same energy, funds and scientific know-how that we have designed weapons of mass destruction for defense and retaliation, let us design solutions to the universal problems of poverty, hunger and disease. Let us dedicate our military to the waging of Peace, and provide billions and billions of dollars to the cause of peace, just as we have for defense and war. Let us invade impoverished lands with gifts and aid, not guns, let us go there to rebuild, not to destroy first and then rebuild.

Let us wage peace.

And while we’re at it, let’s heal the tortured earth that we have systematically plundered with our greed.

I can hear the conservatives saying: "Idealistic hogwash, It can’t be done.”
But the truth is, it can and it must be done. We have reached a crossroads in our evolution as human beings and its time to take a stand. In the words of Mohandas Ghandi: "Non-Violence is the greatest force at the disposal of Mankind. It is the supreme law. By it alone can mankind be saved.”

Therefore, I repeat: Let us wage peace.