tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4114849513980773570.post7540815133064498540..comments2023-12-22T14:04:55.065-05:00Comments on Ehlers on Everything: A Wish for Peace in a Time of ConflictMark J. Ehlershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06410705618925284448noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4114849513980773570.post-81465354209114144822023-12-22T14:04:55.065-05:002023-12-22T14:04:55.065-05:00Loved readiing this thank youLoved readiing this thank youCryst Chuhttps://medium.com/@cryst.chunoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4114849513980773570.post-24954175451285539332010-12-31T18:23:30.118-05:002010-12-31T18:23:30.118-05:00Rich,
Thanks for the comments and happy new year....Rich,<br /><br />Thanks for the comments and happy new year. I know full well that any attempt to call for peace and understanding among nations, even on the eve of Christmas, subjects one to accusations of naivete. I do not believe that praying for peace will actually bring peace, but if the citizens of the world began to share my sentiments, we would indeed be closer to peace.<br /><br />The existence of nuclear weapons may very well have prevented all-out war with the former Soviet Union and our Cold War enemies in the latter half of the 20th century. I fear, however, as did Kennedy and every president since, that nuclear proliferation to less "sensible" countries - i.e., Iran, Pakistan, etc. - only makes the eventual use of nuclear weapons inevitable. I hope and pray I am wrong.<br /><br />In any event, I appreciate your dose of realism; I just feel better at this time of year imagining that the world may someday come to its senses and realize that force of arms, while necessary, has severe moral and practical limitations. <br /><br />"Peace is a daily, a weekly, a monthly process, gradually changing opinions, slowly eroding old barriers, quietly building new structures." --John F. KennedyMarkhttp://ehlersoneverything.blogspot.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4114849513980773570.post-15202982460497146792010-12-30T10:30:54.328-05:002010-12-30T10:30:54.328-05:00President Bush identified the reason for September...President Bush identified the reason for September 11: "America was targeted for attack because we're the brightest beacon for freedom and opportunity in the world." Karl Rove has added, "It was enemies of the American ideal who had struck us." Where might be the common ground here? What "dialogue" do you imagine would bridge the gap between a love of freedom and a duty to kill in the name of Allah? Hell, try for a moment envisioning the words you would use to convince me that sucking the brains out of an infant seconds away from being born is not cold blooded murder? Now lots of luck talking psychotics like Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Kim Jong-il into a frame of mind where they are capable of "understanding and peace"? And what part of their beliefs can you embrace to meet them halfway?<br /><br />To quote the great fictional American, “The world ain't all sunshine and rainbows. It’s a very mean and nasty place and . . . it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it.” <br /><br />You write of the millions who "perish from hunger and disease, malnutrition and extreme poverty," which is the how, but not the why. A lack of democracy is why most in this world suffer these fates. Talking to their oppressors does not work, because the oppressors are living well and enjoy the status quo. George Clooney has been talking for years now but hundreds of thousands still die in Darfur. He must know, as do you, that the way to save the lives of the innocent who die every day, even as Clooney blathers on, is to send in men with guns, who, to paraphrase President Bush, would bring the villains to justice or justice to the villains. Unfortunately, the Democratic Party's hysterical reaction to the freeing of Iraq has guaranteed that the innocent in Darfur, Rwanda and other killing grounds will continue to be butchered by madmen acting with impunity.<br /><br />Prayers for peace are a must, but so too is action. As Saint Benedict believed, work and prayer go hand in hand and the work for peace, more often than not, is done by good men capable of horrible violence. Bonhoeffer knew this; the American fighting men who liberated the Buchenwald concentration camp and the Cabanatuan prisoner of war camp knew this; Reagan and Bush knew this and before them Roosevelt and Truman. Churchill knew the bloody path to peace too, but not Chamberlain and millions died needlessly.<br /><br />I join you in the prayer for peace, but I know God won't lift a mighty finger to help if we insist on doing nothing but talk and pray, while accepting peace prizes for our good intentions.<br /><br />Rich R.Rich R.https://www.blogger.com/profile/07098122828156995274noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4114849513980773570.post-42477255829482939742010-12-30T10:27:06.592-05:002010-12-30T10:27:06.592-05:00Mark,
"The more advanced we become, the fur...Mark, <br /><br />"The more advanced we become, the further backward we move." Actually... the more advanced we become, the further we advance to the utopia you desire. Keith B. Payne partially spelled it out in a must read from National Review (April 19, 2010). Stats from the violent 20th Century: 40 million casualties in the War to End All Wars and beginning only 21 years later, 50 to 70 million in the Second War to End All Wars. Interestingly, Wikipedia lists some other wars that racked up impressive numbers: 36 million during the An Shi Rebellion and 25 million during the Manchu conquest of Ming China; the former from the 8th Century and the latter from the 17th Century. This helps to put the 20th Century in perspective and more so when we consider the astonishing reduction in war violence that has occurred since World War II.<br /><br />Conflicts continued all over the world after 1945, but the death toll has dramatically dropped. The cause? Technology in the form of the atom bomb. Our splitting of the atom has saved countless millions since it was dropped on Japan, and even its use, by ending the war, saved many more people than it claimed. Since then, fear of its repeated use has prevented world wars and the holocausts that follow. In addition and ironically, our nuclear umbrella has protected other countries from attack while making it unnecessary for those countries to acquire their own nuclear arsenal. <br /><br />Payne ended his article by quoting the late British nuclear expert Sir Michael Quinlan, who summed it up this way: "Better a world with nuclear weapons but no major war, than one with major war but no nuclear weapons." The first half of the 20th Century knew no nuclear weapons and suffered a blood bath; the second half did and was spared. Just as liberal gun laws make for a safer society, so too has the ultimate weapon made for a safer world.<br /><br />"Each year as Christmas approaches, I pray that nations and warriors will lay down their armaments and seek understanding and peace." Praying that nations and warriors (and terrorists) will lay down their weapons and seek peace is sweet, but there is also a tinge of arrogance implied in the prayer, for it suggests, of course, that others will come to embrace your beliefs. Ignored is the reality that our enemies, more devout in many cases than you and I, are also praying to their god to bring peace through either our conversion or our submission. To achieve peace your way requires the finding of common ground and it is as unlikely that our enemies will see your particular light as you are to suddenly come to appreciate the subjugation of women or that some throats just need to be cut. A more productive prayer would be for our warriors to be more swift and more accurate than our enemies. Peace, traditionally, is achieved when one side wins. If it's the right side, then the defeated will be embraced as allies and their world rebuilt. If the victor is on the wrong side then the purging will commence and peace will be achieved only when the surviving slaves forsake rebellion and accept their new reality.<br /><br />(continued...)Rich R.https://www.blogger.com/profile/07098122828156995274noreply@blogger.com