I spent a lot of time with one of my brothers last week. He's a good man. On the way home from the airport we talked about politics--things we used to argue about, throwing around labels like conservative values and liberal agenda, blah, blah blah. But, you know, it can't be boiled down to that. There is no white or black, no quick decisions to make. Everything is complex. The problems of right and wrong and morality seem cut and dried until you throw people into the mix. And time. So many of the hideous conflicts we witness are rooted in situations gone awry generations ago. I mean that--generations ago. We don't even know the half of it. And someone like me, I hate war, believe it is contrary to God's will and that no one should take up arms for any reason. But I respect those who are willing to die for a cause they believe in; I know I'm not that courageous. Yet it's their job to kill people which is morally reprehensible and I have no respect. And we know that really heinous things happen when stressed people are charged with maintaining order in a violent chaotic situation. Meanwhile forgiveness is available and freely given to those who ask.
Oh and that question pacifists get all the time--what if someone was attacking your child, and you just happened to have a gun, wouldn't you raise it against that person raping your daughter? Probably. I think so. I don't know. I'd like to say I could figure it out nonviolently, but I'm the mother and that's my baby, and nobody touches her that way. So I guess I'm not a pacifist after all.
Jesus challenged the political structure of his day. Yet he wasn't a political leader. He left that to others and went around with his friends curing people of their demons. He did what he could in his small world and we're still talking about it today. A pure heart, a single mind, and a divine love. That seems cut and dried. And oh so hard.
So I think, I've got 43 years behind me, and maybe forty three ahead of me, I don't know. What do I need to change so I can be purer in heart and single minded and more loving?
Oh and that question pacifists get all the time--what if someone was attacking your child, and you just happened to have a gun, wouldn't you raise it against that person raping your daughter? Probably. I think so. I don't know. I'd like to say I could figure it out nonviolently, but I'm the mother and that's my baby, and nobody touches her that way. So I guess I'm not a pacifist after all.
Jesus challenged the political structure of his day. Yet he wasn't a political leader. He left that to others and went around with his friends curing people of their demons. He did what he could in his small world and we're still talking about it today. A pure heart, a single mind, and a divine love. That seems cut and dried. And oh so hard.
So I think, I've got 43 years behind me, and maybe forty three ahead of me, I don't know. What do I need to change so I can be purer in heart and single minded and more loving?
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