Saturday
February 15, 2003
Anne
attended the protest in New York today. She emailed cloudcuckooland with this
question:
Any
thoughts on day's events?
I
replied:
While
I share (and respect) your aversion to war, I don't agree with you that there
is a choice between war and no war. To me, the choice is more between big war
and small war....between war here or war there....war we lose or war we win.
War
has been declared and is already being fought around the world. (Philippines,
Indonesia, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Kashmir, India, Lebanon/Syria, Israel/Palestinians,
Nigeria, Algeria, Kenya, Ivory Coast, Chechnya, Russia...just a partial list of
the battle fields where people are killing today). Oh yeah, New York, DC, etc
etc.
This
is why I don't see a "no war" option. It isn't on the menu.
What
can we do to end the killing?
We
must give the killers convincing reasons to stop.
My
thought on the events of the day is that the protests give the killers reasons
to continue...and to escalate. The more effective that anti-war movement becomes,
the more people will die. So, despite my dissatisfaction with the way our government
is proceeding, I did not protest today.
I
wish that those who wish to promote peace would seriously look for solutions rather
than merely condemn imperfect policies. Looking for answers requires learning
about events. When people believe that they have the answers, they are no longer
looking. That incuriosity endangers us all.