As promised folks, this is my last week of posting articles on WAR. I must admit, it was quite draining to read and write so much about war. I honestly do not understand what it is in the America people that want war. Anyone who has not publicly, and aggressively voiced their oposition against war, is pro-WAR - fundamentally! If that is the case, then you must carry half the responsibility for each and every death/injury that occurs from war. The other half of the responsibility is in the hands of each enlisted person - fundamentally!
Disentangling any society from the web of war not only needs hard work, imagination, resourcefulness and persistence, it also needs a change of attitude. Attitudes in societies can and do change - there are examples of such changes throughout history. Not all changes are for the better, but people can develop a social and political will to alter that too.
In particular, we have the ability to change our society so that war is no longer an option.
It's tempting to think that when no fighting is going on there is peace - but beneath the peace-talking, war-thinking continues. The systems that sustain war-thinking have to be dismantled.
To make this possible we need to develop a social climate in which violence is no longer used to counter violence. It means questioning attitudes we have taken for granted until now. It means rethinking the way we work, the way we play, the way we think about money, the way we think about other people, and the way we think about government.
Such a fresh look at our values may be unsettling, but it can be absorbing and stimulating too. One of pacifism's many virtues is that it can be practised in a diversity of ways - and it thrives on new approaches. What they have in common is nonviolence, and nonviolence is a powerful and exciting instrument of change.
Another article on this site looks at nonviolence, its history and meaning. Here, it needs to be stressed that nonviolence doesn't mean inaction. It means action, aimed at constructive problem-solving without the use of weapons or war. This doesn't mean there's no place for violent feelings. Most human beings have them - and most human beings learn how to control them, too.
Related Articles
The Web of War
The Right to Live
Abolish the War on Oppression - Religion
Abolish War
Related Articles
The Web of War
The Right to Live
Abolish the War on Oppression - Religion
Abolish War
Your correct when you ask if we are Ready for Change. I am sure you have come to realize that there are alot of people who hint at wanting peace, and a economic change. These people get up in the morning and drink their Starbucks coffee, drive to work in a Hummer, smoke cigarette, while drinking 7UP, popping a prozac, while filling their canabis prescription.
ReplyDeleteIt is an uphill battle to awake the sleeping. Most do not understand they are Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz. Right now, the masses are in the Poppy Fields.
Remember, we all have the power to change our reality - we have had it the whole time.