11.28.02
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Mmmmm'kay?

An Imaginary Conversation

What's happening, Daddy? Why are the soldiers marching?

We're going to war, Barbie.

What is war, Daddy?

War is when two groups of people who can't resolve their differences fight it out with bombs and guns.

But I thought fighting was wrong, Daddy? Don't people get hurt?

Well, yes. People die in wars. They kill each other with the fighting.

But we're not supposed to fight. I learned that in kindergarten -- didn't these people who want war go to kindergarten?

Well, yes. But apparently it didn't stick.

Hypocrisy

There's that word, right on out there. The same countrified down-home Texas Cowboys and Just Say No! crusaders belly up to the table with threats of annihilation for anyone who dares disagree with their global policies. We are being told that it has to do with 'September 11' and 'terrorism' but the real truth is money. Money and inky black oil.

Because moral revenge is a misnomer, and violates nearly every practical law under both God and man.

They despair at Columbine. How could Dylan and Eric take their revenge against many, just to get to the few that tormented them? Or shall we say 'terrorized'? Our president justifies his violent campaign by violence -- they blew up our buildings, so we are allowed to level their 'infrastructure'... a fancy term for 'livelihood'.

Oh, what? You think our military campaign is exacting, that we only blow up empty buildings that manufacture weapons? Ha. Even IF (and that's a very large if) we're only decimating military targets, how does that change the fact that secretaries, janitors, facilities staff, and anyone unlucky enough to be 'visiting' a friend that day have died innocent? And what of when we make mistakes? And what of collateral (nearby) damage? Remember the buildings that toppled on World Trade Blvd? Remember the *thousands* of people who were out of work, had their businesses looted or worse? This is happening all over the Middle East, as bombs fall on or near schools, churches, and neighborhoods. Think about how it would be if there were a World Trade center in every city, in every state. Then you might have an idea of how our response is so pitifully over-powered.

They wring their hands about the 'violence our children see' right before they go to dip them in the bloody coffers of Muslim "terrorists". Right before they accidentally bomb a factory, a home, a school.

A radical militant faction -- not the entirity of the people -- caused September 11th. Why, then, do some cry for the blood of them all? And why do we allow the blameless blood of so many to be taken? It makes no sense.

Then again, I suppose fighting -- and killing -- never does.

Greed

Until you consider money. Money -- the root of all evil. Or at least the symbolic unit. What we really want are Things. Stereos and fast cars, expensive homes and luxury vacations. Fine clothing. Expensive wine.

"You only live once." It's an adage, an aside. But it's also the way humans, at heart, live their lives. There are the precious few that truly care about 'the future'; for most of us, we realize our lifespan is finite, and what happens after is largely up to chance regardless of our actions. We might conserve and preserve, only to be wiped out in 15 years by a giant runaway comet. Or a worldwide plague. Who is to say? And for that reason, we tend not to live in the future, but instead in the reasonable present.



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