The Last Word On... Arming for Peace

While I see no way in the upcoming weeks to avoid a war with Iraq, I honestly do hope that there is some way it could be averted.  Unfortunately, I have no answers as I cannot speak of things I don’t know about.  However, while I know little about this conflict, I do have some opinions about the "cast…"

It seems to me that this all started when George W. Bush said he would catch Osama Bin Laden whom he assures us--in between arms inspections of Iraq-- that we are still seeking. While we have no idea where Osama is, we do know Saddam Hussein is in Iraq constantly hiding bombs, tanks, and civilians he’s killed.  Maybe we should bring him over here to hide the stockpile of bombs Ronald Reagan built in the eighties.  (At least he used these missiles as a bluff, not as a bully). Of course, Ronnie’s genius pales in comparison to Saddam Hussein who has his troops convinced that a single soldier will be able to shoot down a fifty-ton plane! Now I’m no military expert but I do know this: fighting air to surface missiles with a rifle is like going to a strip club with monopoly money.  You are completely unequipped when your target drops their “bombs” on you. 

The Iraqi military is of little consequence to the people over here though as their real soldiers are the terrorists roaming about our country.  No one is to blame for letting them in, we simply left the invite out too long. That silly Statue of Liberty welcoming those “poor tired and huddled masses yearning to be free” was never given her second tablet clearly stating “unless you are hell bent on killing innocent people.” Ironically, the French printers working on this tablet surrendered to Kinko’s a mere two days before it's completion.

Ah oui, the French.  You may or may not remember them from the key role they played in World War II.  Their task was to say “thank you” when we liberated them, code name "operation yellow back." Since then, the French have done little to improve to well being of any American outside of Jerry Lewis. News bulletin France... Times have changed!  We have Carrot Top now and you need to reprioritize. Maybe America needs to work on their communication skills with the French.  If we were to send Colin Powell over in a beret with a baguette and had him raise a glass of wine saying…  “Saddam has weapons of mass destruction… haw haw haw!!!"  Maybe then they would understand. 

While many answers are elusive in this struggle, others are obvious.  Iraqi soldiers need to become civilians, as we will only be killing civilians by accident.  Americans all need to enlist, as these cowardly terrorists know better than to attack an armed person.  They would much rather go after innocent Americans, as they believe their god has told them.   

Even an idiot like myself can tell you the beliefs that Al Queda’s “god” professes are ridiculous.  They promise any believer (that’s their fancy word for terrorist) who kills any infidel (that’s their fancy word for American) that they will spend eternity in paradise with seventy-two virgins.  I don’t know much about religion  but I do know that my idea of paradise would not be spent with seventy-two virgins.  It would be spent with seventy-two filthy whores.  I want to wake up every morning next to Pam Anderson not Miss Elly from the Waltons.  Who wants to hear “you want me to do what?” seventy-two times a day for eternity? Yet this is what they are willing to die for… it’s no wonder they can brainwash these idiots to treat human life with such disrespect. 

ANd i will stand firm against any that would argue the fact that I do not want to go to war makes me a sissy. (Sure as I child growing up I was greatly influenced by my mother and to this day still have many of her traits, but traits is just a fancy word for high heels). Violence has always led to more violence.

These are just my thoughts, my musings and i was being honest when I said I had no answers for the war with Iraq.    When I said I didn’t want war, I simply meant the killing of other people.  Because when it is all boiled down, when we take out all the adjectives of religion and race that is all we are-- people killing people.  But by no means did I say we should not fight-- on the contrary; we must fight. 

We must fight for the only peace that is real, the very peace these terrorists attack.  We must fight for peace within ourselves, within our soul.  We never need violence to defend this peace for we can arm ourselves with things much more powerful than man-made guns and missiles.  We can arm ourselves with things that are impossible to defeat.  

I shelter myself in my eleven month-old niece’s smile, because a child’s smile is the sincerest form of happiness.  They don’t know what words are yet, let alone countries, race, or religion, they know only what they feel, and they smile when they feel joy. And every time my niece smiles at me, I have peace within my soul. 

I quiet my restless soul with the company of my friends and family that I love so much. They are people I respect, and the fact that they love me and criticize me make the life I live important to me and give me joy and purpose. 

And I arm myself with my work.   We all need to work, and by work in this case i mean we need  to do what makes us happy.  I am lucky enough to be able to make people smile and I know I love my work because I rush off to it like I would to see a friend;  I return home from it feeling more alive than when I left;  and when I’m doing it, I never think of it as a job but simply as what I do. 

These are what sustain me in this moment and bring me a joy that shields me from weapons of mass destruction and the anger that hastens us to condemn an entire race of people for the actions and perceptions of a single person or group.  

We cannot force anyone else to do what is right; each person must come to do good on their own.  We can only do what we know in our hearts is right, and hope that others will see the joy that comes from doing so and follow our example.  At the very least, it will secure peace within ourselves, within our souls. Maybe others will see and follow, maybe they won’t. 

But we cannot have peace without, until we have peace within.

xoxo
    -g

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