We take so much for granted in assuming
we can act with so little regard for the future of our planet. It
is only on loan to us and I believe we forget that. We have
badly misused our inheritance and the ones who will be handed the bill
for our mistakes are our children. I hope they can forgive us. If
they even survive our horrendous mismanagement of their birthright.
We are going to hand them a world where
global warming threatens their existence, where nature's creatures are
vanishing as man shows no regard for the continuation of their species
as we continue to encroach on, and contaminate their habitats, and we bequeath
them a world torn apart by hatred and violence. The actual list of our
failures is much greater than that. I have barely scratched the surface.
Perhaps one of the most significant failures will be the loss of the freedom
for which so many have given their lives throughout our history. Before
we are through, will democracy itself be only a memory ?
Our failure to overcome the complacency
and disinterest , which has allowed those with a goal of achieving
complete domination to thrive and gain control of the directions our countries
are headed both at home and abroad, is only now beginning to show what
a monumental failure that has been. And still, so many refuse to face reality.
What does it take to wake people up ?
As the youth of a country are
tossed aside as inevitable casualties of war, with hardly any more appreciation
of the value of their lives than the beautiful flower discarded in
the photo above, one has to wonder what ever became of our humanity
. Where is the outcry from those who thank their lucky stars that there
is no draft to worry about? It isn't their lives, or the lives of their
children on the line so its easy to support a policy which kills those
who have opted to serve their country. Does our selfishness and shallowness
know no bounds ? Do we even remember what gratitude means ? How do we sleep
at night , knowing those brave souls were sent into battle, ill equipped,
ill informed, and without the support of sufficient troops to make the
task they were charged with remotely possible. And , most reprehensible
by far, sent into combat by their Commander in Chief for a cause
based on lies and subterfuge, which so many of us allowed to go unquestioned.
And to compound the error, we stood by
as that Commander in Chief and his cabal of miscreants were reaffirmed
as the leadership for the entire Free World. A leadership which has
proven to be disastrous and a disgrace to the country they lead.
The world supported those leaders in the battle to oust terrorism
in the theatre where it was flourishing but they chose to divert forces
to follow an agenda of their own and now, that theatre is again becoming
a major force of evil bent on our destruction. This year to date,
more young men and women have given their lives in that theatre than in
any year of the almost five years of that war. And it rarely makes the
newspapers or television news any more. When did you last see casualty
reports from Afghanistan ? Declaring victory does not make it so, despite
the protestations of the chicken hawk Commander in Chief who struts like
a peacock before his admirers, while hiding away from his many detractors.
If I sound angry, I am. And not even
at that poor excuse for a leader the electorate has inflicted on the world.
My anger is directed at those who have allowed this to happen to the world
my grandchildren will inherit. They are the ones responsible for
this abysmal tragedy. They had, and still have, the power to stop this
madness. Will they ever find the courage and integrity to do so ? Or will
they continue to allow politics to dictate patriotism and loyalty to their
children. They declare to all who will listen, their concern for family
values. I ask you ... what family values ? Doesn't 'family values' dictate
that you protect your children from danger ? Doesn't 'family values'
also include teaching respect for your fellow man ? Doesn't 'family values'
demand a Christian attitude and an abhorrence of killing the innocent
?
Perhaps not. Perhaps my being taught
as a child that my faith was a compassionate faith which embraced all
of God's children regardless of race, colour or creed and truly valued
life was wrong. Perhaps in this world hypocrisy is the belief system
which prevails.
If this is the case, God help our children
for we most assuredly have abandoned them.
Dwight David Eisenhower, President of
the United States, General of the Army,
wrote in 1953:
" Every gun that is made, every warship
launched, every rocket fired, signifies, in the final sense, theft from
those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed.
The world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat
of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children.
This is not a way of life at all in any true sense. Under the clouds of
war, it is humanity hanging on a cross of iron."
Another of his countrymen Benjamin
Franklin, at age 77, from a letter to Sir Joseph Banks, written July
27, 1783:
" I hope that Mankind will at length, as
they call themselves reasonable creatures, have reason and sense enough
to settle their differences without cutting throats, for in my opinion
there never was a good war, or a bad peace." |
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It somehow seemed appropriate
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August 29th 2005
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