Peace On Earth

I don’t have the answers, but I have a lot of questions.

I have friends who are very much anti-war. Many Canadians question our role in Afghanistan and strongly demand that we get out.

Now, here are the questions.

If we leave Afghanistan, the Taliban will almost certainly take over. The rights of women to get an education and lead a normal life, something beyond being a means of reproducing children, will be gone. Many, many people will be forced against their will to conform to a standard that is quite extreme. Are we willing to sit around and do nothing and let this happen?

In many parts of Africa, people are being killed by bands of rebels. Women are being raped. Children are being forced to be soldiers. Are we willing to sit around and do nothing and let this happen?

I find it amusing that during the Olympics protesters were picketing against the restriction of freedoms in Tibet. I think many people in Afghanistan and the Congo would consider it a privilege to live in Tibet. Where are all of the protesters against what is happening in the Congo?

Should we enter into a conflict to try to defend the defenceless? What if somebody was attacking members of your family? Would you sit idly by and refuse to raise a hand if doing so would stop the aggression?

How much do we embrace peace when it may not include justice? Yes, I have many questions, but few answers. However, I have yet to hear from those who oppose war as to what they would do against injustice against the defenceless in the world. Or would they idly sit by while innocent people are being massacred?
How would I feel if I was being attacked unjustly and those with some real power stood idly by and let it happen?

I sometimes wonder if some Ghandi-type figure might emerge. My guess is that in today’s world, he would be assassinated long before he could accomplish his mission.

The closest I have come to having hope for solution to the violence in the world was contained in the book, Three Cups of Tea. Perhaps education is the way to defeat the ignorance in the world.

But, as I said, I have many questions, but few answers.