Confusing The Enemy

‘Confusing The Enemy’ by Spidrwegian

Principles Of Humanity

22 January – The pastoral text of Fr Reuter is this: When war breaks out, the essential principles of humanity must be safeguarded. – Benedict XVI. What I can say about that is that, first of all, war shouldn’t break out at all. No wars! No wars of any kind. If you go to war, don’t expect humane treatment. War is insanity. Why go mad? War is hell. Why go to hell? I am not against the war in Iraq; I am not against the war in Lebanon, in Afghanistan; I am not against the war against terrorism. I am against all kinds of wars.

The image I have chosen for this entry is ‘the art of war’ by Alan Stuart. It is a funny way of saying something that isn’t funny. War isn’t funny. And there are two ways to look at it – in fact, you are confusing yourself if you get into war of any kind.

Imagine if you can an image of a child in Lebanon. She sits on the curb of a street, alone, looking at you and yet not looking at you. Her soul is in her eyes. You take a photograph of her and her image is burned in your mind forever. Not far away her village has been blitzed to forever; what remains of it are only the memories. Is she clinging to those memories? She must. Hers is a pose of despair; hers is also a pose of hope. Will the head win and lose all hope? Will we all despair and lose hope? In a war, we may. So why should we submit ourselves to war, even a war not of our own making? There is only inhumanity in a war.

Give peace a chance, not war. I don’t subscribe even to the war on poverty. In war, you are fighting against, not for. You are not fighting against poverty; not against apathy, indifference, or Christian faith in non-material things (Catholic), or ignorance. You are fighting against bad teaching, bad models of education, bad media. The teachers (all kinds of media) have yet to learn that the students (all kinds of people) have not learned. That is what I believe.