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Rolla Peace News March 8, 2016 |
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================================= Dear Friends:In this newsletter is: 1. NOON VIGIL FOR PEACE: THIS WEEK, THURSDAY, March 10, 2016 2. WHO IS GUILTY? 3. THE MISFIT MATHEMATICIAN (Tom's column, http://tomsager.org) Walls are to be Walked
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We vigil for peace in front of the Rolla Post Office THIS THURSDAY, MARCH 10, 2016, (and all subsequent Thursdays until peace is established) from Noon to 1:00 PM. Please try to join us. The temperature is predicted to be in the 50s. If you do not feel comfortable standing with us in front of the Post Office, please consider driving by and showing your support for our message by honking your horn and flashing a peace sign. 2. WHO IS GUILTY? Yesterday, 150 people lost their lives in a bombing attack by U.S. drones and manned aircraft. We are told that these were “fighters” that were going to attack U.S. troops. Therefore, they deserved to die, right? Well, first of all, what are U.S. troops doing in Somalia anyway? We aren't at war with Somalia. And secondly, who is it that is giving out this information? Is it the same people who told us that Saddam Hussein of Iraq had Weapons of Mass Destruction, thereby loosing horror and destruction on that country, killing several hundred thousand people, many of whom were women and children who could not possibly have been going to attack us? And thirdly, how could they possibly have known that these people were about to attack U.S. troops? True, our military has a little-known psy-ops department, but I doubt it runs to seeing into the minds of 150 people and determining what their intentions were. As Glenn Greenwald points out, people want to believe what our government says. It's easier, for one thing, than thinking for oneself. Not to mention that if we can believe that these were all bad people, then we don't have to feel guilty about killing them. Sadly, this is not a unique occurrence, but rather one that is repeated over and over, in Iraq, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Yemen, and elsewhere. Perhaps there were no women and children killed in this one — and perhaps there were — but usually there are innocent people, often women and children, killed along with the “targets.” It's called “collateral damage,” which somehow allows people to be okay with it. Are you okay with this? Do you believe our government has the right to kill anyone, anywhere in the world, if they think they might possibly be a terrorist? And to also kill any innocent person who is unfortunate enough to be in the vicinity? This is murder, ladies and gentlemen! We are not at war with any of these countries, and not one of these countries has the capability of doing the kind of damage to our country that we are constantly doing to theirs. If we are acquiescing to this — and we are, if we aren't protesting — then we are just as guilty as the man who gives the orders, as the hand that guides the remote-controlled death deliverer, and the pilot who drops the bombs. If we continue to elect politicians who disregard human life, we are guilty. If we continue to believe that what happens to people who aren't “us” doesn't matter, we are guilty. And there will be a reckoning. 3. THE MISFIT MATHEMATICIAN (Tom's column, http://tomsager.org) WALLS ARE TO BE WALKED Over a 2,000 year period the Chinese built walls to keep out the Mongol people to the North. These walls, now referred to as the Great Wall of China, are a tourist attractions — to be walked upon. 1,900 years ago, the Romans built Hadrian's Wall across England to keep the “barbarians” to the North out of the Empire. This too is now a tourist attraction, with a path to be walked. In 1961, East Germany built a wall around West Berlin to keep the “fascists” out. 30 years later, the Antifaschistischer Schutzwall came down. Today, Donald Trump proposes to build a wall across the southern border of the United States to keep out Mexican “drug dealers and rapists.” He wants to make Mexico pay for it, although Mexico is not interested. Binyimin Netanyahu wants to extend the wall that Israel has built to keep Palestinians from the West Bank out, to surround the entire State of Israel, to keep out “wild beasts.” Haaretz columnist, Asher Schechter, writes, “Israel circa 2016 is fearful, hateful, and paranoid, self-involved to a degree even Donald Trump would find distasteful.” Somehow walls don't seem to last very long or keep people separated very well. Some think they can create peace by building walls to separate people, but true peace will come only when we realize that we are all one people, brothers and sisters. Here is what the Prophet Ezekiel had to say about people who try to create peace by building walls: “Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: In my fury I will let loose stormwinds; because of my anger there will be flooding rain, and hailstones will fall with destructive wrath. I will tear down the wall you whitewashed and level it to the ground, laying bare its foundations. When it falls, you shall be crushed beneath it. Thus you shall know that I am the LORD.” —Ezekiel 13:13-14 (NAB)I swiped the title for this snippet from a wonderful children's book by Nathan Zimelman and Donald Carrick, Walls are to be Walked. ================== Rolla Peace News is distributed by email once a week on Tuesday evenings (except on rare occasions) and is posted on the web at http://tomsager.org (click on Grassroots Rolla: top of rightmost column).If you don't wish to get notices of peace events in the Rolla area, let me know and I'll take you off this list. If you want to be added to this list, let me know. Wage peace, Helen helenm (at) fidnet.com ### |