3.20.03 – the difficulties of pacifism

do i think that attending candlelight vigils and posting angry rants here is going to change the course of world events? no. i have no delusions about my insignificance as an individual in the context of world politics. but the problem is, i don’t know what else to do. it’s too easy to go, well, lighting a candle won’t do any good, and every one know the president doesn’t really read any of his email anyway, so i guess i’ll just be quietly apprehensive. i don’t feel right about this, and if posting angry rants is all i have to give, then i’ll do that. if i had a more effective plan, i’d go do that.

i made a commitment to pacifism at a time in my life when i was too young to really understand the ramifications of such a stance. someone posed the question, “who are you going to be? what role are you going to play in the lives of those around you?” and the words popped in my head: peace-maker. i was 10, maybe 12, and it was probably the first time that i saw myself and my life in the context of the larger world around me. at the time, the realization informed my life in the context of family and immediate relationships, not world politics. as i’ve gotten older, the application of my role as a peace-maker has changed, but my original commitment to pacifism has not.

there are thresholds: i’m not claiming that during WWII the US should have sat down and tried to reason with Hitler rather than liberating concentration camps. but violence needs to be the very last resort. Bush claims that war is now the only option, but i don’t think all avenues had been exhausted. (as evidenced by this, among other things: “Minutes before the speech, an internal television monitor showed the president pumping his fist. “Feels good,” he said.” (link courtesy of lmo)) i opened a pro-war letter to the editor in the mail yesterday. it talked about what a crime it would be to sit by and do nothing while Hussein’s regime continues to starve children and torture citizens. he’s right. i’m not advocating inaction. i’m advocating non-violent action. if all those bright young minds that are currently focused on building our own weapons of mass destruction instead focused on finding diplomatic solutions that worked better than economic sanctions, maybe we’d be getting somewhere by now.