By Jim Hall
At this time the violent and inhuman acts of a few animals are bringing out those parties who believe that might makes right and feel the need to answer with acts just as violent as those so many of us despise. It is difficult to restrain ourselves from climbing on that bandwagon that fills the media these days. Yes, we have the might and the weapons to lay waste to those areas of this world that have endured such revolting recent acts by the few, and have had to do so for a very long time. Most of us truly don’t know the depth of sorrow and upheaval those families live under constantly.
I know our president must be under a great amount of pressure to use our big stick to punish such actions, and have to admire him for holding up to such pressures. His statements in regards to these issues are being held with contempt by those who think that greater involvement in that region is the answer, but what he is saying to his nation’s citizens is that due to the acts of a few, we should and must not blame Islam as a whole for what is going on. I believe his belief is a need to find different ways to address such violent actions than always putting our youth in harm’s way with the real chance of them dying or suffering disabling injuries, which are often permanent, for the sake of those who profit from war or for those who seem to need to prove our national fortitude while sitting in front of their TVs. These advocates are not risking the perils facing those who they feel so strongly about sending off as boots on the ground. They ignore the hatred that our interference often engenders, permanently, in others of far different faiths, often in wars that are between the people of the region and for reasons we can’t understand.
The fact that this present day violence is caused by different sides of non-proven faith based groups makes the wasting of young lives even more distasteful, and wasteful. The fact that the violence is built on weapons sold or given to arm such animals, that are built and sold by our own government and military industrial corporations, is even more insane. The ease of buying military weapons has already been felt by so many mothers and fathers of innocent victims over the last 40 or so years in this nation, allowing lone wolf nut jobs to bring the nearly daily violent acts to our own soil.
Our modern politicians, who seem more interested in keeping their jobs by poll driven decisions, represent a glaring failure of us, the voters, who placed them in leadership positions. So many of us today have seen what unjust wars have done to harm so many people, not just here but around the world. The killing and maiming of so may innocent people in the name of bringing peace to a country where we neither understand their daily values, laws nor dreams is disgusting to say the least. We as a nation have so many of our own problems disregarded by our “not in our own backyard” thinking, we should not be wasting so much time and effort in dealing with those issues like we have for far to long. We have made some great strides in righting long standing wrongs and should be proud in doing so, but so much more needs to be addressed and dealt with for the betterment of our own citizens.
As the radical conservative GOP begins to fill their new clown car of future candidates, I can only hope the liberal Democrats are kicking to the curb those so-called wishy-washy members of their own party to strengthen and win the needed fight for improved gender, racial and pay equality, as well as badly dated infrastructure problems, along with the ever present poverty level that is far to high for a nation as great as ours.
We as a Nation need to state for the world that going to war is not the answer. Neither is one country trying to force its values on any other country, with the true reason being the profits of its corporations to sell more of their goods, at a cost of their young lives and well being.
We have been in a few “just wars,” but far too many unjust ones, if you take a good, educated look at our history. Often the true activities leading to our entering wars have come to general knowledge and understanding many decades after those wars has ended. It can and will happen again. Many of our present problems with the Mideast exist because of our previous interferences. Arrogant meddling brings no reward to any nation.
Jim Hall is a resident of Clearlake Oaks
