The World of Grandpa Don

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It has started! Missiles fired, bombs dropped, troops deployed.

 We, as a nation, are acting on the conviction that there is no other way to eliminate an even worse threat to many more people. 

We abhor the consequences of war. Only a few are guilty but many will suffer and die. We are not fighting against a country, a people, or a religious belief. We are not fighting to expand our territory or capture the assets of others. 

We are attempting to remove from power a man and his supporters who seek to impose their evil wills on the people of their own country and other nations of the world. Ours is the kind of action that if taken against Adolph Hitler in the 1930's would have saved millions of lives. That is the cost of ignoring evil. That is the cost of thinking that it is their problem and hoping it will go away.

What is "evil"? The evil that we are concerned with here (there are many evils) is that of a man who has gained control of a nation and is imposing his ambitions and distorted values on it's citizens with the obvious and admitted intent to spread his influence to other nations. We could tolerate his beliefs and values if they were not forced on others. We may not agree with his values but we would not go to war over them if it were not for his methods of spreading them.

 He functions on the premise that everyone who does not agree with him is wrong, which in itself, is not that unusual but it is the extent to which he tries to enforce his will on others which is evil. He does not rely on valid verbal arguments to bring others to his views. He uses deceit and force. Those who disagree with him are suppressed to the point of genocide. Any force or weapon available to him will be, and has been, used to suppress or eliminate opposition. He has proved that he is that ruthless. 

Saddam Hussein does not lead Iraq by the will of the people but by fear and force. But even that would not be a reason for us to invade (maybe it should)  if he did not threaten to extend his evil beyond his borders.  

We live in an era in which borders are becoming invisible. Isolationism is no longer possible, and realistically has not been possible in the past century or more. It has become most evident that all the people of the world are part of the same family, interdependent and inter-reliant. We are our brother's keeper! 

There can not be peace, as much as we would desire it, if that peace was one which ignored a vile and dangerous evil. The body is often harmed in the attempt to remove a deadly cancer. As I know very well, a chest has to be invaded and tissue damaged in order to repair a heart. All this needs to be done to save the body from a worse fate. The body will heal if the root of the problem is removed or repaired. This is not very different.

A friend remarked that he loves the theme music on the home page and this page, "Let There Be Peace on Earth". I love it too and it is my ardent desire. However, we can not "Let" there be peace if we mean by that to leave things alone and "Peace" will just be there. Peace is not the absence of conflict. Peace is when all the peoples of the earth treat each other with love and respect. That does not sound like Saddam Hussein! He is the cancer that must be removed to save us. We reluctantly endure the invasion of our universal body and the pain it brings in order to survive. 

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Let us Pray.

God of Peace and Love,
Hear us in our plea for peace.
Send the Holy Spirit to fill the hearts of the world political leaders;
That they may truly lead us to peace and brotherhood;
That they may govern their actions from a desire for the welfare of all your creation;
That in their decisions they suppress all selfish motives, either their own or that of those they represent. 

Amen

Don Plefka
03/20/03