Waging War Or Waging Peace
By Peter and Helen Evans (01/01/03)
Back when the United Nations was still in its infancy, the Security Council denied membership to Sweden, Ireland, and Switzerland on the basis that they were "not peace-loving countries", meaning that they had chosen to remain neutral in the war against Hitler's. In other words, they would not fight for peace. It's amazing how the United Nation's use of the term "peace-loving" has changed since 1946. They have reversed themselves.
They now seem to believe that peace will miraculously happen if they just ignore (or "deplore" for 12 years) the violence of troublemakers like Saddam Hussein. Very few things in life come without some pain or price to pay. If we go to the dentist to deal with a painful tooth, we'll probably have to endure the additional, momentary pain of the anesthetic needle. Sometimes we must make tradeoffs. That's the way life works.
Consider, for instance, the sniper in the D.C. area last October: did anyone believe he would just turn over his weapons and give himself up? No. We knew that it might end with a shoot out between him and the police. Did we urge the police to conduct a massive manhunt because we were "war mongers"? No. We encouraged the police to snuff this threat to society because we are "peace loving" and would not tolerate his violence.
Let's confront those so-called peace lovers who glibly say that "violence never solved anything" First, let's get a grip on what is meant by violence: every day thousands of people die horrible deaths from natural causes. Every day storms destroy the environment, killing animals and plants. Every day stars explode and hurl masses of debris about space. This sounds violent, but it's just life. Only when it is used with malicious intent is force properly called violence. Just think of the pain your mother endured when you were born; pain and birth go hand in hand. Pain encountered on the path toward peace is not misery.
Of course, it would be "nice" if we did not have thugs like Hussein disturbing the peace and threatening the world. However, right now, that is not the way it is. Of course it would be "nice" if Hussein would do what the world has been asking him to do for over a decade and be peaceful. But, right now, that is not what he is doing, nor has it ever been. There is no "nice" way to bring about peace unless all of us are peace loving. Right now, it is time for the peace lovers of the world to gather our forces and wage peace in Iraq.
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