2001-09-14 - 9:15 a.m.
My own personal blend of patriotism

Yes, I'm still on the same subject. I guess I don't agree as much with the philosophies of this university as I thought I did. There are so many "militant" pacifists here, if I may use the term, that I am starting to get ill every time I peek into our intranet "Politics" or "Matters of Faith" online conferences. It seems to me that a true pacifist would not claim that all who disagree with him are wrong, nor would he or she use intentionally inflammatory language.

I didn't even say anything particularly strident. I merely suggested that people who are non-pacifists have their reasons for believing what they believe, just as pacifists do, and both viewpoints should be equally respected; and that being inflammatory and divisive and denouncing the government just now, is NOT a good idea.

My stance on the issue was not casually arrived at; I was introduced to the idea of "Conscientious Objector" when I was quite young, sometime before my 10th birthday, when I first watched the old movie "Sgt. York". I have talked to my grandfather about his experiences in World War II. I have studied histories and wars in depth (I got a 5, the best possible score, on both the American and the European Advanced Placement history tests in high school). To have some aggressive so-called pacifist call my beliefs absurd, is like a slap in the face.

The moment I spoke up, people were tossing analogies at me involving Nazi's and abortion doctors, in the name of "Government Sponsored Killing". I was instantly offended. I also began to wonder just what is wrong with our culture. Have we actually managed to teach large sections of our population that national pride (patriotism) is a bad thing? That Americans are "rich capitalists" and "arrogant" and deserve what we got, and should bow down and take it? Everything in me revolts at this idea!

Sure, we are imperfect. And our military policies at times have left something to be desired. But never, ever, have we just murdered innocent civilians on a massive scale, without forewarning, just for the sake of spitting in the face of an enemy. To say that we deserved this attack and as such should not retaliate, is ridiculous.

When a cancer springs forth in a human body, do we not cut it out, lest it grow to destroy the person entirely?

Sure, there are other ways of retaliating besides violence. But we are dealing with people who view this as a holy war. I don't think we'll be able to avoid it entirely, as a nation. Sanctions have proven ineffective (cf: Iraq, Cuba) and zero-casualty-policy attacks have proven ineffective (cf: Clinton's cruise missile strike against Osama bin Laden, 1998). We do not have the reach or the knowledge to freeze the assets of bin Laden and those in his terrorist cells and the other terrorist groups he supports. What, honestly, is there left to do? Another point I'd like to make: Any ground troops we send in need not just lay waste. They can bring some of the terrorists back to try as war criminals.

You need not believe that the actions approved by the government are good ideas. You need not support or join the efforts of the armed forces. You can even speak out or act calmly and opposingly, in the name of conscientious objection. But you certainly should refrain from causing more anger and disturbance among Americans with inflammatory defiant talk. We don't need any more reasons to be upset. What we need, just now, is resolve.

I am not going to cut-and-paste my way through the Bible again. The verses are there to make a case either way, for pacifism or against it. I personally think that it's one of those doctrinal issues that should be left to the believer ... most Christian denominations, with all their different lists of beliefs, agree that the central issue is that Christians are to follow Christ as best they can, and everything else is secondary.

I bought an American flag yesterday, and my brother hung it from our balcony. All the hair stood up on my arms, and I got tears in my eyes, when the radio station played "God Bless the USA". It doesn't seem like the draft will be called at this time ... but if it eventually is, and if my brother (age 22) is one of those called, I'm going too. I will be signing up for a support role -- even I, who think violence is sometimes necessary, would find killing difficult -- but I will go, and be as useful as I can.