Stay Strong

 

We’ve heard that a lot lately, especially here in Boston since the tragedy at the Boston Marathon. Strength however is more than being able to withstand assault, it is a frame of mind that is necessary to ensure our own survival, both physically and mentally.

First, we must understand what we are up against, the first rule in any engagement is “know your enemy”. When people use acts of terror to cast the shadow of fear upon others, the initial reactions are shock and fear, this is what is intended, and it works. In fact, it works so well, many people are willing to sacrifice their Liberties to gain the perception of safety. An “enemy” who will use terror is a coward as well as a fool. Those who fall into the trap of, “we will protect you” are fools as well. Think of this for just a moment, for all of the money spent on “Homeland Security”, two kids murder and maim in one of the most highly policed areas of the US.

Inevitably, anger follows fear. With anger, we seek revenge, not justice. When the second bomber was found hiding in a boat in a driveway, the reaction was to shoot the boat to pieces, then take a look inside. The object was essentially to kill the perpetrator, using that age old excuse, “he may be armed or have another bomb”. Let’s look at this from a realistic point of view. The owner of the boat had lifted the edge of the tarp to see the young man inside, he was not shot at, nor threatened; the boat did not explode from a home made bomb. The kid had nearly bled out by this point, he was not a threat. I’ll give the police credit for considering options that may have occurred but none of them did. The kid may have had a bomb, he may have been armed, he may have been a threat, however, none of those issues came to fruition. The police riddled the boat with small arms fire and used flash bang devices before looking inside. This was not a strategic decision, it was a tactical one. Strategy would have been to capture the individual in the best shape possible, to keep him alive for questioning and finding out why he and his brother did what they did. The tactical decision was to go overboard and do just about everything to ensure this kids death. If heavier arms, say .50 cal’s or LAW’s were available, I’m almost positive they (the police), would have used them. This was the act of  “avenging angels” as opposed to seeking to bring an individual to justice.

When people are afraid they do irrational things, it is admittedly tough to keep one’s wits about them when involved in a fire fight or being targeted by artillery or mortar fire, (which are all acts of terror in one form or another), with military training, you expect the unexpected and react, I never saw a soldier run from a fire fight, although I’ve seen many a man jump into a hole during a barrage. Once the fear and anger subside though, people rally together to get themselves through whatever event occurred, whether the bombing at the Marathon, the tornado in OK or a hurricane that rips shorelines to shreds and endangers people inland. After an earthquake, people rally to find survivors, after a tsunami, people rally to help each other even though they’ve never met and will most likely never meet again. Disasters, whether man made or natural tend to draw people together and steels their resolve to overcome the problem.

As we sort out man made disasters or acts of terror, we demand justice. Justice can often be complicated, but it should not be an emotional issue, it needs to be based on facts, and despite the fact we’ve all heard 100 times, “the maximum penalty is….”, there is also the the other end of the spectrum and everything in between. Not everything should be, “the maximum”, in fact, some things, even heinous acts can be at the other end of the spectrum and forgiven; it takes someone of extraordinary courage and empathy to forgive, but that is occasionally what it takes to ensure justice remains justice, it’s not all about punishment. Part of our collective strength is justice, albeit that is a debate that could take a long time and plenty of energy.

My point in all of this is that no matter how many times we are hurt, no matter who the next bully is that comes along, (lately that bully has been the US), it is imperative to remain strong, to maintain our sense of humanity and dignity. It is within our power to show the world we “are better than that”. We can stand strong in our morality, fighting agaisnt empire, fighting against drone warfare, (an act of terror by the way). We are not sheep, we are people, we must stand up to those who would have us cower, we must maintain our strength.

To all people who have felt the power of violence and intimidation; Stay Strong!

Profiting From Peace

Just about everyone out there has an idea about how to bring about Peace, some even include more war, as odd as that may sound.

The situation is, from a realistic point of view, regardless of how gruesome war is, it is intensely profitable. Each bomb dropped, missile launched, shot fired, piece of equipment destroyed, it needs to be replaced, and since the cost of munitions and weapons systems are so high, how is it that an industrialist cannot move away from the near instantaneous profit to be made?

The era of greed has never been far away; those that have great sums of money and other assets want more, that appears to be a simple fact. The other area is that they more fast. When we were more agrarian groups of societies things moved slowly, nature ruled the pace and we adapted rather well. There were still great riches to be made, and the class system was a bit more bizarre, but all things considered, things went relatively well. As we gained more knowledge, we learned that we could take what we could not, or be willing to, purchase/barter. The war machine was born.

Our technical expertise at killing one another has not yet reached it’s zenith. Every day, new technology for “defense” rises up, and inevitably, it is used for offense. Our nation has embarked on a road to empire since it’s inception. It’s taken time to get where we are now, but the future holds, (as it always does), that empires crumble.

Here is where I’m thinking we can profit from Peace.

For one thing, our coastline is ringed with naval stations that are harboring WWI destroyers, not to mention cruisers, aircraft carriers from WWII and Korea and a host of other unseaworthy  ships and vessels. There are a lot of precious metals on board the vessels, not to mention this is some serious steel, which could easily be melted down and reused to rebuild our infrastructure. We’d need architects, engineers, steel workers, transportation, concrete and people to lay and finish it. A whole host of jobs would be created withing 6 months and the job we’re looking at, infrastructure, would take years to complete. Good paying jobs, jobs that trained people for the future in welding, steamfitting, high speed rail, thousands of new jobs and people being trained to carry us into the future.

Agriculture would benefit as these people would need to be fed properly, housing would be enhanced as people need places to stay, we could utilize green technology and wean ourselves off of fossil fuels…just by recycling  junk.

Swords to plowshares in a nutshell.

Once it is discovered that we can make profit, rather quickly without killing and maiming others, we can begin to repair the problems we’ve created. Some of that steel could be used for irrigation in more arid lands, some viable seeds for a particular area and suddenly, a population becomes self sufficient with good nutrition. It takes 7 years from the time an apple seed germinates to the first crop, that’s a little less than half the time we’ve been embroiled in the current “excursions”. Wheat, rice, soy, barley, etc take far less time to establish themselves, fruit trees take a bit, but are well worth it. The price of seeds is low, the price of life sustaining food is low, why waste billions on destruction making enemies, when we can feed people and make friends for life?

Waging Peace is a noble idea, and a workable idea, all it takes is the realistic view that friends are far better than enemies.

It will take a worldwide effort to accomplish what we want to accomplish, there are plenty of “bad guys” out there, but they can be contained. We need not look at everyone as a potential enemy, what we need to do is look at the world, realize we are all human beings, encapsulate those that would continue war, and off we go to a more Peaceful world.

It should be mentioned that Peace is not the end of war, that is but a small part of Peace. Peace is being able feel peaceful withing one’s surroundings and the rest of the world. It is as mental as it is physical, it is a state of mind. We cannot attain Peace without Equality and Justice.

Peace,

Bob