Monday, March 21, 2005

Things I believe, as of March 21, 2005

An unborn fetus that cannot survive on its own is not yet a person. Soul or no soul, it cannot think and breathe on its own. This is why I do not believe that abortion is murder.

People whose brains have been destroyed by illness or accident are indeed people, but if you can never think again, your life has been ended. The fact that your body doesn't know this seems inherently cruel to me, but there it is. With no upper brain function, no chance to think, or feel or know, I don't feel that you can claim that this is life any more.

Soldiers are people. Each and every one of them. Soldiers on both sides of any war are all people. Each has thoughts and feelings and reactions, no matter how intensely they suppress them in able to be good soldiers. Killing people is a terrible thing, no matter what the reason. Torture is not very far below the killing, as it is intended to remove the humanity of a person.

You cannot claim that you make decisions based on a culture of life and simultaneously support a war. It is contradictory and hypocritical. If you believe that unborn fetuses have the same rights as functional adults, then why don't soldiers have those same rights? It doesn't make sense.

Having said that, I also know that I do not live in a world of ideals. All those thoughts and feelings that I keep mentioning have dramatic and unexpected effects every day, every moment. Wars happen because people stubbornly refuse to believe that compromises can be made without retribution from an angry god, or worse, loss of dignity.

I wish there was no war, but I understand that there is. Beyond that, I wish that there was no war in Iraq, right now. I am NOT supporting Palestinians, or insurgents, or anyone who seems to be putting out an opinion that the only way to peace is the suppression of other people's rights, but I am also not supporting the acts of war that we're using to counter them. I don't think it's working, you see. We're not even keeping people safe by making them oppressed and miserable, we're only bringing more danger with the oppression, making it that much more unsavory.

I believe that we should make decisions based on what will lift oppression and misery, we should take the side of those that would battle poverty and injustice. When we've taken steps that we think are in this direction but turn out to be misguided, when we're on a dead-end and we cannot come out to a crossroads that will once again point us towards our goal, we should turn back so that we can once again find the correct path.

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