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News :: Miscellaneous |
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A Call For Temperance |
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by Matthew Berliant
Email: escape_ism (nospam) hotmail.com (unverified!)
Address: St. Louis, MO |
11 Sep 2001
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A Call For Temperance During This Time Of Crisis For The American People! |
September 11, 2001 will be remembered as a terrible day, a tragic day, for all future generations of American history. I, as well as most Americans, am deeply saddened by this incident. That yet more people have died, been maimed, injured, or forced to suffer the loss of loved ones by yet another group willing to take life without compunction to meet their aims—whatever those aims might be—is devastating.
It is natural for all of us to feel an overwhelming remorse for the victims and their families, and to pray that measures be taken to prevent further loss of life at the behest of a few, and at the cost of many.
It is for this reason that I would call on all Americans to look now to their loved ones, to review their values, and to exercise temperance during this time of crisis. I think it is of the utmost importance that the people of this Nation pause, take stock, and meditate on what part we’ve had to play in this most terrible of violent displays against our fellow citizens. Specifically, what American policies, at home and abroad, have opened the door to such vehement hatred against this Nation?
I do not mean to imply that these acts are justified in any way. Quite the contrary, I am a firm believer in the sanctity of all human life, both at home and abroad. It seems to me that if we truly want to begin the work to effectively ensure that violence of this magnitude is discouraged and diminished worldwide, that American violence abroad must be eliminated from our foreign policy. All too often, American foreign-policy leaders have blazed the way for NATO bombings internationally, and American-led bombing campaigns continue to this day against the peoples of Iraq. Although our military leaders assure us that all precautions necessary to ‘minimize civilian casualties’ are implemented during these campaigns, such disclaimers necessarily imply that civilian casualties have been and continue to be expected as a consequence of all such action. Furthermore, the United States has led the world in the international arms trade. Are these the kinds of activities that invite the peaceful amelioration of differences between peoples, states, and nations?
Should the people responsible for this most recent act of terrorism be found out, what then? The attack has been called the ‘Second Pearl Harbor.’ Should we expect an equally devastating nuclear retaliation against the perpetrators when found, and the millions of civilian casualties that accompanied the nuclear annihilation of Hiroshima and Nagasaki? President George W. Bush has vowed “to hunt down and punish” those responsible for the attack on the World Trade Towers and the Pentagon. Following the Pearl Harbor attack, over 100,000 Americans of Japanese descent were hunted down, hounded out of their homes, and placed in concentration camps as a matter of national security. I fear that, should we discover that the terrorists are any other than the white majority in this country, that we can expect, if not a State-sanctioned backlash, a backlash nonetheless against naturalized American citizens of similar descent.
Americans know that America is not a perfect country. Now more than ever, we, the citizens of this Nation, must examine our role in the international community, and take measures to diminish violence, both at home and abroad. Am I wrong, is America’s violence abroad justified while foreign violence at home is not? I would argue that the taking of human life anywhere is unpardonable, and Americans and foreigners alike should begin to take a hard look at all violence, and all actions which perpetuate the cycle of violence in our local, state, national, and international policies. We must begin the work now to promote temperance and dialogue in all of our affairs.
As the cry for blood rings out from hospitals across the nation I can only pray that Americans will heed the call and focus their wills and their lives on healing our collective wounds in a non-violent and productive manner, rather than upon perpetuating the cycle of violence by inflicting new injuries on top of old.
In compassion for the victims of violence everywhere, and in solidarity with those committed to the long and difficult task of the non-violent reconciliation of differences,
Matthew Berliant
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See also:
www.stlimc.org
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