At What Price
“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” George Santayana.
I really love that statement. It is what every parent tries to impart to their children. We all want to spare our children the pains and heartaches that we went through when we were growing up only to find that it is those mistakes that give us character. But those are the mistakes we can live through, that do not create life destroying events. Other mistakes have a direr outcome.
We try to teach our children right from wrong. Don’t smoke, don’t do drugs or drink and drive, practice abstinence should be the mantra of every parent. Some parents are successful and others fail to follow through with the mantra and end up with troubled children that create an unpleasant atmosphere for everyone involved. But that is family and we always seem to see beyond the mistakes of our family and love them for who they are. Most of the time, the mistakes that we make are not world altering events that have adverse outcomes for entire nations or even the world.
I grew up under the shadow of the mushroom cloud. The US and the Soviet Union were grappling with which ideology would reign supreme in the world. We were terrified of communists and their threat of nuclear annihilation and were supremely confident in our countries course. Thank you Ronald Reagan. President Reagan saw the chinks in the Soviet armor and helped to push the evil empire over. It wasn’t tough once it started. It was mostly rotted anyway. It took nearly 40 years to topple the Soviet Union and create a more orderly group of states that have the ability to pursue their own future instead of being ruled by a despotic dictator.
We are currently facing another monster. This time the enemy is not a nation state intent on spreading their bankrupt doctrine all over the world, but a group of religious fanatics that are looking for a scapegoat for the perceived slights to their way of life. They want everything to stay the same and are trying to force the rest of the world to stop influencing their culture and way of life. They are using different tactics than the Soviet Union. The Soviets tried to turn nations to their way of thinking. The present threat is terrorists, using small life altering events to focus the attention on what they want. They are not vocal about their demands; they are intent on striking at those who disagree with their way of life. They are not concentrated into identifiable units, but scattered into fragments around the world. They have one thing in common; they all practice the religion of Islam.
This does not make all practitioners of the Islamic faith bad. People are always trying to get their own way. I know a few professed Christians who preach the tenets of Christ but whose actions do not reflect those tenets. It is sad that we do not follow the teachings of our religion. Neither Jesus nor Mohammed’s lives reflect the path that is fanatical. Maybe for the time they lived, it was heretical but killing people to get your way in the name of religion is not part of either teaching.
It took 40 years for the US to destroy the Russian bear and we have been rooting out terrorists and trying to change the direction of the Islamic states for less that five. Providing people with the freedom to choose their own direction instead of having it forced on them by self serving dictators is a start to solving the problem. We have been at this democracy thing for more than 200 years and we are still struggling with the freedom it provides. How can you expect a nation that has never known freedom to get it right in such a short timeframe?
America was founded on Christian roots. Jesus gave us a very difficult path to follow when we deal with our neighbors. Take a look at the Sermon on the Mount for just how much our savior expects. First and foremost, we are to love our neighbors as we love ourselves. The next verse describes the sacrifice that Christ made for us. It reflects how we are currently handling our neighbors in Iraq. Take heed.
Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. John 15:13
Icool
Cobb
I really love that statement. It is what every parent tries to impart to their children. We all want to spare our children the pains and heartaches that we went through when we were growing up only to find that it is those mistakes that give us character. But those are the mistakes we can live through, that do not create life destroying events. Other mistakes have a direr outcome.
We try to teach our children right from wrong. Don’t smoke, don’t do drugs or drink and drive, practice abstinence should be the mantra of every parent. Some parents are successful and others fail to follow through with the mantra and end up with troubled children that create an unpleasant atmosphere for everyone involved. But that is family and we always seem to see beyond the mistakes of our family and love them for who they are. Most of the time, the mistakes that we make are not world altering events that have adverse outcomes for entire nations or even the world.
I grew up under the shadow of the mushroom cloud. The US and the Soviet Union were grappling with which ideology would reign supreme in the world. We were terrified of communists and their threat of nuclear annihilation and were supremely confident in our countries course. Thank you Ronald Reagan. President Reagan saw the chinks in the Soviet armor and helped to push the evil empire over. It wasn’t tough once it started. It was mostly rotted anyway. It took nearly 40 years to topple the Soviet Union and create a more orderly group of states that have the ability to pursue their own future instead of being ruled by a despotic dictator.
We are currently facing another monster. This time the enemy is not a nation state intent on spreading their bankrupt doctrine all over the world, but a group of religious fanatics that are looking for a scapegoat for the perceived slights to their way of life. They want everything to stay the same and are trying to force the rest of the world to stop influencing their culture and way of life. They are using different tactics than the Soviet Union. The Soviets tried to turn nations to their way of thinking. The present threat is terrorists, using small life altering events to focus the attention on what they want. They are not vocal about their demands; they are intent on striking at those who disagree with their way of life. They are not concentrated into identifiable units, but scattered into fragments around the world. They have one thing in common; they all practice the religion of Islam.
This does not make all practitioners of the Islamic faith bad. People are always trying to get their own way. I know a few professed Christians who preach the tenets of Christ but whose actions do not reflect those tenets. It is sad that we do not follow the teachings of our religion. Neither Jesus nor Mohammed’s lives reflect the path that is fanatical. Maybe for the time they lived, it was heretical but killing people to get your way in the name of religion is not part of either teaching.
It took 40 years for the US to destroy the Russian bear and we have been rooting out terrorists and trying to change the direction of the Islamic states for less that five. Providing people with the freedom to choose their own direction instead of having it forced on them by self serving dictators is a start to solving the problem. We have been at this democracy thing for more than 200 years and we are still struggling with the freedom it provides. How can you expect a nation that has never known freedom to get it right in such a short timeframe?
America was founded on Christian roots. Jesus gave us a very difficult path to follow when we deal with our neighbors. Take a look at the Sermon on the Mount for just how much our savior expects. First and foremost, we are to love our neighbors as we love ourselves. The next verse describes the sacrifice that Christ made for us. It reflects how we are currently handling our neighbors in Iraq. Take heed.
Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. John 15:13
Icool
Cobb
posted by Cobb at
7:45 AM
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