"We got Osama bin Laden," said a 50 ish man with glee who briefly joined the vigil with his wife. He was so proud of this fact, using the word "got" instead of "killed" that nothing John Fortier or I could have said to him would have mattered. He let us know bin Laden's death was going to make a real difference in the U.S.'s wars without explaining how.
Perhaps that's because in the minds of many Americans, the U.S. just got its 1st "victory" after nearly 10 years of war. And it raised in them the hope that this will finally begin an end to the wars.
Last night's vigil got more horn honks, waves and two fingered peace signs, than usual, with "usual" being about a 5% response. It was likely because bin Laden's murder has gotten major news media attention as President Obama and his Republican opponents jockey for the most credit for it.
But the murder of one man won't solve the underlying problems of the U.S.'s three wars as the widespread bloodshed continues.
Nor will it bring back the nearly 3,000 people killed during 9/11 nor the hundreds of thousands of Iraqis and tens of thousands of Afghans killed by the U.S. response to it. It won't restore the lives of the approximately 45,000 U.S. troops who have been killed or severely injured in these wars, nor the lives of U.S. allied soldiers also lost. And each day, more lives are lost, more families are damaged and more children are killed or orphaned.
This vigil is a prayer, that mankind will learn from the massive suffering these U.S. wars have caused and are causing and will pressure the U.S. to end them. And with hope that mankind will realize the obvious: that money wasted on all this death and destruction could instead be used to uplift humanity.
Think of the difference quality medical care, educational systems and decent housing and productive jobs could make in America and throughout the world. As for Al-Qaeda, Hamas, the Taliban and other revolutionary organizations, how fertile would their recruitment efforts be if the trillions of dollars now spent on wars were used to end the hopelessness and dire poverty that creates so many suicide bombers and fierce fighters, as they could instead see a quality future for themselves in this life.
As Americans, the choice is ours. Continue the path we are on: celebrating the death of one fanatic and borrowing deeply to wage endless wars, and basing our economy on building weapons of mass destruction at taxpayer expense while we go broke or making peace and building a better world.
Dick
No comments:
Post a Comment