Reflections

First of all, thank you to all of you who continue to read this and inspire me to share the inner workings of my own inexplicable mind...

Unfortunately, issues in life are never 100% clear. Anyone who tells you any differently is trying to sell you something. I got that from somewhere but do not know exactly where to attribute it, so I will just say that I claim a second use of the words that illustrate this truth. C.S. Lewis says that the devil likes to send errors into the world in pairs, in order that by avoiding one in particular we draw nearer and nearer to the other. There is never an easy choice in life for this reason. We have to consider all the angles, what everyone has said on the issue, and in the end make the best decision possible according to our moral standards.

Take Iraq. It must have been a difficult decision to go to war, yet when the time came to stand up and take action our leader did it. And surprisingly, many congressmen supported him who ordinarily would not follow his lead. They were not swayed by party loyalties, but instead according to their own means of decision-making came to vote in favor of the war as well. Now many of them cut out, by saying the president has not gone about in the correct way, even though they endorsed his actions, and likely would have pursued the war in a similar way themselves.

Yet there are others who sit and feel self-justified in that they have always stood against war in any form. "I am a pacifist, and this decision by the president has disrupted the lives of these poor people in the Middle East." Now we must leave, then make more treaties, maybe do some hand-holding and kumbayah, and pretend 9/11 never happened!!!

The truth is that American leaders are doing their best to ensure our rights to life in this country, by taking out those who would threaten it. And these Islamic extremists threaten us with justifications that are disputed at best. So we are supposed to treat these people like they have concrete objectives, that they actually ultimately seek what is best for all of us? I think that naive idea was destroyed the moment they piloted two planes into the World Trade Centers, or maybe when Saddam Hussein murdered his own people using chemical and biological agents.

I know many people who have been affected by this war, and I know their feelings. I know they would gladly fight for this cause, because they believe that human life is more important than the psychological well-being of any group of people. We must look beyond these feelings, and consider the reality. If we do, and then compare what we see to the moral standards lying in our hearts and our minds, I think we begin to see the reality that we must act to eliminate this threat.

And I would stand strong if called along with my American brothers and sisters who defend our land today. May God bless and be with them and all of us in this time, and help us to see through any facade or lie to the truth. For this will truly set us free.