One of us is starting to come around to the other's way of thinking. Or maybe we're meeting in the middle. Yesterday, Dorothy told me "No agressive moves." I think, in other words, don't start a war; never be the one who takes the first violent action.
How odd. She used to believe in fighting almost for its own sake. She finds something passionate and beautiful, I think, in people strong enough to fight for things. Now, I think she's changing what she thinks is worth fighting for.
Pacifism says no violent moves at all, not even in reaction. I used to believe that. When all the horror and blood of war is literally laid out by your feet, it's hard to believe that it could ever be justified. I remember, when I first discovered the legacy of my murdered family, how desperate I was to cling to something that condemned war instead of glorifying it. Soldiers live through war, yes, but they're the ones with the power. They have the guns, and they choose who to kill. Soldier and generals are meant to be violent.
And the Peacecrafts believed with all their hearts that nothing good could come from murder, that the taint can't ever be washed away. We have to learn to live peacefully, or we can't live at all. I wonder, sometimes, if that was what Millard thought, when he was ready to destroy this beautiful Earth. Of course, it's also possible that his mind just snapped. My brother was a soldier.
I am reminded constantly of the difficulties of maintaining peace, unpleasantly so. And I reminded myself, when I was a leader, that above all else, my duty as a leader was to the people: to prevent the necessity of war. Not just the action, but the necessity for it. I was good at it, too, until my mind snapped.
Maybe if I'd kept at it long enough, I'd have wanted to destroy the Earth, too. That's a disturbing sort of thought.
Visually speaking, I think an epiphany is like the air molecules that don’t escape when you clap your hands together, the ones that get squashed between your hands. It's two forces coming together with such strength and speed that something is caught in the middle, like truth.
Re: I call this one "HAY LOOK WHAT I FOUND ON MY HARD DRIVE!"
Date: 2006-02-21 04:50 am (UTC)How odd. She used to believe in fighting almost for its own sake. She finds something passionate and beautiful, I think, in people strong enough to fight for things. Now, I think she's changing what she thinks is worth fighting for.
Pacifism says no violent moves at all, not even in reaction. I used to believe that. When all the horror and blood of war is literally laid out by your feet, it's hard to believe that it could ever be justified. I remember, when I first discovered the legacy of my murdered family, how desperate I was to cling to something that condemned war instead of glorifying it. Soldiers live through war, yes, but they're the ones with the power. They have the guns, and they choose who to kill. Soldier and generals are meant to be violent.
And the Peacecrafts believed with all their hearts that nothing good could come from murder, that the taint can't ever be washed away. We have to learn to live peacefully, or we can't live at all. I wonder, sometimes, if that was what Millard thought, when he was ready to destroy this beautiful Earth. Of course, it's also possible that his mind just snapped. My brother was a soldier.
I am reminded constantly of the difficulties of maintaining peace, unpleasantly so. And I reminded myself, when I was a leader, that above all else, my duty as a leader was to the people: to prevent the necessity of war. Not just the action, but the necessity for it. I was good at it, too, until my mind snapped.
Maybe if I'd kept at it long enough, I'd have wanted to destroy the Earth, too. That's a disturbing sort of thought.
Visually speaking, I think an epiphany is like the air molecules that don’t escape when you clap your hands together, the ones that get squashed between your hands. It's two forces coming together with such strength and speed that something is caught in the middle, like truth.