Originally this blog was for a personal diary of sorts. However, because I have decided to make a word play out of the title At Arms Length, I hope to be discussing issues of violence like the military, weapons, America, freedom, and all the other issues that surround America's thirst for violence.
This, however, is not necessarily to criticize America. That you can find on my other blog, Green Summer Lawn. This is more my trying to process through why my belief in non-violent social action has strengthened the last few years, how far I am willing to take it, and if it really is a viable option in a post 9/11 America under constant threat of nuclear warfare.
I have often heard nuclear weapons called weapons of mass suicide. I have to agree. Denzel Washington in the movie Crimson Tide was right when he said the real enemy in a nuclear war is the war itself. But it is not the nuclear aspect that makes these statements true. Any type of war, whether it is between countries or between families, or between individuals, any action of war is the real enemy.
War is dehumanizing. Not just because of the violence but because the systems that led to the state of war are often dehumanizing to begin with. When Nelson Mandela was released from prison after being incarcerated for 25 years for doing what was right he forgave the ones who held him captive and then pointed out his anger for the system that taught people to hate. I'm sure I will returning to Mandela on a number of these ponderings.
I pray this exercise is fruitful.
