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A Punch in the Face [1]

['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']

Date: 2023-10-16  

As a convinced Quaker (as opposed to birthright Quaker,) I have often been asked, “Well, if someone punched you in the face, you wouldn’t fight back?” The Peace Testimony of the Society of Friends (Quakers) is not about that situation but what came before it, ie: WHY does someone WANT to punch me in the face? It speaks about living your life trying to avoid “the occasion of war.” It recognizes that is it injustice that causes wars. If you have been working hard enough to make sure that everyone in your society has enough, enough food, space, job opportunities, respect for their dignity, health care, etc. it is pretty hard to convince them to go to war.

We knew that the overly harsh terms of the German surrender in WWI caused WWII, that’s why the Marshall Plan was put into place after WWII to rebuild Germany and Japan. It appears that that lesson has been forgotten. The suffering of the people of Gaza under the Israeli rule of them has given birth to the terrorist organizations that oppose them and each year they have fed that hate and stoked it into white hot rage.

You can call me an anti-semite if you want, I have been called this before. This punch could have been avoided, but Israel did just the opposite. They continue the illegal settlements on the Gaza’s land. They kill and imprison their children. They take their dignity be forcing them to be second class citizens on their own land. It is no different than what South Africa or the United States did except for the race of the oppressed.

Both Arabs and Jews are Semites. They are brothers and sisters, not different races, and this has only served to make the conflict more terrible.

Many people have asked me whether my father approved of my choice to become a Quaker. He was an Army Colonel and a veteran of WWII as well as Vietnam. He had no problem with my religion. To paraphrase MacArthur, “No one wants peace more than a soldier.” My father was an advisor to the French before the U.S. entered the Vietnam war. He counseled his superior officers NOT to enter into that war. He went though, he felt it was his duty to protect the young soldiers he led, but his heart was uneasy. He had been a devout Catholic before Vietnam, skipping breakfast to attend mass every day while at West Point. After the Vietnam War, he never went to mass again.

Those who stoke this hatred and lust for blood and suffering are mostly free from the consequences. It’s not their sons and daughters who will suffer and die. They are safe in their own little world. They can posture and call for the suffering of others without any risk to themselves.

Until we can work harder for justice and dignity for all people, we will continue to see children murdered in the name of God. War is an abomination. Peace should be for all of us.

The colonial revolutionists were “terrorists” in that they did not fight in the regimented way of the British army. They did not always have matching uniforms. They ambushed people. They vandalized shipments of tea and such. The difference between officially uniformed murderers and raggedy murderers makes us think they are two different things. When you force a million people off their land, try to deny them water and food, you ARE a terrorist.

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