The Death Cycle

  My heart is heavy today. I am saddened by the cycle of death, war, and vengeful violence that is all around me. And I am frustrated. Baffled that so many can be blind to the fact that what we experience in our own lives, in our own countries, is no different from the pain that is felt in other countries, some of with which we are at war. (And still others who we have declared no war on, but yet know our presence.)

  Do not be fooled by our cultural, or even religious differences. We are one and the same. Which came first, the chicken or the egg, that we can argue until the cows come home, but we are here now, in the same boat together. (History shows the story is far more complicated than we have been lead to believe.) They attack, we attack back. We attack, they attack back. People get hurt and maimed, people get killed. Their loved ones see this and want nothing more than revenge. Generation after generation it keeps going. So many lives lost. So many families destroyed. 

  They don't like us because of our freedom, we are told. They don't agree with our religion or our way of life. They take great pains to make sure that their children know and understand who is the enemy. And their children grow up being suspicious of, or even hating, anyone who dresses, or looks, or talks like us. They fight, giving up their lives for what they believe is their righteous cause.

  We don't like them because of their lack of freedom. We condemn their seemingly uncivil and barbaric culture. Their religion is strange to us. We put much effort in making sure our children know and understand that they are the enemy, and that they make no mistake about it, we are at war. Our children grow up being suspicious of anyone with slightly colored skin, that dresses a certain way, or speaks a certain language. And we fight. Many have given up their lives for what we believe is a righteous cause. 

  We are together in this sense. We are all the same. We all live in fear of each other. And we are all being played. We are nothing more than puppets in politician's game. We fight for freedom - of whatever our plague may be - while those over us fight for power over whatever land it is that they want.

   But it is not enough to silently agree, then continue on with our lives. Even though we may not be at fault for starting this cycle, we still all stand guilty. The blood of their and our children both will be on our heads, until we say, "Enough!" and tell the powers-that-be that we want no more of their unjust wars and power struggles. That blood will be on us until we realize that we are all human. We are all God's children, whether we chose to believe in Him or not. We all want to love and be loved. We all hurt the same and bleed the same color. We live in an imperfect world where there will always be evil men and bad ideas that hurt us, but there also more still that desire peace. 

  So many of us claim to believe in forgiveness until it comes to our country, our children. I am not saying that we have no right to self-defense. I'm just asking if that's what we are really doing.