Give Peace a Chance

As I approach the end of 2012, my heart and mind are turning to the New Year.  The echoes of rifle fire in an elementary school still ring in my head.  Images of knives being wielded in another elementary school haunt my imaginations.  Memories of bomb threats bubble up through a sea of remembrances.  Violence erupts, at it has always has, in the midst of our daily living.  This is not new.  Violence is part of the human experience.  It was in the beginning, and continues with us each and every day.

Violence exists because we have not been willing to admit that it is a natural part of life.  It is something that will require a fundamental change in the way we live our lives.  Even then, we will never be able to eliminate it, only limit its influence over our lives.  It is very much like any other disease.

At one time we believed that physical disease was something that came from outside our world.  It was caused by black magic, or poor morals, or the punishment of an angry god.  Therefore, to defeat it we had to find the magic words or the proper punishment or the right sacrifice to appease the gods.  We were not the direct cause.  We were victims of violence, not the perpetrators of it. 

None of these strategies have worked.  Violence continued to follow us day-by-day and century-by-century.  They failed because they did not look at the real locus of violence.  Violence lives in the hearts of every single human being.  Violence is part of who we are.  Like the organisms that attack our body and cause us to be come ill, violence is part of our daily living.  It rises from within us when we are particularly vulnerable.  It breaks out like a fever and causes us to lash out at those around us.  We do not want to admit it, but every single one of us is capable of unspeakable violence given the right circumstances and vulnerabilities.  To eradicate violence, we would have to eradicate the human race. 

Does this mean that we are stuck with violence?  Yes, we probably are.  But, we can reduce the incidence of it as we have reduced the incidence of small pox, cholera, and other diseases.  We can reduce our vulnerability to it by reducing our racist beliefs, our need to be in control, our need to compete, and our need to blame others for the natural consequences of our own actions.  Violence begets violence.  More violence leads to more violence.  This escalation is driven by vulnerabilities in the human heart.

As I turn to 2013, I pray that we will begin to discover the things that truly make for peace and give up on violence as a solution, but as the problem itself.  Armed guards at the doors of a school house will lead to more bullets flying down the hallways of our grandchildren’s schools.  May we accept responsibility for the violent culture we have created and begin to change some of the fundamental chords in our lives together. 

Pray for peace.  Become peacemakers.  Accept that you and I have the power to make our schools safe and our culture a place of peace.  Accept that we are not the victims of violence but those who commit it and contribute to our violent culture each and every day.  We may never be able to eradicate violence but perhaps we can create a world where violence is never viewed is the first option in expressing our anger and frustration.

In words from an earlier day, “Let’s give peace a chance!”

Bob Dees

Dare To Be Intolerant!

When I was a child the Five and Dime Store held great treasures like Chinese Handcuffs.  These little woven tubes were a marvel to the uninitiated.  When they were compressed, they allowed the pointer finger of each hand to be inserted in each end.  When the hands were pulled apart the tube tightened on each finger and prevented them from slipping out of the tube.  You could pull all you wanted but you could not free yourself from the tube.

In recent years, the conservatives in our culture have discovered a Liberal Handcuff that works under the same principle.  Whenever a liberal argues that their conservative counterpart is being intolerant, the conservative counters with their own appeal to the liberal’s intolerance of their intolerance.  This is seen most clearly in the Christmas Crèche wars that have played out on courthouse lawns across the country.

When the ACLU takes up the fight to preserve the separation of church and state, the conservatives cry out that they are being intolerant of the Christian’s right to free speech and the free exercise of their religion.  They demand tolerance for their right to use public resources to promote their private, religious opinions.

Using the argument of tolerance would effectively silence the liberal response.  Tolerance is, in itself, a simple matter of acknowledging and accommodating differences.  It is blind to moral justification and obligations.  It either “is” or “isn’t.”  Thus, the liberal must either accept being viewed as intolerant in order to argue for removing the crèche or yield to the conservative and become caught in the Liberal Handcuffs of tolerance.

However, tolerance is not a value, it is a response that may or may not be warranted in any given moment.  No one expects us to be tolerant of socially recognized bad behavior.  The bully is not tolerated.  The abuser is not tolerated.  We are intolerant toward those who cause harm to others.  In fact, when we tolerate criminal behavior we become accessories to the crime.

We are expected to tolerate good behavior, even if it is inconvenient or hurtful to others.  We are expected to tolerate a doctor who causes a child to cry when he gives him a vaccination.  We tolerate the limiting of individual rights during a time of war.  So, tolerance is not a good, in and of itself.  It is only a good when it serves a greater good.  It is not a value, it is a behavior.

Therefore, when we tolerate behavior that is more hurtful than helpful, we are, at best, accessories to evil.  To tolerate the bigot we stand against those who are being denied their human rights.  When we tolerate those who would impose their religious teachings with the implied power of government behind them, we are tearing down the wall that separates us from being governed by the church.  Tolerance in the service of intolerance cannot serve the common good.

The next time you hear that the left is just as intolerant as the right, we can agree.  However, we need to take the argument to the next step.  Judge us not by the level of our intolerance, but rather by the object of our intolerance.  Let us be known for those things that we will not tolerate like poverty, discrimination, militarism, and corporate greed.  Then allow the right to be known for the things that they are willing to tolerate.  Things like poverty, discrimination, militarism, and corporate greed.

As a liberal I am more than willing to be called intolerant as long as my intolerance serves the greater good of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

Bob Dees