I celebrate the coming fall, football, perhaps a cool front
soon, perhaps a little more rain. I no
longer am thrilled by the real cold fronts of winter as the barometer and
thermostat of my bones has grown so much more sensitive, but I love the first
little cool nip in the air. Kids are
back in school and everyone is now mindful of the large yellow limousines that
chug and beep and flash transporting precious cargo to and from brick and
mortar learning centers.
And, Voyager has left the solar system and is in
interstellar space! Oh Wow! First human artifact to ever escape our solar
system. Fellow Trekkers will know how
many Star Trek’s were devoted to “V-ger”, the notion that alien life picked up
Voyager, modified it, and sent it out to do harm. Gives me goose bumps that science fiction in
the 1960′s becomes science fact in 2013, not that Voyager has been picked up by
aliens. Yet.
While all these wonderful events transpire a petty dictator
in a mid-eastern state uses chemical warfare against the citizens of his own
country, such citizens being foolish enough to rise up against him. So sad, so tragic, so selfish, such pointless
pain and loss of life. I deeply grieve
for those humans who live in circumstances where their greatest fear is from
their own government. I am appalled by
the actions of this government. I am
fearful of the myriad forces at work within the rebellion to overthrow this
government. We all know that what is
happening is obscene, immoral and wrong.
But attack this nation?
Seek out the storage areas and manufacturing sites of chemical weapons
and send US forces via air to strike them?
Inside a sovereign nation currently ripped by civil war? How could we ever consider such a thing? Do we as a nation absolutely refuse to learn
from past mistakes? Are we so committed
to notions of self that we will repeat over and over and over again the mistakes
of the past that have all led to disaster in the belief that we must intervene
in nations where events are not to our liking or aligned with our business
interests or moral code? How many
Koreas, Viet Nams, Iraqs, and Afganistans must we endure to learn this painful lesson? Evidently a few more.
Attacking Syria should absolutely, totally be off the
table. Attacking Syria is more than foolhardy;
it is a demonstration of our own sense of self-righteousness that the rest of
the world despises. If we are to police
the world then we must enforce laws the world accepts, not our own. Such an attack cannot end well and even if
totally successful will win the animosity of many more nations and people.
I am so disappointed in our President. I have supported him. I yearned for the hope he brought to the
office. I applauded his health care
reform. I have been frustrated by the
intransigence of the opposition who have blocked all his economic reform efforts
while blaming him for lack of economic recovery. And yet I have been appalled by his stance on
educational reform. He has sipped the
Kool Aide of the reformers and left those of us who truly support public
schools with nowhere to turn when both Democrats and Republicans advocate the
same drivel.
Perhaps the Russian solution will work and the risk of chemical
weapons used on a civilian population by their own government will end. We know more civilians have died there by conventional
bullets than chemical weapons so why are we now so upset? Shall we demand that the governmental forces
loyal to the dictator disarm as well? I
think not. The NRA would move in force
to stop on the grounds that we have the right to bear arms, so should the government
of Syria. I am sure they celebrate providing
arms to the rebels.
We have watched the death of millions in outright genocidal
efforts elsewhere and have done nothing.
We know many nations seriously violate our sense of human rights and
liberties and have done nothing. Why
now, why there, why this issue? If I did
not know better I would think Bush were back in office.
So I say to President Obama, find another way to enforce our will on the world. Do not use violence or military might which by its very use decries our claim to noble cause. We should have proposed what the Russians now offer. Duh. Military might? Are you Syriaus?
