Give peace a chance

A trend I’ve noticed lately that has been growing disturbs me greatly.

The calls for increased security, boots on the ground and hunting the terrorists at their home deeply concerns me.

It’s not the killing and the warlike behaviour that gives me pause, but the lack of foresight. By bombing other people, we end up breeding contempt for us.

When your home is destroyed, your children crushed or blown apart, you’re not going to think “Man, I should have stopped my brother from bombing the west.”

No, you’re going to think, “They murdered my children for the actions of someone else. They must pay!”

A person with nothing left to lose is the most dangerous person of them all.

A famous rabbi said this once. “An eye for an eye and the world is blind.”

Our own actions have contributed to all this. Yes, we are not alone to share the blame in all this chaos. However, we must know the history of the whole conflict. When the British divided its empire, they had factions set against each other, constantly causing conflict.

It was badly done and this kind of thinking is what led to great tragedies like Rwanda and Nigeria.

So if constant war is not the solution, what is? That rabbi had a lot of pretty good advice that we should take.

Instead of combat boots on the ground and bombers blasting apart homes, we should be in the Middle East with engineers and diggers on the ground, rebuilding an extensive system of irrigations and canals that brought farming to the deserts of the Middle East.

We should be focused on bringing fresh, clean water to all corners of the Earth. This can be done.

It will be expensive, but it will bring a great return to us all. Lower costs of food, healthier people and above all, peace.

Is this naïve? No, it isn’t. It is hopeful, it is thought out. It is taking that rabbi’s advice and putting it to good use.

Instead of bringing food and bottled water to the deserts, we should bring free flowing water, seed and good soil.

When a person’s belly is full, when that person is weary from working their land and putting food on their table, blood is not on their mind.
We will not be feeding them for a day; we will be giving them the tools they need to feed themselves for all their days. What’s more important? Revenge? Security? Or peace?

Travis Morgan
Whitefish