{"id":533,"date":"2015-11-15T15:21:44","date_gmt":"2015-11-15T20:21:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gilcanrun.com\/?p=533"},"modified":"2015-11-15T15:21:44","modified_gmt":"2015-11-15T20:21:44","slug":"it-is-sunday-i-get-a-little-church-y-i-had-to-say-this","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.gilcanrun.com\/?p=533","title":{"rendered":"It is Sunday, I get a little Church-y, I had to say this"},"content":{"rendered":"

So I ran<\/a> and I’m feeling pretty good. I may need to put in a few more miles this week, we’ll see how I’m feeling. But I cannot escape these feelings I’ve had this weekend.
\nBefore I ran, one of my old co-workers from the “liberal media conspiracy” posted on her professional facebook page something about how we need to be afraid of the terrorists, and kill them because they would kill us and our families if they had the chance. I was so upset about this I said something facetious. I was met by a private message about I should talk to victim’s families of ISIS (Heretofore always referred to as Daesh) or Nazis. Just real stupid stuff. So the argument is we should be afraid of people who want us to be afraid, because somehow that will work, giving them what they want. People don’t realize that Daesh, don’t care if they live or die. They want an unending cycle of this. So being afraid of them and either doing nothing, or going to war isn’t going to work. Going to war is, in fact, what got us to this point in the first place. Decades and decades of propping up this dictator over that dictator in order to get the best deal for whatever resource the imperialist power doing the dealing was looking for, that’s how we’re in this mess, make no mistake about it.
\nSo being afraid, and marching to war doesn’t help. Doing nothing, well how well did that work out for Germany from 1933-1945? not well right? I mean we didn’t have to kill almost all the Germans, because most of the Germans were only guilty of being so afraid for their lives they did nothing, and nobody blames them for that, but we all blame the Syrians, Iraqis, Lebanese, Jordanians, etc., doing the same thing today. Even those who went off to war, in by far the most justified war of imperialism ever undertaken by people, were still scarred and damaged by it. We talk about substance abuse and suicide among modern veterans, we act like these things didn’t happen before Vietnam or the Gulf Wars, but the fact is these things have been happening for a very long time. Both veteran substance abuse, and veteran suicide are things that have personally touched my family. Those veterans were World War 2 veterans. So if their cause was so great and just, why? Maybe because it is completely unnatural for a human being to kill another, regardless of circumstance.
\nSo basically, doing nothing and meeting imperialism with imperialism isn’t going to work. We know it’s not, this is the same war that’s been going on for over 100 years now, there are fits and starts, but it’s all the same war. The only thing that is going to stop it, is the concerted decision to stop it. The decision to not cower, but also to not fight. The decision to forgive, the decision that understands you may lose your life, loved ones may lose their lives to those who aren’t so quick to forgive, who truly believe in bringing about their empire, regardless of what side of the battle they are on. But to actually link arms when the army comes to march into town and say “I will not fight you, but I will not accept your way of life, I will not allow you to impose your will upon me, I am free, and I wish to remain free, to live as a brother or sister, not a subject or a slave. This is my life, this is my freedom, you can take one if you insist, but you will never have the other.”
\nBecause honestly, those crying out for war now, what will they do to stop me from being peaceful? They will threaten me, they will try to sell me fear, and when that doesn’t work, they will call for me to be jailed, to be shunned, maybe even to be killed. Because they are no different from the Daesh. Daesh have killed hundreds of thousands more of the people they would wish to rule, other Muslims (I argue Daesh are no more Muslims than the KKK or the Nazis are Christians (there are still Nazis about make no mistake). Their power deserves no legitimacy either. I may die in this quest, but I will live free, because if I am not free, if I am not on the path that I know is right and just, peaceful and loving, compassionate and forgiving, then I am already dead inside. So if you come at me with fear, with hate, with violence, online I may block you out. I am very clear on my understanding that my way is not easy, it may mean suffering, it may mean death, but in the end it also means a lasting peace is possible. I know this, I am secure in this information, and there is no argument anywhere that will ever change me from this, because I know this is truth. I don’t need ridiculous lectures in fear-mongering, I’ve heard it all, I’m not buying, I never was, and I never will be.
\nSo to that argument I will say this, even though I am a terrible Catholic, I am one. I am not one prone to quote scripture, but this one verse stuck in my head while running:<\/p>\n

“…For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me, naked and you clothed me, ill and you cared for me, in prison and you visited me. Then the righteous will answer him and say, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? When did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? When did we see you ill or in prison, and visit you?’ And the king will say to them in reply, ‘Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me.’…”<\/em> -Matthew 25<\/p>\n

Being so many consider the USA a “Christian nation” then are we not commanded to treat even the Daesh, who are certainly among the least of our brothers, as we would treat Jesus? Is that not the entire essence of being “Christian”? The funny thing is, all faiths have parables like this. You may say “But Jesus wouldn’t behead somebody.” That may be true, but that doesn’t mean Jesus would behead them in return either. In fact he was quite clear on that, right above, he says what you do to these least of my brothers, you did for me, later on in the passage he admonishes those who hadn’t done these things, and casts them out and tells them that what they did not do for the least of these they didn’t do for him either. It is very clear.
\nSince the old way isn’t working, and hasn’t been working for a long time, regardless of how you feel about things spiritually. Maybe we need a new approach, maybe it’s time to try something that may actually heal, that may make humanity stronger. That’s not to say there won’t be great suffering, there most certainly will be. But we already know the unending path that will continue to unfold and replay in front of us if we continue our current heading. This is the last I will say about all this. Just something to think about for today.<\/p>\n

Usual sign-off withheld.<\/p>\n

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