Lock and Load

"We forget the principle of non-violence, which is the essence of all religions.  The doctrine of arms stands for irreligion." -'Satyagraha - Not Passive Resistance' (H.), Ramchandra Varma, Mahatma Gandhi, about 2 September 1917 (from The Essential Writings of Mahatma Gandhi edited by Raghavan Iyer)

I am no saint.  I grew up playing Cowboys and Indians (the Native American kind) with plastic guns.  I owned plastic armies of men and tanks.  I have played video games where gun mayhem was the chief objective.

As a boy, I went to a summer camp with a shooting range.  I enjoyed target shooting and was pretty good at it.  My father hunted game birds with a shotgun and bought me a gun and took me on a number of hunting outings.  I never shot anything, although, I would have if the opportunity had ever arisen.  In the Air Force, I was trained to shoot an M-16 rifle.  I was a very good shot and received a Marksman's ribbon.

I am not squeamish about guns, although, I don't own any.  And while I cannot conceive of any reason why someone would feel they needed to own a gun, I have no desire to tell someone that they cannot own a gun.

A new law was recently passed in one state (Iowa) of the United States.  The law makes it permissible to carry a gun out in the open.  In fact, in the United States, only seven states do not permit some level of 'open carry.'  In twelve states, there is no licensing or permit needed to carry a gun in the open.  The only restriction are to criminals and the mentally ill.  Many Americans think this makes them safer.

We have a saying in this country, "Guns don't kill people, people kill people."  This is certainly true, however, guns make it much, much, much easier.  An impulsive act, a fit of anger, a strange thought, a slight misjudgment, can lead almost instantly to someone's death if a gun is strapped to a hip or on the seat of a car.

Yes, people can be stabbed with a knife, but this act has to be up close and personal.  It takes time to stab someone.  Even in a crowd.  Not so a gun.

Bang, bang, bang.  Three dead.  One second.

Hope there were no innocent bystanders.

I just can't see Jesus "packin' heat."

"The End of the World as We Know It"

"I hold that he who invented the atom bomb has committed the gravest sin in the world of science.  The only weapon that can save the world is non-violence.  Considering the trend of the world, I might appear a fool to everyone; but I do not feel sorry for it.  I rather consider it a great blessing that God did not make me capable of inventing the atom bomb." - Talk with Englishmen (G.), Biharni Komi Agman, pp. 253-4 (from The Essential Writings of Mahatma Gandhi edited by Raghavan Iyer)

I am not capable of inventing the atom bomb.  I am, however, capable of loading an atom bomb on an airplane, strapping in the pilots, starting the engines, and taxiing the plane out of the bunker it was stored in, and I have done just that.

The birth of my biological daughter and son were paid for because I could do that.  My home loan was cheaper and my loan was guaranteed because I could do that.  My health insurance is paid for because I could do that.  I can be buried in a hero's grave because I did that.

I have practiced the end of the world, many, many times.

At the time, I thought my motives were good.  I was not a patriot protecting my country, I was a husband supporting his family.

I didn't think I had any other options at the time, and I am not ashamed that I made that choice.

But the sin is a heavy weight.

A heavy weight that has opened my eyes to what I believe to be the true path; non-violence.

I Voted for Richard Nixon, pt. 1

"My bent is not political but religious and I take part in politics because I feel that there is no department of life which can be divorced from religion and because politics touch the vital being of India almost at every point"  Letter to G.S. Arundale, Young India, 6 Aug. 1919

In 1972, having just left home to go to college, I registered and voted for Milhouse.  My father was a dyed in the wool Republican and I respected and feared my father.  I was afraid of everything.  Voting Republican was an attempt to put up a bulwark against fear.

After this election, I fell in with a bad crowd - bridge players.  I spent the four years learning the finer points of how to squeeze RHO to unblock his queen of hearts.  I lost track of politics.

Then came the military and politics had a new urgency for me.  Politic decisions affected my paycheck.  Political decisions could end my life.  An bent winged bug sucker (F-4E Phantom) with my name spray painted on the cockpit could fly away with a nuclear bomb to help end the world.  I had a baby girl.

My views changed.  Unfortunately, politics in America had not.

A young Englishman (yes, that Dudley Moore) is talking to a friend about his upcoming visit to America:

“Paxton Whitehead: They (the United States) have inherited our two party system.

Dudley Moore: How does that work?

Paxton Whitehead: Oh, well, they have the Republican Party which is the equivalent of our Conservative Party, and they have the Democratic Party which is the equivalent of our Conservative Party.” – Beyond the Fringe, 1962

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FuZ46v5SftI 

I just couldn't vote for Defense Policies that had the end of the world as a backup plan and Republican or Democrat, that was and remains our country's fall back position.

Collateral Damage

"We should understand that the less violence a religion permits, the more is the truth it contained in it."  The Essential Writings of Mahatma Gandhi, edited by Raghavan Iyer, p 103

Translations of the Bible vary on what exactly is meant by the Sixth Commandment.  Many scholars say that the intent was not "thou shall not kill," but rather, "thou shall not murder."  The difference makes killing in self-defense or defense of kingdom or kin acceptable.

Faced with the choice of killing or being killed, I don't know how I would react.  If someone attacked my wife or daughters, I would defend them.  I would like to think that if a neighbor was attacked I would go to their aid.  But what of a total stranger?

And what kind of aid would I provide?  What kind of defense would I put up?  I don't own a gun, but their is a baseball bat next to my bed and on more than one occasion when a noise has waked me in the night, I have taken it with me when I investigated.

And then there is the whole question of the food I eat?  Is it murder to eat a steak for dinner?  I know that I didn't kill the cow, but the cow died for my sins.  I'm trying to reduce the meat I eat, but I'm not vegetarian yet.

But what if the commandment really is "thou shall not kill?"  I don't see any 'if, ands, or buts' in that statement.

My money supports the killing of thousands in far away lands.  People who intend no harm to me, my kin, and my country .  Women and children caught in the crossfire.  I am responsible for their deaths.  Directly responsible.

"Kicking the tires and lightin' the fires"

"My patriotism is all-embracing and I should reject that patriotism which sought to mount upon the distress or the exploitation of other nationalities." Speech at a Public Meeting, Rangoon, 9 March 1929

I wrote in my very first blog post that I was a veteran.  I am a veteran because Ronald Reagan made all Cold-War military personnel veterans and I am thankful for that.  I have a VA loan on my house.  Tomorrow, I go for my first orientation and examination at a local VA clinic.

Despite President Reagan, I did not fight in any war.  We were at peace.  The Soviet Union was collapsing.  My service was six years of repairing and launching an ancient, but stalwart aircraft on a daily basis, practicing for the end of the world.

The Air Force taught me a lot and I am proud to have served.

Does that make me a patriot?
I feel lucky to live in the United States of America. 
I am rich beyond much of the world's wildest dreams. 
I have leisure to contemplate and write about philosophy. 
I have choices about how I live my life. 
Survival is not my top priority.
I vote.  I vote relatively faithfully.  Except for Obama, I have voted Green Party since 1984.   I voted for Obama so that every African-American child could have the same dreams as every other child in America, not because I believed he would bring something new to the White House.  I will go back to voting Green Party.  I remind my fellow Democrats and Republicans that "One definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result."

I am sad for my country.  Given a great gift, we squander it.  We mount upon the distress of other nations.  We exploit other nationalities.

We invest our treasure in guns and we reap the interest from our investment.

Am I a patriot?