I grew up reading comic books wanting to be a superhero. Comics taught me that those who speak the truth are heroes, all the rest are liars.

Saturday, April 21, 2007

War Is Not Funny!

I wanted to address the painful moment at the State DFL Central Meeting on Saturday that really brought home to all of us, War is not funny.

I am strongly opposed to the Iraq war and committed to peace. I share a lot of frustration and emotions regarding how the media and our representatives haven't dealt with the Iraq war. There have been plenty of times when I want to stand up and scream (and maybe I should have). So what happened is more than understandable. The longer this war drags on, expect to see more outburst because it's insane to do otherwise.

I want peace. Most Democrats want peace as do many, many others. So the goal is the same...but the road each of us may travel to reach peace will vary. Unfortunately, as this war drags on, as the death toll mounts, many in the peace movement are losing patience and hope. The outburst during Ellison's speech was a result of the shear frustration of knowing the war continues and wanting it to end.

Should MN Rep. Keith Ellison have voted the way he did or not? While I see both sides of the same peace coin, I can also say, Keith comes closer to representing the peace movement in his one vote than any of the GOPers and Democrats that voted for the war and it's funding in the last four years! Peace is closer now due to his vote than it's been before. Hopefully it is the start of the end.

War is not funny. It's horrible... worse than last week's school mass murder . Compare those 30 students and teachers to over 3,500 and then the hundred of thousand of civilians that nobody seems to count. War is full of countless stories of death and lost. Anyone touched by war will never be the same. It leaves scars and pains that never heal. It rips apart countries, states, communities, families, individuals and all that is good in life. No, War is not funny.

But regardless of the situation, the time or the conditions, people do need to laugh...to find comfort where they can..not to laugh at, but find humor in everyday occurrences. I would never laugh at war, but without daily laughter I would lose my humanity and peace in the process. Such is the scale of the horror of war and our inability to make the public aware of it.

If I had one message it would be, don't lose your passion, don't put aside your beliefs, don't walk away from the rest of us trying to travel our roads to peace even if it's not as fast a route as yours. Understand that we sometimes laugh because the alternative can be so painful for us to bear emotionally...and remember we love you as our sister. It's okay to lose your temper, to rail against the daily acceptance of this war. But remember not to judge us so harshly if we laugh once in awhile trying as best we can to cope with all the daily nuisances of living while this war grinds away at our souls. Forgive us our momentary lapses, and yes you are correct, War is not funny.

This is just my take...remember Democrats so there's plenty of opinions, like Charlie Underwood or Fred Marcus, both at mnblue.

Peace,
What difference does it make to the dead, the orphans, and the homeless, whether the mad destruction is wrought under the name of totalitarianism or the holy name of liberty and democracy? -Gandhi

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