Fort Wayne's most prolific pacifist has our guest column slot in tonight's paper:
Have we learned nothing from history? We have had thousands of years of civilized life on planet earth and still resort to war to solve our problems. Dr. Karl Menninger, the famous psychiatrist, wrote that we should outlaw war as we once outlawed cannibalism. He wrote, “War is a massive, organized campaign of destructiveness. All behaviors ordinarily sanctioned as criminal and/or sinful are suddenly sanctioned — murder, mayhem, arson, robbery, deceit, trespassing, sabotage, vandalism and cruelty.”
Here we are — at the dawn of the 21st Century. We have sent men to the moon and back safely. Our technology allows us instant communication with the rest of the world. But we are still bedeviled by the wars that dominate our foreign policy and politics and consume our resources, which are needed for constructive purposes. The words, which still haunt me, are “What a waste.”
Yes, how terrible that we can't just wave a magic wand and make war -- or poverty or hunger or disease or all suffering -- disappear. The best we can do is make the most improvements we can in our own spheres of influence -- "brighten the corner where you are" might seem like a thoughtless cliche, but it's pretty close to the truth.
Who will have the courage to stand up and shout, “Enough of this madness?” It might not be politically correct, but it would be the right thing to do.
Plenty of individuals have had exactly that kind of courage, and if the number of pacifists keeps growing, they will be noticed as a movement. But it's harder for a nation or body politic to co
