So, earlier in the week, I saw a bumper sticker that said: "An eye for an eye will leave the whole world blind."
The phrase "An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth" is attributed to the book of Exodus in the bible. While I'm not Jewish, and I am not a Christian, it seems to me that the bible mostly discourages us from following most of our urges. What strikes me about this phrase in Exodus is the fact that it seems to do just the opposite, since I can't think of anything more natural than to want to retaliate against those who commit transgressions against us.
It's been a tough nearly ten years in this little world of ours. We're just a month away from the tenth anniversary of losing more than three thousand souls in the terror attacks on 9/11. Those attacks were allegedly perpetrated against us because of our wayward western lifestyle. And our response--to avenge ourselves for the attack upon us. An eye for an eye.
In the moment, it felt so right for us to go after the bad guys--to go after Bin Laden, Al-Qaeda and the Taliban. What could be more justified than blood for blood--life for life. Nearly 7,500 American and Coalition fighters have died fighting the Afghan and Iraq wars over the last 10 years. That number doesn't include the number of veterans of these wars who have suffered so greatly from post traumatic stress disorder and have taken their own lives--these are casualties of war as well. And there are many thousands who have been so injured that while they are alive, the lives they lived before are gone forever.
It's hard to find any kind of reliable, accurate source of information about the number of Afghan and Iraqui casualties there have been since the War on Terror began. One statistic I saw estimated the number at more than 900,000. That's about half the population of the Kansas City Metro Area where I live. Can you imagine half the people in your city being gone? I can't.
In the beginning, it felt like we were doing some good. We went into Afghanistan to rid its people of the oppressive control of the Taliban and hopefully to make the country inhospitable to dangerous militant groups like Al-Qaeda. We freed women from the burqa and helped young girls obtain an education legally. I was all about the "girl power." I really thought we could "win."
As we start to look to the horizon and consider withdrawing our troops from Afghanistan, our great fears are being realized. The Taliban is trying to regain its foothold. The Afghan government is corrupt. The most reliable source of income for many is the poppy trade, and a lot of people have begun to wonder if things weren't more secure and reliable when strong militant groups like the Taliban were in charge.
Before we invaded Iraq, Jeph and I were sitting in a pub in Blarney, Ireland. While having dinner, we were overhearing the discussion of an Irishman and a couple of Australians about the prospect of our invasion and essentially how terrible Americans were for supporting such action. Jeph and I didn't support the invasion of Iraq, and luckily we had the opportunity to get involved in the discussion to share our views. Our passionate lack of support for the war in Iraq didn't prevent it from happening. What's crazy to me is that we might actually have done some good there, and we may actually be able to leave without that country being dragged back down into the mire.
But I worry. For any small amount of good we may have done, what have we gained for ourselves? We are still hated by many in the Middle East. Militant groups and individuals are still interested in launching attacks against us. And as we are dealing this week with the deaths of 30 servicemen in a helicopter shot down by the Taliban last weekend, I wonder, how many more people have to die in a war we don't seem to be able to win?
Wouldn't it be great if everyone wanted democracy and people everywhere shared in equal rights? As much as I think it would be, I also start to wonder why we think we can change other nations. People in countries like Egypt and Tunisia lived under oppressive leadership for decades, and because those countries posed no threat to us, we left dictators in place while people suffered. Without our intervention, the people of Egypt and Tunisia stood up for themselves and demanded their freedom--and they got it. Syrians and Libyans are struggling for the same freedom even now. It seems to me that the better course of action than intervention is to support people who are standing up for themselves. Peaceful protest leading to freedom seems to make more sense than people killing each other for power.
Unfortunately, peaceful protest can also be co-opted by those with nefarious intent. As businesses and police cars have been burning in the streets of London, Manchester and Birmingham, it's also clear that sometimes people don't even really know what it is they are fighting for. What started out as a peaceful demonstration of discontent about a man shot by the police turned into an excuse for bored, lawless youth to perpetrate violent crimes, torch businesses and loot. It seems that in the case of England, an eye for an eye has left many people blind.
The other night I was watching an interview with Bono and Somali rapper, poet and musician K'naan. They were discussing the plight of Somalis and others suffering from famine in the Horn of Africa. Anderson Cooper brought up the possible perception that people might have about Somalia after our efforts to assist them in the early nineties failed so miserably. Why would we want to make an effort now? It is easy to turn a blind eye when your outstretched hand has been bitten before. But as Bono, K'naan and some media outlets are starting to show us, we are turning a blind eye to more than half a million who are dying from hunger and disease--mostly children.
Again, I confess, I'm not Jewish or Christian, so the teachings of the bible aren't a mandate for me. That said, there is one man who agreed that we should turn our heads--we should turn them as we are turning our other cheek. In Matthew 5:39, Jesus is to have said that we shouldn't resist evil and that when we are struck on the right cheek, we should turn and offer our left to be struck as well.
Jeph, my atheist husband, has frequently said something over the years that is in much the same vein: "good for evil." When someone harms you, you should immediately offer something positive to them in return. For someone who views religion as wholly useless and nothing more than a fairy tale, it seems to me that he shares the moral compass of that simple Jewish Rabbi who many believe to have been their savior.
It hurts to see sometimes. The images of children with potbellies, flies and sunken eyes are no less horrifying to me today than they were when Ethiopia was suffering horrible droughts and famine in the eighties. The images of flag-draped caskets carrying sons, husbands and fathers home to be put in the ground are also heartbreaking. Seeing the senseless and blind violence of hyped up youth in a nation known for its civility only brings a sense of the world being deeply troubled and out of control.
I would love it if I couldn't see any of these things, but I favor humanity, and I don't want to go blind. Hit me or do what you will, I'm not willing to lose for the simple pleasure of hitting you back.
http://youtu.be/ykQRkgB-EXQ
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