“The logic of power demand[s] that triggers be pulled. It has no room for humanistic concerns and for the reasons of the heart. And how shall one solve this problem? How see that the killing goes on, without inner resistance, without “negative emotional reactions,” without a guilty conscience? How transform a painful experience into a pleasant or at least endurable one? How totally adjust the consciousness of man to the logic of power?”
“We dream of peace. This is something new, for in the past we have thought victories more important. What we really loved was the death of our enemies. This is the secret hidden under the fanfare of military parades and marches. They are liturgies of death, and the fascination they have exercised over us is an indication of how committed we have been to the worship of death.”
–Rubem Alves, Tomorrow’s Child
“Dragged a black Sgt named Pitt from under flaming Jeep overturned on Hwy. 3. His hands burned off. Kept asking if Jesus would come. ‘Will he? Will he?’ Over and over, repeating. I told him, By and by.”
From the journal of Major Milton Felder, USAF
April 9, 1969
My Lai, South Vietnam”
–Thomas S. Klise, The Last Western
“The greatest purveyor of violence in the world (today) is my own government.”
–Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
you would think the penny would have dropped by now but still we press on meeting violence with violence. Kyrie eleison. Lovely reflection Heather
If I could only rid my own heart of violence, we might really start getting somewhere! Thanks, Stephen….