A fair set
of questions. “On Easter?” That was part of the point. Even on Easter, even in
the new creation the prophet imagines, we have enemies. There are serpents in
the grass that will have to eat dust and die. It’s the way it was and is and will
be to come. Inevitably.
Inevitably, perhaps, but not necessarily.*
Or, so I would like to believe.
“ . . . the
35 . . . they killed in Brussels?” On “they,” see above: serpents in the grass.
Let them eat dust and die. If they don’t die, let’s kill them. To paraphrase
Jesus, “Because they kill us, let’s kill them. Or: before they kill us, let’s
kill them.” But, yes, I should have written something about
Brussels, a lament. I should have hung a Belgian flag from the window of my apartment,
or put a Belgian decal on the back bumper of my car. Or: I should have written something – it didn’t matter that I have
no understanding whatsoever of the motives of the bombers; that’s no excuse,
because I have almost as little understanding of our motives in killing Abd
ar-Rahman Mustafa al-Qaduli.
He called
back not minutes after he’d hung up. “Are you a damn pacifist or something?”
Well, I’m against killing (period). It’s
not that, as in the case in point, I don’t see how killing someone can’t solve a
problem. But it’s never a good solution. Never.
_______________
* The best explanation I’ve heard of the
difference. The good fathers of the village of Sundry put a four-way stop at its
lone crossroads after a car and a truck collide there. Now there need never – it is not
necessary that there ever – be another collision, if everyone drive with extreme care, taking account of the
conditions of road and weather, and obeying the four signs. But inevitably there
will be one.
No comments:
Post a Comment