Interesting story that may have some bearing on this
geopolitical environment IMO.
Does Occam's Razor have validity here. Perhaps.
My wife ran into a woman she went to school with some 30+
years ago. This woman was along with a mutual friend. This
woman had brutally abused my wife verbally & physically
when they were school mates. It brought to the surface a
bunch of painful memories for her. When we got home she
confided that she felt quite guilty that she still harbored
so much hate for this person.
Our discussion about this situation was an epiphany for her
regarding the war with Iraq.
Long story short........
I learned a powerful lesson in middle school. After 6+
years of torment, I finally began to stand up to those who
bully & terrorize folks who seek to be peace loving &
tolerant (something most children naturally are). Kind
words & attempts to be tolerant only were met with more
brutality. Neither did avoiding them whenever possible. I
simply got tired of watching the bullies verbally harass,
then frequently move on to physical abuse while I attempted
to be rational & kind toward them. Once I gained a
reputation that I would fight back, the bullying almost
completely stopped.
And yes, I got my ass whooped a few times along the way,
but I never again backed down to verbal & physical abuse
from bullies.
On the other hand, my wife didn't learn that lesson. My
wife never got to the point where she said ENOUGH OF THIS
BULL$HIT! She never could understand that some folks simply
didn't see the world through her eyes (a pacifist, peace
loving, tolerant individual). With one exception (at my
insistence) she never stood up to the bullies. She
eventually learned that tolerance & returning kindness to
their brutality simply did not work.
In the end she avoided them but they relentlessly tormented
her until she graduated high school.
There was one time I made my wife (then my girlfriend)
stand up to one particularly relentless & vicious bully. I
hounded her & told her how I used to be just like her, but
the tormenting wouldn't stop. I finally got her to try
standing up to this one bully.
My wife, who abhors violence, cornered this bully alone &
confronted her directly although my wife was visibly
nervous & her voice quaked badly. That was met with threats
& taunts from the bully. My wife then jacked this girl up
against the lockers & threatened her in the most awful
terms I have ever seen her use. It scared the bejesus out
of the bully. That girl never ever taunted or bullied my
wife ever again. In fact, after a few months they actually
spoke to each other civilly from that point forward.
I have absolutely no regrets about my school life. My wife,
at 48, still has scars & horrible regrets.
I don't see very much difference to the realities of the
school yard & current global events. After our discussion
the other night, my wife now has a much better
understanding of the need to resort to the use of force
when endless diplomacy, debate & tolerance fails. Some
bullies see us as weak when all we are willing to use are
mere words to stop their horrific ways.
IMO, Saddam made a terrible mistake with the Bush
Administration. This Adminiustration was willing to stand
up to him after all else failed. |
