As a long time lurker and young one, 23 , I've debated whether or not to actually contribute to any discussion, well content on just reading most. This is not a personal diatribe on any one issue, but I may touch on some. I just want to put down my thoughts and ask for honest opinions.
The world bothers me. All the pain and misery evident. All the blissfull ignorance. I hate feeling like being the only one who cares. That which keeps me from the brink are my convictions and belief that a better future are possible, no matter how easy it might be to give up hope.
I resolve to run for office someday. Most likely as a Democrat, but who knows what the future holds. Here are my convictions, or a short list thereof.
When the war started I went into a deep depression. I couldn't believe something so wrong could happen. I stopped going to classes, resulting in the worst semester at college I ever had.
My conviction was that war is wrong. More appropiately murder. For when one man kills another, it is wrong. I did not reach this conclusion from a belief in God, but from my gut, my soul. I wept inside for thoise innocents who would die and are still dying to this day. What would I have everyone to live peacefully.
I joined the Air Force that fall. No mixed feelings about it. I still don't support the war, and though we, the machine, can be responsible for much wrong in the world, we idealy stand for what is right. And I am nothing if not an idealist. My conviction is that defense for those ideals which we hold to be true is right. Freedom, justice, equality. No matter how much we might fumble, trip and even fall, no matter those forces who actively seek to subjagate those ideals, I still believe that they will always be worth fighting for.
We create our laws. If you believe that the authority and origin of thses laws come from God or man, we still write them down and make them binding to ourselves. While we choose to be members of this society, we choose to follow our laws. If we seek to break our laws, we help create chaos. Though I might believe some laws to be unjust, I still think they need to be followed, or changed. This society used to get its strength from that. No one was above the law. If the law doesn't fit, change it, don't break it. I wish the President would understand that, be one always so privledged as he does not see laws the same way. They are meant to be ignored or just signed away if inconveniencing in any way. In the end, I hope we can solve this problem we have with unitary executives. Lets get a President for the people again, not for themselves.
If violence begets violence, an eye for an eye and all that, then what does kindness beget? Kindness is the path to a better world. Our foreign policy should be devoted to aid. We have the power to end world hunger, end poverty, end ignorance. Why do we give more weapons to two countries that would just love to fight it out? Why do we send precision guided bombs to an already well armed nation? If this doe not strike you as idiocy, I just don't know. I truly hope the likes of Bill Kristol wake up someday and wonder, truly, what kind of horror they have been pushing on the world.
Here is a simple exercise in logic. Please help me if its flawed. When the masses of people in the world were uneducated, most of the wealth existed in the coffers of the very few. When education spread, so too did the wealth, encouraging the growth of society. Technological marvels followed. The more educated people, the more growth. So why isn't education one of the most important topics in the world. Why aren't we spending 50 percent of our wealth on education rather than bombs. Education is the key to a better world. Period. Education must be for everyone. Where a high school education was paramount to surviving in the world a few generations ago, a college education is paramount now. College, ney, all of education should be free. Spread education, everything follows.
Well, I know this might have been a little much for some of you, but most of you are probably used to reading personal diatribes. In fact, I have many more convictions, but I'm military and have got to get up early tomorrow. The truth of all this is that I plan on being a politician someday, for I care so much about making my ideals a reality, I will sacrafice myself on the public alter of opinion. I lay myself before you, the masses of those people I know care. Is it worth it? Trying? Caring?