Tread lightly on the things of earth

Last week I mentioned U.S. Congressman Dennis Kucinich’s MLK Day speech, Peace as a Civil Right. Today I find Rep. Kucinich’s swearing-in speech to the U.S. 108th Congress on January 5, 2003. Its spirit triggered my dreaming of a better world.

On the one hand, you can have a vision for the U.S. and its role in the world like that of the current U.S. administration (GWB, SOTU, Jan. 29, 2003):

And all nations should know: America will do what is necessary to ensure our nation’s security.

We’ll be deliberate, yet time is not on our side. I will not wait on events while dangers gather. I will not stand by as peril draws closer and closer. The United States of America will not permit the world’s most dangerous regimes to threaten us with the world’s most destructive weapons.

Our war on terror is well begun, but it is only begun. This campaign may not be finished on our watch, yet it must be and it will be waged on our watch.

On the other hand, you can have a vision for the U.S. like that of Rep. Kucinich:

The America I envision seeks world unity instead of unilateralism. It gains its power through being the first to help, not the first to strike. It extends itself to the peoples of the world to lift their burden. It is an America, which when asked for help, dispenses bread instead of bombs, medical assistance instead of missiles, and food instead of fissile materials.

My theological perspective: The former vision serves the Lord of Chaos (telltale signs: fear, greed, destruction, domination). The latter vision serves the Lord of Life (refer to, say, the Gospels).

Even to me, who sees nearly every choice in endless shades of gray, this is not very complicated. But it is very difficult:

You cannot serve two masters. (Matthew 6:24)
Choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve. (Joshua 24:15)