What we have done, and what we have left undone
The money spent on one day of the Iraq war could buy homes for almost 6,500 families or health care for 423,529 children, or could outfit 1.27 million homes with renewable electricity, according to the American Friends Service Committee, which displayed those statistics on large banners in cities nationwide Thursday and Friday.
The war is costing $720 million a day or $500,000 a minute …
—Washington Post, Saturday, September 22, 2007; Page A11
The U.S. Republic[an] Party always claims to be fiscally responsible. The Religious Right, which even now mostly supports GOP means and ends, acclaims stewardship of God’s creation.
But do the monetary costs of this war, largely being deferred to the next generation, demonstrate fiscal responsibility?
Is committing these funds to an enterprise that is destroying 100,000s of lives — directly via violence done and indirectly via caring-for-others left undone — an example of good stewardship?
What Would Jesus Do?™
Oh, good, an easy one: not what we’re doing.
Most merciful God,
we confess that we have sinned against you
in thought, word, and deed,
by what we have done,
and by what we have left undone.
We have not loved you with our whole heart;
we have not loved our neighbors as ourselves.
We are truly sorry and we humbly repent.—Book of Common Prayer, Morning Prayer
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In order to understand the present you first have to understand the past.
The government in charge of our country couldn’t care less about either.
The truth is, we shouldn’t be focused on removing Bush from power -- but trying to understand how people like him gain power in the first place. There’s a lot more to it than “votes” -- people felt they needed to vote for this man, and where did most of this motivation come from? The media.
— History Sunday September 30, 2007 #