Bread Not Bullets
America has a great opportunity before it. We can change the course of world
affairs by taking a bold step. Whatever the outcome of the current crisis, we
Yanks can choose to either build or destroy.
As a citizen of the United States, residing abroad gives me a unique perspective.
I’m a resident of San Diego spending six months living in my ancestral
home of Scotland.
I have no television, and thus haven’t found myself constantly bombarded
by images of the destruction of the World Trade Center. While not watching with
the millions who witnessed the real-time carnage, I was aware of the events
shortly after they occurred. I didn't need to see them repeated again and again
to feel the act of pure evil involved.
I also haven’t followed the speculation about the perpetrators of this
cataclysm, though I understand there's a desperate call at home for revenge
and a quick fix. In our haste we stand to do more damage than was done by the
original outrage.
Right now American troops are being massed in the Middle East. A great army
stands ready. We have within our grasp weapons of mass destruction that require
no foot soldiers. In an instant we can unleash all the powers of hell upon any
part of this planet we so desire. So can others. Our so-called enemies can just
as readily launch nuclear weapons upon us. The children of the fifties knew
this and that gave way to the peace movement of the sixties and seventies. We
learned. We wanted our world to survive. Up to now it has.
In the destruction of our perceived enemies, we stand to create more martyrs.
The greatest martyr of the Western world is still worshiped around the globe.
We’ll have spawned countless others if we continue in the present course.
People give their lives for their beliefs. They’ll do virtually anything
to protect their families from harm.
Just as history books are filled with “just” crusades, they’re
also filled with misrepresentations. Every nation puts its own perspective on
history. If you control your history, you control your world. Hitler knew that.
So do our contemporary “spin doctors.”
US troops stand poised for action. If the act is war-like, the outcome will
be more war. If the action is peace-like, there will be more peace.
The Afghan people are starving and afraid. The majority of their population
doesn't support the thugs hiding within their borders. They, like us, want shelter
and clothing and a secure future for their children. It’s early October
and the weather is changing. In the United States the last of the heatwaves
has warmed both coasts, but in Scotland and Europe leaves are already changing
color. Soon they’ll fall and cold will descend.
Evil flourishes in empty, cold stomachs. People will do anything to survive,
even join the forces of darkness. America has been painted as the great Satan.
Populations are told we’re devils. If troops come with bullets and bombs,
that position will be confirmed. If, however, visitors come with bread, the
lies will die along with the pangs of hunger.
We have within our grasp a solution. Rather than employing our soldiers in death,
why not task them with life? If they assist humanitarian agencies, we have a
perfect distribution network of skilled workers. Our troops will disprove the
distortions about our country by aiding the population of Afghanistan. Shelters
can be built, and those who call us evil will show themselves for what they
truly are. Our enemies will be destroyed, not with bombs and bullets, but with
tolerance.
Jesus Christ, the world’s most celebrated martyr was also called the prince
of peace. All great religions on earth are based upon the goodness of man and
it’s within that goodness that God resides.
Hugh Peebles
Peebles, Scotland
October 4, 2001
It's not too late...