I heard yesterday that President Obama ordered another 30,000 troops into Afghanistan. Frankly, I am not surprised. I have probably written too much on my blog already about politics (“Creating our Own Kingdoms“) and “Why I don’t vote” and other such controversial things (“Post-election thoughts” and “Fear-Mongering“… I try to stay out of it and focus on what is happening in my local community and how that can change the world at large (which is entirely possible if we can tune in to the message of Christ and other universal teachings of love and peace).
But this?!? Seriously…
This is why I chose not to vote for any political personality, right or left, republican or democrat… I do not need to choose the lesser of the two evils… and I do not have to divide my allegiance or be disappointed by the choice of any president or political leader. For those of us who are seeking a world of love, peace, and unity, we will always be disappointed by a political leader of our choosing. Always… Peter Block writes in Community: The Structure of Belonging,
We love our habit of dependency and accept the culture of retribution because it reinforces the case for strong leaders – “strong” being the code word for autocratic, a message our culture is increasingly willing to accede to. We are fascinated with our leaders. We speak endlessly, both in the public conversation and privately, about the rise and fall of leaders. The agenda this sustains is that leaders are cause and all others are effect. That all that counts are what leaders do… That they are foreground while citizens, followers, players, and anyone else not in a leadership position is background. This is a deeply patriarchal agenda, and it is this love of leaders that limits our capacity to create an alternative future…
The effect of buying in to this view of leadership is that it lest citizens off the hook and breeds citizen dependency and entitlement. It undermines a culture where each in accountable for their community… In its own way, it reinforces individualism, putting us in the stance of waiting for the cream to rise, wishing for a great individual to bring light where there was darkness…
If we do not change the way citizens come together, if we do not shift the context under which we gather and do not change the methodology of our gatherings, then we will have to keep waiting for great leaders, and we will never step up to the power and accountability that is within our grasp.
I can no longer speak out without offering my own commitment to making a change for the future, for my children and their children. Protesting does not seem to make a lasting change as it is devoid of relationship and focused on fixing the perceived problem rather than living into a different future. I recognize that to lessen war, there needs to be less people who will accept war as an option… less in the military and less in the government. What I know I can do now is to begin raising and teaching new generations to have an abhorrence to war. That’s right…
We must raise generations of children who abhor the concept of war, who do not even see why killing someone for their ideals would make any sense whatsoever. We must encourage our communities and our children to be far more used to love than competition, vengeance, retribution, violence, or slander. It will happen slowly, unfortunately, but slowly is often the best and most long lasting way. It is the way of subversion.
