One Parent's Dream

I found this shirt in a second hand store.  My son
volunteered to pose in it for me. 

Let us be the powerful parents of our nation and raise up a new way right here and right now!  A way of peace and prosperity. 

We the parents of the United States of America regard the intention of our government to violently attack Syria because it is using chemical weapons to be an absurd and ignorant response to people in need.  

If Americans consider themselves to be the most powerful entity in this situation with Syria, let us then be like parents and less like police.  We would then be responsible for soothing the hearts of all involved using nonviolent means.  If not, we run the risk of becoming responsible for the deaths of our own children.  The cycle of violence and likelihood of retaliation is well documented!  NONVIOLENT use of power brings all Americans closer to safety.

Parenting has changed over the years.  When we happen upon two children fighting and one has clearly suffered, we do not begin beating the aggressor to teach them not to do violence.  This is considered child abuse.  We use our position of power to comfort and protect the one in need.  We speak and act with calm clarity to the other until true and lasting peace is achieved.  Violence only grows anger in the hearts of our children.  Nonviolent parenting is creating social change.  

As parents, we know that what we do is closely watched.  Powerful solutions to life's challenges are being learned from our actions.  When we are violent to our children, they in turn are violent in the world.  The world is watching America because we are powerful beyond measure.  The military power of the United States of America has been and is currently still responsible for the destruction of the land and livelihood of countless beings in other countries less powerful than us.  

All beings on this Earth are children of God and deserve to be treated with reverence.  We all want our families to be safe from harm.  Of these two truths we are certain.  Parents now know that beating our children does not teach them to behave, it teaches them to be afraid.  Fearful children only want to become more powerful to escape the feeling of humility and pain inflicted on them by the very people who are in this world to protect them.  If we are the powerful parents of the world’s nations, Syrians are our children.  The United States of America intends to violently attack Syria to stop violence from occurring in that nation.   If we do this, how will we ever understand how such atrocities came to be inflicted upon its own people?  Destroying their infrastructure will surely cause a cascade of nightmarish suffering for all of the people of Syria.  American parents for social change know there is a solution worth waiting for. 

None of us are free of violent acts when it is done in our name. 
We cannot bring more fear and hatred to our people by choosing violence as a means of healing the wounds of others when we are responsible for inflicting so many of them ourselves.  Let us be the powerful parents of our nation and raise up a new way right here and right now!  Parents of America, we are a powerful nation of people who survive, not by bringing more fear and injury to our children, but by acting with truth and gentle strength to bring about long-term change.  

(Real ideas for non-violence in Syria? See tomorrows post "Perfect Harmony")

Learn more:  Military Options in Syria
                                 War Is Not The Answer
                                 Phyllis Bennis: U.S. Ignoring a Diplomatic Track?