Taking A Time Out

I am an American citizen.  At one time, I considered becoming a Japanese citizen and living in Japan for the rest of my life with my family and Japanese husband.  My friends were Japanese, my food was Japanese, my home was Japanese.

One of the things I enjoyed the most about

Original is from
Life Of Man

living in Japan was the awareness of the communally agreed upon rules of conduct.  I recall experiencing harmony on many occasions.  

During this time, I was taken to the city of Hiroshima by a good friend, Kazuko.  When I walked up to the entrance of the site of the memorial of the epicenter of the atom bomb dropped in 1945, I was approached by activists.  I was asked to tell the United States government to pay money for the suffering caused to the people of Hiroshima.

I said, "It was a WAR!"  I had learned that anything goes in times of war.  Defining the parameters of war only required that the "bad" country had done "bad" things. That makes it okay to do anything required to stop them from doing more "bad" things.  I thought that the deaths caused by the atom bomb were a good trade for ending a world war.

By Glee 2012: Acrylic on canvas

This perspective holds dear the rationalization that having the most powerful destructive capability in the world brings peace.  This works well if the owner of the most powerful force is compassionate and wise.

How can humans keep a powerful weapon from being used again in the future?  Once a weapon is birthed, we cannot un-birth it.  We cannot return it to "nothing". What do we do with it?

Make certain we each have a nuclear bomb.  Then we are all equally powerful.  And compassionate and wise?  Oops. What about the folks who don't have one?  Well, they can sit under the safety of the ones who do, like small chicks under a mother hen.  A big mean mother hen.  Oh, wait.  She's not mean, she's only protecting her brood.  Let's not go after the chickens.  Or the mothers for that matter. Hmmm.  Mothers.  Maybe we should refer to them as bears, instead of chickens.  Are we getting off track here with all of these analogies?  Let's face it, analogies make this nasty subject a bit more palatable.

Really, seeing what happened to the people of Hiroshima broke me into a million pieces.  Pieces of sadness that can never be put back together.  I don't talk about it very much.  But I feel it constantly.  I feel a lot more, honestly, of everything.  Life, you see, is precious.  I wake up every day with joy and gratitude because I have seen an example of the extent of our ability as humans to create utter darkness in the name of peace.  It seems like dropping a nuclear bomb on Hiroshima goes against the commonly agreed upon code of conduct in war.

No one ever punished the United States for using nuclear weapons on men women and children of Japan.  Yes, Japan did some terrible things.  This cannot be forgotten.  But, the US certainly upped the bar for what constitutes power.

If the international community, then in shambles,  had punished America, or the governance of America, would things be different now?  Could we have banned the use of nuclear weapons?  Would we have had the cold war?  Would we have set up boundaries for new countries in the Middle East?  Would Syria exist and be protected by Iran and Russia?  And how can America protect the people of Syria now that sarin gas has been used to kill women and children?  Can sarin gas be treated like a weapon of mass destruction?  Or is it a whole other ball of wax?

9 Questions About Syria You Were Too Embarrassed To Ask 

by Max Fisher Washington Post 8/29

Wait, what was the Geneva Convention and what does it have to do with Syria?  

Find out here:
Wiki Geneva Conventions
Did you read it? At least some of it?

So, the way the international community keeps power balanced is by recognizing universally that a certain kind of weapon stinks!  We all agree not to do certain things that stink, but it's okay to fight. Especially if it is a civil war. You know, like a football game.  If a little bit of hurt comes out of it, it's okay.  A win comes out of playing by the rules.  All in good fun? Perfect harmony and we all go home and heal from our day in combat.  No hard feelings.  Yeah, right.

I think with nuclear weapons, it's fairly well understood that dropping one on the Middle East today would not be a good solution.  We've seen what's possible and it stinks.  But, if you'll notice, the United States is currently and has recently committed many of the acts considered Grave Breaches in countries and situations where America feels required to protect and defend.  Protective Power as agreed upon in the Geneva Convention.  How did we get from "protection" to "punishment"?  The United States abides by this convention when it serves us and we do not when it does not serve us.

Maybe this explains the use of Agent Orange in Vietnam.  Or the torture of "terrorists" who are held captive without trial.

I'm confused.

How are we supposed to feel about the use of chemical weapons in Syria? Our own government is suggesting we punish the Syrian government in order to stop the widespread use of chemical weapons in all warfare from here on out.  This will be done with missiles shot from boats for up to six weeks, because missiles are okay, but sarin gas is not.

As far as I understand it, the original Geneva Convention was created to bring a modicum of humanity into the violence of war.  It meant peaceful folks could go in and help those who are being hurt.  So that compassion could exist along side of the violence and destruction. Wouldn't this make it legal for the US to go in and help all of the refugees and oppressed people of Syria?

How about this: Instead of attacking Assad with weapons, let's help the oppressed .  Let's send in a force of a million unarmed aid workers and healers moving in a blob, a real person from each country present and ready to give a life to end the use of chemical weapons.  Each piece of equipment and each person is checked and cleared as unarmed.  They go in, scoop up, dismantle, and dispose of the weapons in return for leaving the Assad government intact.  They help or remove those who are being injured.  And they leave.  Let's call it a peace cease that is backed whole heartedly by the international community.  I know.  It's crazy.  And it doesn't bring lasting peace to Syria.  But at least it's a vision.  After all, Assad needs to learn a new way of dealing with conflict.  He learned only violence from his father, Hafez.  Yes, Assad was a little boy once.  I wonder how he was treated?

I am visualizing a world where the oppressed are cared for and protected, where weapons of mass destruction and death aren't possessed by any nation.  A place where we no longer need a Geneva Convention.  A world where we are all connected and we are all one with a human face.

Listen to this!  
I'd Like To Teach The World To Sing In Perfect Harmony
And remember that finding a new paradigm requires dying to the old one.

Learn more: 

U.S. used chemical warfare in Vietnam

Chemical Weapons (The truth about the ongoing effects of Agent Orange the US used in Vietnam)