Joho the Blog
An Entry from the Archives

Neither. In either case you are failing, as most of us do, to acknowledge that God's will be done. That is all we can do now. All we can hope, think, pray, speak, chatter, etc. is that God's will be done.

I did read the transcript of Saddam's broadcast the other day and he used the term "God willing".

Who knows about the authenticity of the tape but that is beside the point. And it, of course, says nothing about the real Saddam. BUT it does speak of an awareness. And, even if for political motive, we certainly haven't seen anything like this from home and especially from our President.

God will will be done whether we like it or not.

It's very hard for me to look at the previous century and think that God's will was done.

I think His will was done. He gave us free will to screw up this planet He created. And His will was that we choose. His sorrow is that we so often choose poorly.

As you David, I wouldn't be sad about Hussein's death but can you really imagine yourself standing in front of Saddam Hussein aiming a gun at him and pull the trigger? Would you really shoot him or would you struggle and after all lower your gun in mercy ... knowing that he'd probably laugh at you?

Is this a moral weakness or is it the exact opposite?

It got very stressfull and anoying to talk and debate about this war as there are so many objectives to sort out and after all the whole thing is about who knows more about oil, money, power and conspiracy. And because of this I repeat once more, what is holy to me ... that dealing with your problems in a violent, military way is backward.

David:

In my 20s it seemed so much easier to separate people, motives, actions, and consequences into Good and Evil. Good ends resulted from good means, and evil ends from evil means. I was certain I could see the Truth about these things, and wondered why it wasn't obvious to everyone else.

In my 40s I no longer believe I have seen the Truth, but I have gain a lot more experience in living in a world that is oftentimes unjust, unfair, and brutal -- while at the same time being heartachingly beautiful and full of promise and love.

I've learned I can feel both sadness and revulsion for a man like Hussein. I can wish him dead (and think I would be able to kill him, given the opportunity), genuinely believing that would be for the best of many, yet also believing that this kind of murder should be a last resort. I don't feel righteous in this because I can see this is my own dark side.

Lacking god-like omniscience, I do what seems best at the time, guided by the principles I hold dear: morality tempered by experience. This is what I see you doing too. What you call "callousness" in your post I would call wisdom.

It's a sign of moral progress, Dave.

If you can get over feeling like you should be working yourself into feeling bad about not feeling bad, that would be significant moral progress.