A plea for unity

David Gergen, my favorite political Mr. Rogers, said that tonight President Barack Obama wants to find a golden mean in between those who would build up the nation of Afghanistan with US effort and those who would leave it all alone, and give Smalltown, America more jobs with equal effort.

I would say, do neither. Yes, we need jobs. But we have unemployment. Yes, it is degrading, but that is because somehow our American self-worth got caught up in our deficit spending and whether or not we can afford our car payments. Did you know relatively speaking, that if you are an individual or family that owns one car, whatever type, however old or economy-brand, you are among the most wealthy in our global community?

So why not fund a war in Afghanistan? It protects us against terror. Sure. It might do that. But personally I don't think we should be terrified with terror. Or unemployment, you see. Terror uses the physical to threaten the spiritual, and I would like to think that the physical can always overcome terror when the spiritual is its guide. Lots of people would say I am idealistic, but I would challenge that too. Think about a baby in a bath. He laughs, he splashes, he is completely naked without any ability to care for himself or to understand of how he will be cared for, but he is spiritually happy. Think of athletes who do absolutely incredibly things with their bodies in tribute to and in consequence of their unfailing competitive spirit. But I digress and get ahead of myself.

The main reason I think that we need to forget Afghanistan and forget ourselves is that there are others in need. This summer I wrote about Darfur. What have you heard about Darfur this winter? Since summer? You certainly haven't heard a lot, though a lot of horrible situations continue to exist there that have nothing to do with our sky scrapers being bombed or three thousand people who have our arbitrary citizenship instead of the Sudan's dying. God bless their souls, those who died in 9/11. But humanity, honor their souls, and the 300,000+ persons killed in the Darfur genocide, not by vengeance, but with mercy and love for those who most need it. Help children read, help women vote, stop terror, but first, help everyone have clean water to drink and a safe place to lay their head. Seek to help that which is most pressing first. It is certainly not our national reputation, our nation, or us.

"Will you decide what men shall live, what men shall die? It may be that, in the sight of Heaven, you are more worthless and less fit to live than millions like this poor man's child. Oh, God! to hear the Insect on the leaf pronouncing on the too much life among his hungry brothers in the dust!" - Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol