War Protest

Thursday evening Duane (and Rella) and I attended a protest. Though I was not sure if I agreed with all the statements being made at the rally, I do believe that awareness of current issues is a great beginning to being a better citizen.

After a couple of hours of listening to speakers, I can back one statement "WAR is NOT the answer" Honestly, I cannot say I know everything that happened before our nation attacked Iraq (can anyone?) but I DO agree that we entered the war on immoral grounds and without exhausting all our other options.


I hope this post will be seen as anything BUT "anti-patriotic". I believe the best thing we can do for our troops is to support them as people and bring them home. We have been 7 years in Iraq, much longer than most involved had anticipated, and we still have no clear exit strategy. If the millions that we are spending on war every day were to be re-directed to peaceful stratagies, education, creative poverty relief, and empowerment of women, can you imagine the difference?

I am not a politician, but I believe women's rights violations in the middle East are some of the grossest violations of human rights on earth - and it does need to change. However, one culture cannot impose it's vision of "freeing women" on another culture and be met with success. From the history of the world, and especially our nation, it is clear that to empower a marginalized group, they need to be able read and write, to be able to communicate, and receive education. And before these needs can be actualized, women especially need a basic sense of security and enough food to eat (If you are worrying about your children dying - why would you even think about expanding your mind?) .


It's true that the answers many, fractured and often unclear. There is no magic solution. However, there is much still that can be done.