…there’s live on-the-spot reports on the CNN between the ad-breaks
so you think you know what’s going on – but you don’t
because you weren’t in Belfast, no you weren’t there
and no you weren’t in Waco, no you weren’t there
and you weren’t in Kosovo, you weren’t there
and you weren’t in my head so you don’t know how it felt
walking arm in arm with crowds to the square
and the banners waving and the sun glinting…
(Justin Sullivan)
I am one of those people who can’t remember for the life of them where they were when they first heard about the two planes flying into the World Trade Centre. I’ve seen the film footage a million times, it must be burned onto my retinas forever, but I have no idea where I was or what I was doing when I saw it the first time, or heard the news.
I can, however, remember exactly where I was when I heard we had invaded Afghanistan on the hunt for Osama Bin Laden (who it transpired wasn’t there). And I can remember exactly where I was on this day in 2003 when Tony Blair shattered my heart into a million pieces by allowing Britain to take a leading role in the bombing and invasion of Iraq, despite thousands of us wide eyed students who voted for him in 1997 (all grown up now, but still wide eyed) begging him not to. You’ll remember of course that Saddam had Weapons of Mass Destruction ready to be launched on the west at any moment (but it transpired that they weren’t there either).
And now we’re doing it all over again in Libya.
I don’t pretend to know anything about politics or current affairs. My specialities lie in punk rock and yoga, anatomy and Victorian literature. We all have our fortes. I hardly ever watch the news, Himself has been banned from watching Question Time due to his stress levels and when I do read the paper, it’s usually the fashion pages or the recipes. My dad and brother explain complicated current affairs to me in words of one syllable. And the logical part of me understands. I get it.
But then…
….my (already broken) heart breaks as again we’re at war (when apparently we can’t afford libraries or afterschool care), my heart breaks because humankind has found ourselves in such a bind that the only logical answer to violence is violence, my heart breaks at what we will do to each other and (perhaps even more importantly) what we will do to this beautiful planet that lets us call her home. And at the hypocrisy….oh god, the hypocrisy.
Like I say, I know nothing. I contemplated not even pressing “publish” on this post. But then a few weeks ago I promised you more Rachel. And this is just how it feels….
thank you for pressing publish on this post. i feel as you do…i just don’t understand.
thank you.
yes- i completely feel the same way. I don’t understand why we have no money for health care or education anymore… but enough for troops and the military.
So glad you did press ‘publish’ – this is such an interesting case; we listened to Any Questions in silence this weekend, trying to grasp what our own opinions are!
Like you, I feel as if I have no real understanding of political matters, and so when it comes to forming an opinions I feel that, no matter what I think, it probably isn’t informed enough to really count as anything worthy.
I went to a Quaker school where pacifism was the status quo, but moreover this felt to me to be the right thing.
Fast forward a year and I found myself living in a room next to a Venezuelan girl who soon became an amazing friend. She had spent the past years of her life away from her family, away from her boyfriend, her friends and the place she calls home, because as an opposer to Chavez’s regime: it wasn’t safe for her to be there. I was shocked when she spoke to me about her wish for a war in Venezuela; so used to pacifism being the ‘right’ option as a British citizen, I was amazed to hear that people out there actually do want our help, howver hideous and violent it may be.
I can’t say I’m pro-war, but likewise I can’t say I’m against the war in Libya, either. I’m sitting on my M&S sofa in a warm house in the UK, I can believe and be exactly what is right for me, I had my whole education funded by the state, and should the most insufferable of illnesses srike me tomorrow, I know I’ll get the care I need without having to worry about the rent. I realize now how easy it is to be a pacifist when we aren’t faced with opression and dictatorship.
Again, I want to re-iterate that I’m by no means pro-war, but since hearing my friend speak so frankly about something I’ve never had to consider I feel less angry and less guilty during times like these.
(sorry, that’s quite an essay there!)
Yes, yes – I completely agree with you Rachel! I’m so glad you did press ‘publish’ on this post, it was just what I needed to read today.
~ Sara
that makes three for the us… at least that are declared.
ill echo: thank you for writing this. if you didnt, wed be missing out.
Thank you from my little corner of the globe, too. I feel much the same–so often I indulge in the privilege of shutting out the world and ignoring the news in favor of something that’s less confusing (because no matter how much I wish it could be so, it’s never black and white). At the same time, I’m married to a man who’s employed by our (U.S.) government and swore to defend it. At work he’s the crazy liberal, yet people who don’t know him see him as an evil conservative. It’s frustrating for him to be a part of the system while trying to repair it.
Interesting post. Remember that information is power! Don’t ignore the news and/or write it off as impossible to understand.
I’m still not sure what I think about Libya…I consider myself a liberal pacifist, but at the same time I don’t think a dictator whose people are against him (or at least a large number of his people are against him) should be allowed to wipe out his opposition. If the international community stands by and does nothing what kind of precedent does that set?
Catherine’s comment: “I realize now how easy it is to be a pacifist when we aren’t faced with opression and dictatorship” is very thought-provoking.
I think the most important thing is to know what is going on and evolve your own opinions as situations change.