This blog was going to be about the plan and step to take the discussions with the Elders. What i know of the discussions is where the Elders talk to you about the book of Mormon and you read some of it and then discuss what is important to you. I don't know what to expect. but you can expect a good blog after this happens.
but this blog is something different. this will be an intertwining of faith and current events.
The death of mine enemy. As of last night President Obama confirmed the death of Osama Bin Laden, the leader of the 9-11 attacks. This has been met by mixed reviews throughout the country. Through the invention of social media it has changed how people can express themselves.
First let me preference this with the fact that i do not now, nor have i ever, supported the death penalty in any form. I do not believe that we should kill people as punishment for their crimes. Putting someone to death puts a value on life, and as a humane person, i don't believe that man has the right to put value on another man's life. That simple.
now we have read these blogs and know that i am searching for some sort of faith, weither it be LDS or DOC or Catholic or whatever, but i have always had a defense attorney way about me. I think this is the whole King Arthur, Robin Hood bloodline. I believe that we should protect rather than enslave. To regulate correct justice rather than the harshes of penatalities. But in this day in age i find myself surrounded by people who find otherwise.
I once again need to say that death is never the answer. weither it be sucide or capitol punishment. I will never find a situation that i feel the death of a person is warranted. i can say never, because this is a core of my belief system. We have to do onto others as we would want them to do onto us. I will not support the execution of a man because i do not want to be executed. Nothing is too henious that we can not change from it. As long as you have some sort of hope or faith or belief anything is possible. Look at Tookie Wiliams. the man was the founder of the crips street gang. he killed numerous people, and in 1978 he was sentenced to death (which was carried out in 2005) for 4 murders. During his time on death row he wrote childrens novels and did "scared straight" and made sure that his legacy was not one of violence. He knew his end would come sooner than later and it would be a violent death, but he did not want to leave that legacy and legacy now idolized by every 12 year old street prospect in the crips orginzation.
ok so this man is dead, back to bin laden, and i am not torn i know where my beliefs are. and now with the help of somethings i learned in the LDS church i was able to properly justify my own person beliefs. Bin Laden is dead. People all over the world are celebrating. I don't understand why. Actually i do understand why, because part of me was elated when i heard the news from clinton, and part of me was like well, damn it, here we go again. back to funding a war, back to loosing more troops and back to the old bush ways of running the country.
then i was reading on facebook a lot of what my friends had to say and i was just sad. Everyone was very happy and celebrating the death, like it was an old time lynching. This is the feel i have. We have hunted down our man and now he is dead. I am sorry that is just wrong to me. I am an educated man, of the legal sort, and i believe that in any crime we need to have a fair trial. that would never happen, but we need to at least have the appearence of something judicial. I do understand that those brave members of SEAL team 6, did what they were called to do. They acted correctly, but our reaction, our glee, our love of his death sickens me.
Just as much as his act sickens me, just as our leaders acted after 9-11 sickens me, and just to this day how sick i feel in my stomach knowing that people who i have loved were lost over in that war, so for there to be celebration in the streets dishonors their memory. The men/women who have died for this moment, this turning point in the war, and we as a nation don't find it necessary to celebrate their hard work no we celebrate this.
I was in church a few weeks back and the idea of forgiving the enemy came up. We were sitting in elders quorum and we talked about a man who destroyed your family and what you should do. There was something in the Gospels essentials book of when Jesus talks to I think Mark (not sure, I am not great on remembering who was talked to, but rather what was said) But Mark asked Jesus how can he forgive his enemies 7 times. And Jesus replied with no, you must forgive them 7 times 70 times. This is similar to what we do here. We have a responsibility to forgive our enemy, we have the responsibility not to allow our enemy to hurt us, but vengeance is not ours.
We can never forget the 9-11 attacks, nor can we forget the man who allegedly perpetrated them. But we can do is stand as the moral majority. The example to the nation that the death of Osama is not cause for celebration but rather causality in this war. This war that has done nothing to protect the United States, nothing to ensure democracy in the region and done nothing but fatten the pockets of those who sell wartime products. This is a dark time in our history as Americans. We have turned life into a cost benefit analysis. This death was taken in a violent manor, like the lives this man took as well. Violence only creates more violence. At someone point someone has to stand up and stop the cycle.
I have read a lot of the information post the death of Osama from people who were there, and all say that he was not coming out, and that was his choice. But I don’t find the rejoicing in the streets to show such a lack of understanding of the war. I had a friend say that "we got em" and I looked him right in the eye and asked when did he become a member of SEAL team 6. For the most part America’s did not do anything, the greatest military minds in the world today under the leadership of 2 opposing presidents took almost 10 years to find him.
So this We, we who? We did not do anything. most of us didn’t support bush or don’t support obama. We, this all of a sudden drop all our problems patriotism disgusts me. I was opposed to the war back then and I am opposed now. I will not honor the death of Osama by shedding tears, or having a candle lit vigil for his life, but what I will do is forgive my enemy and let God judge him. I will move forward and make sure my voice is heard. That the way we are reacting to this small victory is wholly inappropriate.
There has been a flurry of social posts about Osama. People are celebrating his death openly. This is so odd to me. So I waited. Read all my friends comments and then opened my mouth and stated how I felt. And guess what. People did not like what I had to say. I took this route. I took the route of Jesus. Now I know that is out of character for me. I am the last person that people would think would cite to Jesus in a situation like this. People would look for me to be the one leading the march, and if this was a different time they would be right, but here and now and the person I am becoming is not what I used to be. I have found that violence is no longer the answer. We need to have compassion and peace to truly lead our nation.
People get everything so twisted. An eye for an eye is not justice. Do I believe that in situations where and eye for an eye comes possible I would like to believe that I can make sure that I react in a way that will not be violent. I don’t know if I can though. In that situation I will hope to act in the best way I know how, but I am sure that I will not. But here in this situation we can all take a collective step back see the impact of the removal of this man and move forward, not as blood thirsty Americas, but as a people who want to create stability and peace in a region that has never known it.
By relishing in his death we are no better than him. By celebrating his passing we become what we hate. This is not the person I am, nor the person I want to be. Death is never the answer, I put a higher value on human life. I don’t let the emotion get me. I am not saying that I am above emotion, but right now we can collectively take a step back and make sure that we handle this situation the right way….which the American people did not.
I am just constantly going back to that lesson where we have to forgive our enemy. This stics with me. We have to Forgive them. Why, because that is what Christ would have done. Any religion not just LDS need to understand this. We pick and choose the parts of the Bible we follow and when it is convienent. Right now it is not convenient to forgive, but we must or face our own destruction.
I see this destriction coming. As a member of the democratic party I see the writing on the wall. People within the party are already breaking down. We are already moving into two distnict factions. As of this morning I was sent an email by high ranking member of the party telling me that I need to stop posting about this and stop pushing for the divide and to take the party line. I was disgusted by this. I am an American and everything that Osama sought to destroy, the American way of life, is being continued by this email. My opinion and my voice is asked to be silent because the party wants to take an official position. This is not the proper party action. We are meant to be all equal to have our opinion. I will not step down and I hope this doesn’t affect my status/position in the party, but if it does I would gladly give it up for my peace of mind.
But back to Jesus. This is the reason. I can’t stop . I can’t stop thinking of a man who blessed and forgave his captors while he was being crucified. If we are to follow the path we need to understand that path. Our goal is to be Christ like. Not everyone in America is Chistain and I understand different belief systems, but muslim, jewish and Christian reiligons all believe in the power of forgivness but when a time comes where something so horrific happens we just turn our backs to our beliefs. We walk away from what we preach and buy into all the BS of hate and anger. We are all better than our worst act. If the shoe was on the other foot what would we have done as Americans. If Obama or Bush would have been assassinated and England would have be burning his picture in the street and burning the American flag how would we as a nation react. Why can’t we see that forgiveness is the only way to move forward.
We can not forgive and forget, but what we can do is forgive every chance we remember. We can not move forward, we can not accept any real closure until we start acting in a way that will benefit those who have fallen and continue to bring the fight in the night.
In the end I am disgusted with what the American people have done over the past several days. I hope that one day history will reflect this death as the turning point in the war and forget the barbaric acts of the masses.
Forgive them God for they know not what they do…
