IS THERE ANYTHING LEFT THAT MATTERS?

Wonderful fiction. Really tugs at the ol' heart strings. There is even a small enough hint of truth to make it almost seem believable. Almost.

IS THERE ANYTHING LEFT THAT MATTERS?
by Sister Joan Chittister, OSB
A Benedictine Sister of Erie

This is what I don't understand: All of a sudden nothing seems to matter. First, they said they wanted Bin Laden "dead or alive." But they didn't get him. So now they tell us that it doesn't matter. Our mission is greater than one man. This doesn't mean we have STOPPED looking for him. We have 100's of troops combing the hills and keeping tabs on possible locations. We haven't forgotten about him.

Then they said they wanted Saddam Hussein, "dead or alive." He's apparently alive but we haven't got him yet, either. However, President Bush told reporters recently, "It doesn't matter. Our mission is greater than one man." Again, doesn't mean we've stopped looking for him. And, if you think about it, the mission IS bigger than one man.
Finally, they told us that we were invading Iraq to destroy their weapons of mass destruction. Now they say those weapons probably don't exist. Maybe never existed. Apparently that doesn't matter either.Aaaahhh...the luxury of hindsight. Sure, we know that the threat of WMD is as serious as we were led to believe. They DID exist, thet STILL exist, we just haven't found 'em yet. We will.

Except that it does matter.

I know we're not supposed to say that. I know it's called "unpatriotic."Pfft. That comment is only present to raise peoples ire. Has no basis in fact.

But it's also called honesty. And dishonesty matters. It matters that the infrastructure of a foreign nation that couldn't defend itself against us has been destroyed on the grounds that it was a military threat to the world.

It matters that it was destroyed by us under a new doctrine of "pre-emptive war" when there was apparently nothing worth pre-empting. It surely matters to the families here whose sons & daughters went to war to make the world safe from weapons of mass destruction and will never come home. That's what soldiers do. Better to have Iraqi death and destruction than US death and destruction. My opinion only, the author appears ok with that.

It matters to families in the United States whose life support programs were ended, whose medical insurance ran out, whose food stamps were cut off, whose day care programs were eliminated so we could spend the money on sending an army to do what did not need to be done. Oh, please. food stamps were eliminated because of the war? Insurance policies lapsed because of the war? Uh, huh.

It matters to the Iraqi girl whose face was burned by a lamp that toppled over as a result of a U.S. bombing run.

It matters to Ali, the Iraqi boy who lost his family - and both his arms in a U.S. air attack. I am saddened by the loss of innocent lives. But, notice how the author avoids talking about the poor iraqi girl who saw her sister raped, tortured and executed before her eyes and then had the same done to her by the Husseins.

It matters to the people in Baghdad whose water supply is now fetid, whose electricity is gone, whose streets are unsafe, whose 158 government ministries' buildings and all their records have been destroyed, whose cultural heritage and social system has been looted and whose cities teem with anti-American protests. Power levels are generally at the pre-war conditions, the looting was done BY the Iraqi's, not by the US as the author would imply.

It matters that the people we say we "liberated" do not feel liberated in the midst of the lawlessness, destruction and wholesale social suffering that so-called liberation created. Which people? A majority of people DO feel liberated in Iraq. See other thread. Some people in Iraq will never be happy with any form of governmet. Hell, people in the US will never by happy with the government!

It matters to the United Nations whose integrity was impugned, whose authority was denied, whose inspection teams are even now still being overlooked in the process of technical evaluation and disarmament. You mean the same UN that was completely ignored and rendered impotent for 12 years by saddam? The UN that failed to follow through on it's own threats? The same UN that always cries for US aid and assisstance in world events?

It matters to the reputation of the United States in the eyes of the world, both now and for decades to come, perhaps.

And surely it matters to the integrity of this nation whether or not its intelligence gathering agencies have any real intelligence or not before we launch a military armada on its say-so. I am sure the author is privvy to all the intelligence that our many Intelligence organizations have gathered...

And it should matter whether or not our government is either incompetent and didn't know what they were doing or were dishonest and refused to say. The unspoken truth is that either as a people we were misled, or we were lied to, about the real reason for this war. True.

Either we made a huge - and unforgivable - mistake, an arrogant or ignorant mistake, or we are swaggering around the world like a blind giant, flailing in all directions while the rest of the world watches in horror or in ridicule. That's it? Those are the only choices we have made? What about that we brought down an evil regime and have created a better life for millions of people? There are many other things we have done as well.

If Bill Clinton's definition of "is" matters, surely this matters. If a president's sex life matters, surely a president's use of global force against some of the weakest people in the world matters. If a president's word in a court of law about a private indiscretion matters, surely a president's word to the community of nations and the security of millions of people matters. Completely different. Clinton was proven to be a liar. Bush is merely suspected.

And if not, why not? If not, surely there is something as wrong with us as citizens, as thinkers, as Christians as there must be with some facet of the government. If wars that the public says are wrong yesterday - as over 70% of U.S. citizens did before the attack on Iraq - suddenly become "right" the minute the first bombs drop, what kind of national morality is that? I don't have time to look up the stats, but these do not sound right. 70% against it? I don't think so.

Of what are we really capable as a nation if the considered judgment of politicians and people around the world means nothing to us as a people? We are our own country. the rest of the worlds opinion should matter exactly zero to us.

What is the depth of the American soul if we can allow destruction to be one in our name and the name of "liberation" and never even demand an accounting of its costs, both personal and public, when it is over?

We like to take comfort in the notion that people make a distinction between our government and ourselves. We like to say that the people of the world love Americans, they simply mistrust our government. But excoriating a distant and anonymous "government" for wreaking rubble on a nation in pretense of good requires very little of either character or intelligence.

What may count most, however, is that we may well be the ones Proverbs warns when it reminds us: "Kings take pleasure in honest lips; they value the one who speaks the truth." The point is clear: If the people speak and the king doesn't listen, there is something wrong with the king. If the king acts precipitously and the people say nothing, something is wrong with the people.

It may be time for us to realize that in a country that prides itself on being democratic, we are our government. And the rest of the world is figuring that out very quickly.

From where I stand, that matters.

Sister Joan

This is what I don't understand: All of a sudden nothing seems to matter. First, they said they wanted Bin Laden "dead or alive." But they didn't get him. So now they tell us that it doesn't matter. Our mission is greater than one man. This doesn't mean we have STOPPED looking for him. We have 100's of troops combing the hills and keeping tabs on possible locations. We haven't forgotten about him.

Then they said they wanted Saddam Hussein, "dead or alive." He's apparently alive but we haven't got him yet, either. However, President Bush told reporters recently, "It doesn't matter. Our mission is greater than one man." Again, doesn't mean we've stopped looking for him. And, if you think about it, the mission IS bigger than one man.

Finally, they told us that we were invading Iraq to destroy their weapons of mass destruction. Now they say those weapons probably don't exist. Maybe never existed. Apparently that doesn't matter either.Aaaahhh...the luxury of hindsight. Sure, we know that the threat of WMD is as serious as we were led to believe. They DID exist, thet STILL exist, we just haven't found 'em yet. We will.

Except that it does matter.

I know we're not supposed to say that. I know it's called "unpatriotic."Pfft. That comment is only present to raise peoples ire. Has no basis in fact.

But it's also called honesty. And dishonesty matters. It matters that the infrastructure of a foreign nation that couldn't defend itself against us has been destroyed on the grounds that it was a military threat to the world.

It matters that it was destroyed by us under a new doctrine of "pre-emptive war" when there was apparently nothing worth pre-empting. It surely matters to the families here whose sons & daughters went to war to make the world safe from weapons of mass destruction and will never come home. That's what soldiers do. Better to have Iraqi death and destruction than US death and destruction. My opinion only, the author appears ok with that.

It matters to families in the United States whose life support programs were ended, whose medical insurance ran out, whose food stamps were cut off, whose day care programs were eliminated so we could spend the money on sending an army to do what did not need to be done. Oh, please. food stamps were eliminated because of the war? Insurance policies lapsed because of the war? Uh, huh.

It matters to the Iraqi girl whose face was burned by a lamp that toppled over as a result of a U.S. bombing run.

It matters to Ali, the Iraqi boy who lost his family - and both his arms in a U.S. air attack. I am saddened by the loss of innocent lives. But, notice how the author avoids talking about the poor iraqi girl who saw her sister raped, tortured and executed before her eyes and then had the same done to her by the Husseins.

It matters to the people in Baghdad whose water supply is now fetid, whose electricity is gone, whose streets are unsafe, whose 158 government ministries' buildings and all their records have been destroyed, whose cultural heritage and social system has been looted and whose cities teem with anti-American protests. Power levels are generally at the pre-war conditions, the looting was done BY the Iraqi's, not by the US as the author would imply.

It matters that the people we say we "liberated" do not feel liberated in the midst of the lawlessness, destruction and wholesale social suffering that so-called liberation created. Which people? A majority of people DO feel liberated in Iraq. See other thread. Some people in Iraq will never be happy with any form of governmet. Hell, people in the US will never by happy with the government!

Once again, this article is full of lies and half-truths. It is fiction.

seance fiction.

Frank, why waste your time with McG? Why not devote your energy to someone whose mind is not closed to new information or verifiable facts? Debating people like McG just gives them a forum to mislead the naive and uninformed.

---BumbleBeeBoogie

BumbleBeeBoogie wrote:

Frank, why waste your time with McG? Why not devote your energy to someone whose mind is not closed to new information or verifiable facts? Debating people like McG just gives them a forum to mislead the naive and uninformed.

---BumbleBeeBoogie

BBB is right Frank. You should ONLY listen to those that vigorously agree with your point of view. Lord knows that I am full of misleading information and I may lead you astray. Next thing you know, you will be hitting the links with a rowdy crowd of conservatives spouting quotes from the bible!