Let's Prove Them Wrong!
About this article
As many people called for a violent response to the terrorist attacks, Rick Stahmann urged us to think deeply about the message we send to our children and others before we lash out in anger and revenge.
12 September 2001
As the truth unfolds behind who committed these horrendous terrorist attacks against the United States, I pray that we--as individuals and a country--will have the strength and courage to think deeply before we lash out in anger and revenge.
If, for example, Osama bin Laden--or anyone else from the Middle East, for that matter--is responsible, it is therefore reasonable to admit that our troubled relations with these people didn't start with Tuesday's attacks. Let's dig deeper and try to uncover the cause so we can begin to uproot this problem once and for all. As awful as Tuesday's attacks were, it is not the source of this ongoing problem, and it should not be our main focal point.
For decades, many people in the Middle East have felt that we are an evil country that must suffer and be destroyed. As long as each new generation of their offspring are taught to believe this idea, the problem will never go away.
What is the worst thing we can do to perpetuate their hatred? It would be to strengthen their belief; to prove to their children that their country is right; to prove to them that we are evil by rushing over to their country and killing their people unmercifully. Likewise, what message shall we pass on to our own children? that retaliation, revenge, and killing is a reasonable solution to problems? Is our willingness and acceptance of war the best lesson that we have to offer our next generation?
Another option we have is to kill fewer people by only killing the organizers behind these latest attacks. Let's look a little deeper into what this will achieve. If we attack and murder someone like Osama bin Laden, what is the final result? In the end, we will successfully raise any leader they revere to a higher level of hero worship after we assassinate that individual; we will provoke loyal followers to retaliate; and we will strengthen their cause and hatred by showing them just how evil Americans can be.
Does this mean we do nothing? Of course not. We need to find a way to heal the main problem in order to put an end to terrorism once and for all. An earlier statement above begs the response, "but they are the evil ones; they killed our innocent people unmercifully!" Yes, that is exactly what they did to us, so we have all the right to do it back onto them. In doing so, how will that make us any better? How will that make us more civilized? How will that teach their young children--and our children--that we are not evil?
When will the hatred ever stop? When will we choose to elevate ourselves beyond resorting to such barbaric acts like war in order to raise our civilization to its next level? We are less than two years into a new century and already we are seriously contemplating war. War should be our last resort--not our first course of action.
Let's not forget an old, but timely saying: ". . . an eye for an eye will eventually leave the whole world blind." Didn't great souls like Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Jr., Dorothy Day, Mother Theresa, and especially Jesus Christ teach us a better way? Do we really think it is God's will that we should kill our neighbors and our enemies? Even the Bible cannot protect us if we retaliate inhumanly. Hiding behind quotes from the Old Testament that glorify war and revenge will not shield us from the fact that killing is wrong.
Why resort to violence in the first place when we possess the greatest weapon of all time (i.e., thought, logic, reason)? If we use this weapon wisely and think deeper than we have ever thought before, we can--as individuals and a nation--rise up and show the world just how courageous and strong God's children can truly be.
Rick Stahmann is a former employee of Saint Mary's Press. He now lives in California and works for the U.S. Forest Service. Responses can be e-mailed to Rick at abetterwaytoday@hotmail.com.
As the truth unfolds behind who committed these horrendous terrorist attacks against the United States, I pray that we--as individuals and a country--will have the strength and courage to think deeply before we lash out in anger and revenge.
If, for example, Osama bin Laden--or anyone else from the Middle East, for that matter--is responsible, it is therefore reasonable to admit that our troubled relations with these people didn't start with Tuesday's attacks. Let's dig deeper and try to uncover the cause so we can begin to uproot this problem once and for all. As awful as Tuesday's attacks were, it is not the source of this ongoing problem, and it should not be our main focal point.
For decades, many people in the Middle East have felt that we are an evil country that must suffer and be destroyed. As long as each new generation of their offspring are taught to believe this idea, the problem will never go away.
What is the worst thing we can do to perpetuate their hatred? It would be to strengthen their belief; to prove to their children that their country is right; to prove to them that we are evil by rushing over to their country and killing their people unmercifully. Likewise, what message shall we pass on to our own children? that retaliation, revenge, and killing is a reasonable solution to problems? Is our willingness and acceptance of war the best lesson that we have to offer our next generation?
Another option we have is to kill fewer people by only killing the organizers behind these latest attacks. Let's look a little deeper into what this will achieve. If we attack and murder someone like Osama bin Laden, what is the final result? In the end, we will successfully raise any leader they revere to a higher level of hero worship after we assassinate that individual; we will provoke loyal followers to retaliate; and we will strengthen their cause and hatred by showing them just how evil Americans can be.
Does this mean we do nothing? Of course not. We need to find a way to heal the main problem in order to put an end to terrorism once and for all. An earlier statement above begs the response, "but they are the evil ones; they killed our innocent people unmercifully!" Yes, that is exactly what they did to us, so we have all the right to do it back onto them. In doing so, how will that make us any better? How will that make us more civilized? How will that teach their young children--and our children--that we are not evil?
When will the hatred ever stop? When will we choose to elevate ourselves beyond resorting to such barbaric acts like war in order to raise our civilization to its next level? We are less than two years into a new century and already we are seriously contemplating war. War should be our last resort--not our first course of action.
Let's not forget an old, but timely saying: ". . . an eye for an eye will eventually leave the whole world blind." Didn't great souls like Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Jr., Dorothy Day, Mother Theresa, and especially Jesus Christ teach us a better way? Do we really think it is God's will that we should kill our neighbors and our enemies? Even the Bible cannot protect us if we retaliate inhumanly. Hiding behind quotes from the Old Testament that glorify war and revenge will not shield us from the fact that killing is wrong.
Why resort to violence in the first place when we possess the greatest weapon of all time (i.e., thought, logic, reason)? If we use this weapon wisely and think deeper than we have ever thought before, we can--as individuals and a nation--rise up and show the world just how courageous and strong God's children can truly be.
Rick Stahmann is a former employee of Saint Mary's Press. He now lives in California and works for the U.S. Forest Service. Responses can be e-mailed to Rick at abetterwaytoday@hotmail.com.
Acknowledgments
Published September 11, 2001.
