Oh love

So. I met this girl. She pretty much rocks. Asher and I have this standing agreement that if I screw this up, he is to shoot me :)

She's got a wonderful heart for Jesus, a cute smile, the best laugh. She loves Star Wars and salted licorice candy. I am big and she is small, and even though my paws are twice the size of her little hands, she makes me feel safe.

It's not often that I feel danger. But there IS that danger that when you start to open yourself up to someone, they'll reject you. They won't like who you are, or how you present who you are.

Not so. At least, not so far . . . and I have this sneaking suspicion that not at all. Ever. With her. Which, really, is what relationships are all about, right? Trust.

Oh, you precious commodity. Oh trust. Oh love. Welcome back, my dear old friends . . .

Redemptive violence . . .

Now that Osama bin-Laden is dead, the world is a much safer place. As with all the deaths of tyrants and terrorists and villains throughout the ages, his passing has left the rest of us feeling more at ease, much safer, and less in need of strict and invasive security measures when flying.

When Hitler was killed, did we not have 50 years of unmitigated peace and tensionless rest?

When Bundy was killed, did we not end the threat of serial killers and predators?

After Hussein was killed, didn't Iraq become a much better place overnight?

And who can forget that one time when we killed Joseph Kony, leader of the Lord's Resistance Army, and ushered in a new era of peace for central Africa?

I mean, sure, just because the last one hasn't happened yet, doesn't mean it won't. Well, it probably won't. No one gives a shit about child soldiers, not when 400 million people have a personal vendetta against one man, not when there is a barbecue to have outside the prison where Bundy was fried, and certainly not while there is oil to pump from the Middle East. Oh, and not when there are white Europeans dying.

I feel so stupid sometimes. Obviously I don't understand cause and effect relationships. It is good to overthrow a dictator in Iraq to infuse democracy into the region, but it's also good to turn a blind eye to a dictator in Cambodia who kills millions? I mean, the country is known for KILLING FIELDS. COME ON.

And it is good to kill a man for essentially masterminding the deaths of around 3000 people . . . but to stamp out the cause of death of at LEAST 3000 people a DAY? Is THAT worthwhile?

See what I mean - the things that make sense to me seem to be fairly low priority.

But hey, Osama's dead. That shit should put food in the bellies of the malnourished, right? Good thing we did that one first. And in record time, too. I mean, it took far longer to apprehend Saddam . . .

Can I also, stupidly, take time to point out that BOTH men were once US allies? If this pattern keeps up, I think we as Canadians should rethink our ties to the south . . . ( http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,450997-2,00.html )

Ok. Enough sarcasm and satire for now. More than anything else, I am so very saddened by the mentality that violence can bring about good. Unless you're God and the violence involved is the death of Your Son, killing someone rarely has the intent you meant for it. Just ask the Pharisees. Just as killing Americans did NOT make the nation crumble as Osama thought it would, killing Osama will NOT make every young Muslim say, "Hey. This is stupid."

You don't beat violence with violence. You conquer it with something far greater . . .