Life As I See It: Still Opposing War 30 Years Later

Friday, April 4, 2008

Still Opposing War 30 Years Later

I did a post on Martin Luther King, Jr. back in August 2007 (click here to see that post) but since today is the 30th anniversary of his assassination I want to share with you a sermon he gave in April of 1967 that is so appropriate for our situation today. Although he's speaking about the Viet Nam war you would think he's talking about the current war in Iraq.
* He talks about speaking out against your government although people will call you unpatriotic and a traitor, equating your dissent with disloyalty
* about being horrified at violence towards us but committing violence against someone else far away who looks different and not seeing it as violence
* about us sending our poor in disproportionately high numbers to go off and fight and die in order to bring other people things that they themselves don't have in their own country
* about us being unwilling to give up our privileges and pleasures that come from overseas investments because we are a thing-oriented society instead of a person-oriented society
* the Western arrogance of feeling that we have everything to teach others and nothing to learn from them
* how we're spending more money on military defense than on social uplift

He says, "Let me say finally that I oppose the war in Vietnam because I love America. I speak out against this war, not in anger, but with anxiety and sorrow in my heart, and, above all, with a passionate desire to see our beloved country stand as the moral example of the world. I speak out against this war because I am disappointed with America. And there can be no great disappointment where there is not great love. I am disappointed with our failure to deal positively and forthrightly with the triple evils of racism, economic exploitation, and militarism. We are presently moving down a dead-end road that can lead to national disaster. I call on Washington today. I call on every man and woman of good will all over America today. I call on the young men of America who must make a choice today to take a stand on this issue. Tomorrow may be too late. It is time for all people of conscience to call upon America to come back home."

Enjoy:

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Quotes I Love

The least I can do is speak out for those who cannot speak for themselves. ~ Jane Goodall

The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated ~ Mohandas K. Gandhi

Until we extend the circle of our compassion to all living things, we will ourselves not find peace. ~ Albert Schweitzer

Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter. ~ Martin Luther King, Jr.

While you are proclaiming peace with your lips, be careful to have it even more fully in your heart. ~ St. Francis of Assisi

My actions are my only true belongings. I cannot escape the consequences of my actions. My actions are the ground upon which I stand. ~ Thich Nhat Hanh

Nothing will benefit human health and increase chances for survival of life on Earth as much as the evolution to a vegetarian diet. ~ Albert Einstein

The love for all living creatures is the most noble attribute of man. ~ Charles Darwin

The true meaning of life is to plant trees under whose shade you do not expect to sit. ~ Nelson Henderson

The time will come when men such as I will look on the murder of animals as they now look on the murder of men. ~ Leonardo DaVinci

It's a matter of taking the side of the weak against the strong, something the best people have always done. ~ Harriet Beecher Stowe

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtfully committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has. ~ Margaret Mead

The highest realms of thought are impossible to reach without first attaining an understanding of compassion. ~ Socrates

To care for anyone else enough to make their problems one's own, is ever the beginning of one's real ethical development. ~ Felix Adler

Every circus ticket sold admits one to a lifetime of torture and abuse. ~ Unknown

When it comes to the last hour of your life, it will be a great consolation to feel that you always protected the poor, the helpless, and the unfortunate; and that you exercised a particular care towards animals. ~ Caroline Earle White

You may say that I'm a dreamer but I'm not the only one. ~ John Lennon

Only when the last tree has died and the last river has been poisoned and the last fish has been caught will we realize that we can't eat money. ~ Cree proverb

The animals of the world exist for their own reasons. They were not made for humans any more than black people were made for white, or women created for men. ~ Alice Walker

Until one has loved an animal, part of their soul remains unawakened. ~ Anatole France

To be a vegetarian is to disagree - to disagree with the course of things today... starvation, cruelty - we must make a statement against these things. ~ Isaac Bashevis Singer

Never, never be afraid to do what's right, especially if the well-being of a person or animal is at stake. Society's punishments are small compared to the wounds we inflict on our soul when we look the other way. ~ Martin Luther King, Jr.

Non-violence leads to the highest ethics, which is the goal of all evolution. Until we stop harming all other living beings, we are still savages. ~ Thomas Edison

The truth is the truth. Don't be mad at me for saying it.
~ said by Richard Cypher, character in The Wizard's First Rule by Terry Goodkind

Raise your words, not voice. It is rain that grows flowers, not thunder. ~ Rumi