I Wish They Would Ask The Questions “Why?”

When is it okay to kill? What’s worth killing for? I remember the first day of my nonprofit management class at OCU, when the instructor asked us all to think about our passions, and what was most important to us. She went around the room, asking us one by one, what our passions were. The class was mainly dancers (all but three of us), mainly female (all but two of us), and we heard answers like “family,” “Christ,” “dancing,” etc. Pretty standard. The follow up question she asked was not so standard. What would you do, and how far would you go to keep that passion, that dream, alive? Would you die? Of course many answered yes. But would you kill? That question drew a lot of silence, and a few affirmatives. Of course by the time she got to me, I knew what was coming and my response was “writing is my passion, and yes, I have already killed someone to support my passion.” THAT drew a lot of silence, as well. I quickly realized that no one in the class (except the teacher) knew me or the peccadilloes of my humor and that to them I was just a strange man wearing all black and sitting in the back of the room. I acknowledged that I was joking, and much nervously relieved laughter filled the room.

Funny story, right? The question has stuck with me. Is freedom worth killing for? Our President seems to think so. Maybe it’s a vestigial organ left over from the generations of Quakers in my family (Father’s side. The Vikings are from Mom’s family), but I have a huge problem with killing, and I cannot respect the policies (or even the Christian cred) of a man who has relied so heavily upon killing for his personal glory and power (prisoners in Texas; Iraqis in Iraq).

This morning I surfed over to washingtonpost.com and watched Bush’s press conference (incidentally, do NOT start your day by doing this as it results in heartburn, cognitive dissonance and increased need to blog). This morning, however, I could see some steel creeping into the spines of the Fourth Estate. Journalists, coddled as they are in the White House Press Corps, were showing some teeth and were almost demanding answers rather than asking questions. They questioned Bush’s real reasons for invading Iraq, as well as the recent push in the Senate to censure the President. It’s a small step, but I believe more Americans will start to take it (questioning the President, not censuring him... well, actually both). And I believe this country, and the world, will be better for it.

[feeling the burn at biblebeltbabylon.blogspot.com, xanga.com/moontos and blog.myspace.com/moontos]