Omni
That is what I am saying. All of the world's great faiths began on two tenets; justice and compassion. It would take a lot of work and could not be done overnight.
All we have to do is look at the world today. There is not nearly enough justice and compassion. In my own country it is sadly lacking. We have folks living in poverty. We have thousands of children that go to school hungry every day. We have a serious drug problem especially in the downtown east side of Vancouver. We have the mentally ill living on the streets. What do we do about it? We attack the symptoms and not the causes.
How so? People without a decent chance at life either because of poor upbringing or upbringing in poverty cannot get a decent job that makes it worth their while so perhaps they turn to sitting around on a street corner. Then they get into drugs which costs money. To get that money they turn to illegal acts. These illegal acts cause all kinds of problems for society so we hire more police who either move them along or arrest them.
Where do they move along to? They are arrested to what end; jail for a few days? They are out on the streets again. Their cycle starts all over. If they have children the cycle carries on and on and on.
Of course there are some bad folks. Some are out to make money for drugs? Some are members or organized crime.
If we had a just and compassionate society most of that would end. Those who still choose to behave unacceptably could be easily dealt with.
Consider Al Quaeda. Why and how did they come into existence. I could hazard a guess. Why was Iraq invaded. Sadam? Who put Sadam in power? Why did they put him in power? Perhaps they thought it would be easier and more certain to gain access to the oil? Muslim law says attack but only if attacked first? I think you get the picture.
Who put the Taliban in power or Maros, or Noriega? Why were they put into power? The self serving interests of an imperial nation?
China has also pronounced that they will get the resources they need even if they have to resort to military might. Another imperial power?
Castro defeated a very corrupt dictator on the right. He has been hated by the US ever since. Then we had the Bay of Pigs fiasco. I guess dictators are OK as long as they are on the right and not the left. So much for the claims of democracy. It is pure BS.
Chevez of Venezuela has threatened to cut of its oil shipments to the US. Does that mean another invasion is immanent?
If we start by looking at the causes and dealing with them we will have started on the road to peace. This begins in the hearts of individuals and should then spread wider as the parable of the mustard seed tells us.
Shalom
Ted