six years later

tonight, i watched "the ground truth" with my housemates. it's a documentary made about the war in iraq, with mostly interviews from soldiers who have gone to iraq, returned, and turned against the war. the images and stories were sad and horrifying, and the wounds that these men and women live with, not just physical but emotional, are painful even to hear about.

who would have thought we'd be where we are today six years ago? i don't pretend to be incredibly informed about the situation, but i do have one thought that i can't escape. in the movie, one soldier who was dealing with post traumatic stress disorder found himself in jail after a violent interaction with some policemen. he said that his wake-up call was finding himself sitting in jail with a bunch of "dirtbags." now, i know this wasn't a point of the movie at all, but to me, this is poignant:

we need to start viewing each other as human beings with dignity and deserving of respect. how can we hope that a soldier would respect the people of iraq when he doesn't even have any respect for his fellow americans in prison? we need respect and love! whether it's the businessman or the homeless man i pass on the street, both are worthy of the same respect and care. whether it's a dear woman at my work or a child in africa, both dying of AIDS, both are precious and worthy of care, love, and concern. whether it's my fellow americans who are losing their lives in iraq, or it's the iraqi soldiers losing their lives, both lives are costly losses. all human life is valuable. the pro-life conversation needs to get beyond abortion and extend to the death penalty, to treatment of illegal aliens, to war and conflict.

and particularly as christians, we, myself included, need a wake-up call. when Jesus told us to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us, have we listened? how can retaliating in violence ever be love? how can we love the iraqi people when we're killing them? how can we love the terrorists? gosh, i know that's radical, but that's what Jesus call is - a radical call to a counter-cultural life. so are we, our comfortable, patriotic, american christian selves, are we following our radical Savior? if not, we (i!) need to reexamine if we're serving a man-made version of god, or the true and living God as seen in the life of Jesus.


p.s. an interesting twist on the plight of some 9/11 rescue workers can be seen in michael moore's newest movie, "sicko." i would recommend checking it out; it's an interesting watch and not too political. :-) am i turning into a liberal hippie?? :-) perhaps... i'd love your thoughts, too!