Soapbox, Please!

Ahem...

I know that these thoughts are not very original or profound, but, at the same time, I’ve never heard them directly articulated - or if I have, then their truth never struck me in its full, ridiculous magnitude.

And my thoughts are this... If someone were to piss me off, and I were to kill them, it would be illegal, and it would be wrong. Even if I really believed that they deserved to die, and the world would be a better place without them, it would be ethically, socially, legally wrong, and I would spend a long time in jail, thinking about what I had done.

If a family member were to tell me to kill someone, and I carried out that act, it would be wrong. If a senior member of my clergy, or a well-respected advisor, or a teacher, or a boss, were to tell me to kill or harm another person, and I did it, it would be wrong. If any individual who has earned my full respect, who has nurtured me from birth, or who has taught me every lesson in life worth knowing, were to tell me that they believed that a person should die, and then I were to kill them, it would be wrong.

Most people, I think, would agree that this is the way it has to be. We can’t just go blowing up other people because of personal opinions or religious branding. We can’t go shooting those who cut us off in traffic, or steal our bike, or throw our ailing mother down a flight of stairs - no matter how much they have harmed us, and our loved ones, and no matter how pissed off we may feel.

This is law. This is society. This is the social decorum to which we all ascribe. And though they’re often unsatisfying, rules are rules.

But here’s another rule.

If your federal government tells you to kill someone, that’s okay. If your federal government tells you to blow up a city of civilians and combatants and insurgents, that’s okay. If your federal government decides, “I do not like...Yemen,” and you, voluntarily, join up with your government’s military and kill a bunch of people from Yemen (who, admittedly, were just following orders to kill you, too), that's Not Wrong.

Or...it’s certainly not illegal - it's encouraged. The money’s okay, and you could get a medal, and a speech, and a bank holiday in your honor. In every country around the world.

Huh. Could that be because the government makes the laws?

Stopping people from killing each other is a bit like stopping soil erosion, which is to say, it’s impossible (or, if possible, then I have no idea how to do it). But...come on, people. Stephen Harper? George Bush? Are these the sort of people you want to be setting your moral compasses to? Do you trust their ethics more than your family's, or your own?

Don't join the army. Be nice to people. Don't kill other people, if you can possibly avoid it. Done.