Peace...but at what cost? An answer from an unlikely source.

Peace. In reality, it's what we all strive for is it not? Peace is the end result to all noble endeavors. But what of peace? And at what cost must it be achieved? Nothing in this world comes without sacrifice. Nothing is gained where nothing is forfeited. So how then can the pacifist ever truly hope for peace? Is peace under tyranny, even peace at all?

There are those would give "terrorists" equal footing, equal say and equal consideration...equality at the negotiation table. They believe that a terrorist act is merely a legitimate lashing out against a greater evil and that one must consider their motives, search for their plight and "feel" their downtroddeness in order to eliminate it's cause (which is all to often, American economic influence and foreign policy). Hmmm, so sitting at a negotiation table is the proper response to someone flying hijacked airliners into buildings full of your civilians? That's what they believe.

Sound ridiculous? Well, make no mistake, these people are numerous and they are powerful. And they have their sights set not on you and I, but on yours and mine....our children, that is. They run rampant in our colleges and universities and they're tenured! Ignoring any historical evidence to the contrary, they vehemently believe in the impossible, that offering appeasements and concessions to those who would murder innocent civilians to achieve a political end can result in peace. That's bad enough, but worse still, is their power and influence over our children and young adults. Having nearly unfettered access to them at ages when they are most credulous, they indoctrinate thousands every day. The "truth" it seems, is flexible. Perhaps that is debatable but it is certainly true of history. It is morphed and molded and delivered with the political slant of the professor who's charged with teaching it.

Nowhere is this process of misinformation and indoctrination more true than in the ever-popular "Peace Studies" offered and in fact, mandated by many of this country's higher educational institutions. Churning out little socialist "global citizens" by the hundreds they turn our youngest and most impressionable citizens into enemies of everything our country and western civilization stands for. I recently read an outstanding article at The City Journal entitled "The Peace Racket". If you want to understand this movement, read this article. Read it all. Its content was spot on, but I was puzzled by it's source. ‘Twas an unlikely source, hence the title of this post. The author, Bruce Bawer, is a gay literary critic and writer who touts himself as a "liberal democrat" in his book entitled "Place At the Table", while promoting centrist politics. He also lobbed a few bombs at Christianity and Capitalism in his book "Stealing Jesus". I'm often leery of self professed Centrists. I don't trust them. They flip-flop and switch sides way to often, as seems to be the case here. Well, everyone is bound to hit the mark every now and again and Mr. Bawer certainly did that. Despite being such an unlikely candidate to expose these things, his article is without a doubt enlightening.

War is indeed terrible but it is a part of life and like peace, it has its place and it has its time. War should be avoided but not at all costs. Peace should be pursued, but not at all costs. Pacifists would have you and I believe that Peace is more important than anything, including freedom. Their "turn the other cheek" policy would hold that it is better to give in to a dictator or tyrant and thereby avoid war than for war itself to set one free. History has proven the opposite....at least history as it is written today. People long to be free. They do not naturally accept the position of living at the pleasure of another. If peace is worth longing for and living for, then it is certainly worth fighting for and dying for. One might intelligently argue that the road to peace is, in fact....war. For, historically speaking, no civilization has ever enjoyed the former without suffering the latter. Peace has always been a temporary state of existence. The same is true of war. I do not condone war, I do not wish for it, but I realize that it is the price of peace. It always has been. Unfortunately, so too is it the price of freedom and, here in America, we want both. What do you think might be the price of that?

Guard your children. Teach them reason. Inform them to be suspicious of anyone who's teachings are not open to discussion or debate. Teach them the difference between education and indoctrination. Be the driving influence in their lives while they are impressionable, because if not you....then who?