that the U.S. is a very politically polarized place in these times. As for me, I like to see people I know using the internet to express and challenge one another's points of view, because the occasional moments of social progress that have moved us forward as a society have inevitably resulted from debates like these and of all kinds.
But here's the thing: I've just seen someone make a clever and indirect endorsement of the use of mustard gas, with a "God Bless" and a smiley emoticon.
I'm a bit taken aback.
Even when the "heroes" of our personal political views do hideous things, dogma can trap us into a defensive place of unnecessary justification.
I hope I never become that for the Obama's of the world. I hope I never completely lose my objectivity and sense of humanity, just to stick with team colors. Up to now I can say with confidence that my sense of right and wrong have not been disposed of for the sake of rhetoric.
And to my friend who places a smiley face and her God's Blessing on the mass murder of innocent people, I know I will never reach this person with reason. Something is very very disconnected. It's probably true that in an internet forum or in life, this person has chosen a set of beliefs that can have little if any relation to reality, the reality where human life everywhere is precious, and a world where even the people you can't see and touch do actually exist.
For me, it's a personal struggle.
I know with absolute clarity something that is very slow to dawn on people of my country and culture:
No amount of killing of innocent people is, or will ever be, an acceptable action.
A society that indulges mass killing can never be "free".
A people that accepts these acts will always be imprisoned and enslaved by falseness and evil.
The progress of humankind is stuck on this, polarized and mired in a debate that shouldn't be.
