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Ratleader
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0 posted 2003-03-18 05:11 PM



Pacifist Despair

what syllogism
will you offer
to the flame?
by what incanted
slogan will you turn
the broken beams
into a building,
shattered bones
into a child?
what phrase
will still the
keening grief
when of all times,
this time the
child is yours?
and later when that
certain fire comes
lusting after flesh
again, when like
a forest blaze
it gathers lust
by feeding, on
that day when
the very flesh
it covets is
your own,
what will you
say then?

© Copyright 2003 Ed Ratledge - All Rights Reserved
Brad Majors
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Georgia
1 posted 2003-03-18 05:12 PM


things to think on during these coming hard times
Cpat Hair
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2 posted 2003-03-18 05:16 PM


Ed.... no answers to your questions and while some could debate the what is the lesser of two evils... the pacifist would have neither..

powerful images and delivery... truly very well done.

Pilgrimage
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since 2001-12-04
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3 posted 2003-03-18 05:20 PM


Exactly.

Nan (Pilgrim variety)

Chanson
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Up Creek w/Out Paddle
4 posted 2003-03-18 06:04 PM


If only we had all the answers ...  *sigh*.

Thanks for this thinker.

When you think you have heard it all,
listen more closely.
~Dorene

Martie
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5 posted 2003-03-18 06:46 PM


Ed...my every belief tells me that war is wrong because I am a pacifist, but there are so many hard questions that pull at me from the other side...and I don't know what is right anymore.  
Ratleader
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6 posted 2003-03-18 06:57 PM


Nobody does know, and there are things worth dying for -- either way.

~~(¸¸¸¸ºº>   ~~(¸¸¸¸ºº>  ~~(¸¸ ¸¸ºº>    ~~~(¸¸ER¸¸ºº>
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littlewing
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since 2003-03-02
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7 posted 2003-03-18 08:00 PM


Rat - God I love your writing - war isnt good for anyone no BUT those that selflessly give themselves to a cause - because they believe - because they trust - because it is their duty - then it is them we must think of in our hearts - always got me thinking xxoo  
regards2you
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since 2002-10-01
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8 posted 2003-03-18 08:29 PM



Ed,

Perfect questions. Written so well.  

Thank you for this.


Hugs, Pat

..without surrender, be on good terms with all persons..
        "Desiderata"

hoot_owl_rn
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since 1999-07-05
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Glen Hope, PA USA
9 posted 2003-03-18 08:31 PM


I don't know...I'm one of those fence sitters in this case. There's no way to know until the aftermath that what we do right now is right. I agree with you that, yes, some things are worth dying for and to me freedom (even if that be freedom from fear) is one of them. I hate to see us go to war because of all the lives I know will be lost, but on the same line, how can we not and be able to live our lives without fear?
...sitting here perched on the fence
Ruth

Eromyna
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10 posted 2003-03-18 08:33 PM


I like.

"I don't need to scream for you to deem me aggravation."

garysgirl
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11 posted 2003-03-18 08:43 PM


Ed, I never want war, but what else can be done now, after the situation has come down to what it is?
Questions in my mind!
Ethel

bbent
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since 2001-01-07
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12 posted 2003-03-18 11:28 PM


Thought provocking write...leaves me wondering what a passivist is.If one who blindly accepts the will of others and refuses to think or take any action to defend themself or there beliefs is one then I'd have to stand in agreement.However if those who chose to fight and change in ways other than domination and violence are I'd have to differ.Much has been accomplished through diplomacy and cooperation when given the chance.

Live like it's your last day...
Dance like nobody's watching...
Love like you've never been hurt...

TaureauRouge
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A mass of land between two oceans
13 posted 2003-03-19 01:20 AM


Pacifism is a difficult movement to understand.  The conflict between War and Pascifism is a debate of "Why" vs. "Why not".  How does one break the stalemate?  With action.  The direction of that action is the choice of the individual.

Very nice style and imagery relating to the question.

"I should have been a pair of ragged claws/ Scuttling over the floors of silent seas"-T.S. Eliot

Ratleader
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14 posted 2003-03-19 01:34 AM


To be, or not to be: that is the question:
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them....

...or in modern terms, the choice is whether to continue to feed the tiger and pray it eats you last, or kill it while you still can.

~~(¸¸¸¸ºº>   ~~(¸¸¸¸ºº>  ~~(¸¸ ¸¸ºº>    ~~~(¸¸ER¸¸ºº>
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passing shadows
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displaced
15 posted 2003-03-19 04:11 AM


wow! intense!
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