Chechnya

I think the U.S. shouldn't get involved, but only from a war point of view. I certainly think we should be sending humanitarian aid to them. We should be trying to make a deal with Russia to leave them alone and help them rebuild. But we should not try and start another war with the Russians. If we went over there with troops and caused a problem, we would then be at war with Russia. That would do no one any good! The Chechens would still be attacked, thrown into the midst of the war, it would maybe even be worse than before. So we should try and resolve matters peacefully and help Chechnya in other ways.

Non-Violence

"But I believe non-violence is infinitely superior to violence, forgiveness is more manly than punishment." I find this to be so true! its harder to forgive someone than to get revenge. You have to try much harder to be peaceful instead of retaliating.
"In India it must be held a crime to spend money on a dinner and marriage parties... and other luxuries so long as millions of people are starving. We would not have a feast in a family if a member was about to die of starvation, if India is one family, we should have the same feeling as we would have in a private family." Its an interesting way to look at things. Gandhi makes a really good point though. How can you sit their eating your fancy dinners when there are people outside dying of starvation.
"The Afghans have a bad government but it is a self government. I envy them. And if we today had the power to drive out the English by superior brute force we would be counted their superiors"
The British didn't seem to take much heed to India, other than the fact that they controled them. Didn't try to help with the poverty. Truthfully they probably didn't really know what was going on or care much. If India had a self government, they could make decisions for themselves, decisions that would benefit the country and its people.

Peace and Disarmament

Sadly, I don't believe we will ever have world peace. the world is a big place, with lots of messed up people. Humans are too selfish and have a lust for power. Do believe it is possible to have war free zones. cause in a sense we already have some. Neutral countries, that don't fight in wars are places I would consider peace zones. I say good for those countries! I wish there were more of them. As for military disarmament...I doubt it will ever fully happen. There will always be countries unwilling to give up their weapons. Without weapons, you have no defense against invaders. And that wouldn't go over too well with the weapon manufacturers. Its too big of an industry, they would probably start wars themselves just to sell their products. However, there has been some disarmament in recent years, with the Russian and U.S. slowly decreasing their nuclear missile count. Thats a great step in the right direction, but its obvious neither country will ever completely get rid of their nuclear weapons, cause thats what gives them power. At this point we aren't certain what countries have nukes or not either. so unfortunately it would be stupid to get rid of all our nukes, cause then some loon could get power and take over by nuking everyone and we'd have no way to fight back.

love vs war and dictators

"I was delighted to have your sweet note with funny drawings made by you...Yes, it is little children like you who will stop all war. this means that you never quarrel with other boys and girls or among yourselves. You cannot stop big wars if you carry on little wars yourselves...May God bless you all. My kisses to you all if you will let me kiss you." I like this quote because it is accurate. how can we prevent wars in the future if we are fighting our own little wars! Its great how he is addressing the children telling them they are the future and basically you can decide how you want the future of your world to be.
"Human nature will find itself only when it fully realizes that to be human it has to cease to be beastly or brutal." Gandhi seems to be saying humans are truly peaceful, when they act like humans instead of trying to be war mongering beasts. we can rise up and do better than that!
"I will not go underground. I will not go into a shelter. I will come out in the open and let the pilot see I have not a trace of ill-will against him. the pilot will not see our faces from his great height, I know. but the longing in our hearts that he will not come to harm would reach up to him and his eyes would be opened. if those thousands who were done to death in Hiroshima, if they had dies with that prayerful action...their sacrifice would not have gone in vain."
It would sure take a brave man/woman to do such a thing like that. to come out in the open and have the faith that the pilot would hear your cry and not complete his job. but In truth that probably one of the only things you could do. hiding won't do any good. might as well give it a try!

Mans Search For Meaning

Victor Frankl seems like a very forgiving man. After being tortured and held captive for so long, its amazing how he still see's the good in the german soldiers. He insists that they are not all bad. Its really interesting how he talked of being set free and not being able to identify true beauty. How it felt like a dream coming upon a field of flowers since he has spent so long without such things. It would be super hard to try and even just stop thinking about all the terrible things that happened to you while in the camp, none the less trying to forgive the people who put you there!

I've Been to the Mountaintop

The war Martin Luther King is referring to is the war against racial injustice and inequality. He was fighting for the rights of black people, fighting for the right to be treated equally, fighting for the right of freedom. But he did it without weapons! when the white officers would come around throwing tear gas and arresting them, they did not fight back with the sword. they fought back with more protests and speeches. when he says "I've been to the mountaintop" I believe he means: I've seen whats going on in this nation, and I will not stoop down to their level and give up, or use violence. We are above that.

Child Soldiers

It seems like the Child soldiers that are in the camp are recovering pretty well. I'm sure its not entirely possible to recover from such awful experiences as the ones they've been through. But having a safe place to go where they can spend time with other child soldiers, having fun and just being children is a great thing. A good thing the U.S. could do is to build schools and give the children a chance to be educated. if they have the opportunity to learn, then they can go on to do better things with their lives. Its a good way to keep them out of trouble too. If you are sitting in school, you can't be going around robbing the neighbors. Another thing would be enforcing the rule that you can't have soldiers under the age of 15 in your army. maybe do some sort of fine. Say for every child soldier under the age of 15, we are going to fine you a certain amount of money. Although most countries probably wouldn't pay up, so that may not work.

Warfare is only and invention & the causes of war

i believe that War is an invention of mankind and that it is not biologically in our inherent nature. I think that we could possibly change and not have to fight anymore wars. However i don't think its likely, cause so many wars have been fought that its almost like a social norm so to speak.
Certainly the role of being a war hero has been highly glorified over the years. You are really important if you were a good soldier. So I doubt if we will ever stop fighting wars, but there is a chance everything could change.

I agree with Michael Howard. mankind wants revenge for actions others have done to them. so rather than trying to work it out, its much easier to just go and drop some bombs on them. Certainly some companies benefit alot when we go to war. During a war, there are different people pushing their agendas and lots of capital gain can come of it. You look back centuries ago and countries were fighting over land. why? because the land had something they wanted, something that would benefit their nation and maybe give them a big advantage against their enemies.

Africa

Angelou brings up that the Blues and Jazz were largely African inspired, as well as most forms of dance. "the ax forgets, the tree remembers" what a great proverb! its so true too. "we are the spring boughs with only the vaguest memory of winter's ruthless treatment of the tree." She talks of how a big part of african culture is art, specifically clothing and jewelry.

Rebuilding Afghanistan

It would be really hard to rebuild a government after all the corruption that the country has already been through. but if you got a leader dedicated enough, that wants to do the right things then I think it could be done over the course of a few years. I thought it was super lame how the teachers would show up then just leave again. the real question is why didn't they stay? I certainly don't know much about the situation, but it seems as if its getting better.

What Is Peace?

peace to me is the lack of war. it is harmony, getting along, being kind. It is happiness. everyone gets along or settles their problems by talking it out, rather than fighting. In general the world is a much better happy place to live when it is at peace. peacetime is creating friends rather than enemies. Peace is like the innocence of childhood.