Is there anything left that matters?

by Joan Chittister, OSB

This is what I don't understand: All of a sudden nothing seems to matter.

First, they said they wanted Bin Laden "dead or alive." But they didn't get him. So now they tell us that it doesn't matter. Our mission is greater than one man.

Then they said they wanted Saddam Hussein, "dead or alive." He's apparently alive but we haven't got him yet, either. However, President Bush told reporters recently, "It doesn't matter. Our mission is greater than one man."

Finally, they told us that we were invading Iraq to destroy their weapons of mass destruction. Now they say those weapons probably don't exist. Maybe never existed. Apparently that doesn't matter either.

Except that it does matter.

I know we're not supposed to say that. I know it's called"unpatriotic."

But it's also called honesty. And dishonesty matters.

It matters that the infrastructure of a foreign nation that couldn't defend itself against us has been destroyed on the grounds that it was a military threat to the world.

It matters that it was destroyed by us under a new doctrine of "pre-emptive war" when there was apparently nothing worth pre-empting.

It surely matters to the families here whose sons went to war to make the world safe from weapons of mass destruction and will never come home.

It matters to families in the United States whose life support programs were ended, whose medical insurance ran out, whose food stamps were cut off, whose day care programs were eliminated so we could spend the money on sending an army to do what did not need to be done.

It matters to the Iraqi girl whose face was burned by a lamp that toppled over as a result of a U.S. bombing run.

It matters to Ali, the Iraqi boy who lost his family - and both his arms - in a U.S. air attack.

It matters to the people in Baghdad whose water supply is now fetid, whose electricity is gone, whose streets are unsafe, whose 158 government ministries' buildings and all their records have been destroyed, whose cultural heritage and social system has been looted and whose cities teem with anti-American protests.

It matters that the people we say we "liberated" do not feel liberated in the midst of the lawlessness, destruction and wholesale social suffering that so-called liberation created.

It matters to the United Nations whose integrity was impugned, whose authority was denied, whose inspection teams are even now still being overlooked in the process of technical evaluation and disarmament.

It matters to the reputation of the United States in the eyes of the world, both now and for decades to come, perhaps.

And surely it matters to the integrity of this nation whether or not its intelligence gathering agencies have any real intelligence or not before we launch a military armada on its say-so.

And it should matter whether or not our government is either incompetent and didn't know what they were doing or were dishonest and refused to say. The unspoken truth is that either as a people we were misled, or we were lied to, about the real reason for this war. Either we made a huge - andunforgivable - mistake, an arrogant or ignorant mistake, or we are swaggering around the world like a blind giant, flailing in all directions while the rest of the world watches in horror or in ridicule.

If Bill Clinton's definition of "is" matters, surely this matters. If a president's sex life matters, surely a president's use of global force against some of the weakest people in the world matters. If a president's word in a court of law about a private indiscretion matters, surely a president's word to the community of nations and the security of millions of peoplematters.

And if not, why not? If not, surely there is something as wrong with us as citizens, as thinkers, as Christians as there must be with some facet of the government. If wars that the public says are wrong yesterday - as over 70% of U.S. citizens did before the attack on Iraq - suddenly become "right" the minute the first bombs drop, what kind of national morality is that?

Of what are we really capable as a nation if the considered judgment of politicians and people around the world means nothing to us as a people?

What is the depth of the American soul if we can allow destruction to be done in our name and the name of "liberation" and never even demand an accounting of its costs, both personal and public, when it is over?

We like to take comfort in the notion that people make a distinction between our government and ourselves. We like to say that the people of the world love Americans, they simply mistrust our government. But excoriating a distant and anonymous "government" for wreaking rubble on a nation in pretense of good requires very little of either character or intelligence.

What may count most, however, is that we may well be the ones Proverbs warns when it reminds us: "Kings take pleasure in honest lips; they value the one who speaks the truth." The point is clear: If the people speak and the king doesn't listen, there is something wrong with the king. If the king acts precipitously and the people say nothing, something is wrong with the people.

It may be time for us to realize that in a country that prides itself on being democratic, we are our government. And the rest of the world is figuring that out very quickly.

>From where I stand, that matters.

A Benedictine Sister of Erie, Sister Joan is a best-selling author and well- known international lecturer. She is founder and executive director of Benetvision: A Resource and Research Center for Contemporary Spirituality, http://www.benetvision.org and past president of the Conference of American Benedictine Prioresses and the Leadership Conference of Women Religious.

Sister Joan has been recognized by universities and national organizations for her work for justice, peace and equality forwomen in the Church and society. She is an active member of the International Peace Council.

http://www.commondreams.org/views03/0529-10.htm Until the lions have their own historians, tales of hunting will always glorify the hunter. -African Proverb

-- (BJ@aol.com), June 03, 2003

Answers

"It matters to families in the United States whose life support programs were ended, whose medical insurance ran out, whose food stamps were cut off, whose day care programs were eliminated so we could spend the money on sending an army to do what did not need to be done."

That's funny, last time I checked out the federal government's budget, it didn't shrink...so whose life support programs were cut? Not anyone on federal dole...whose day care programs were eliminated? And why are kids being shipped off to day cares anyway?

Sister is going to look mighty foolish when OBL, Saddam, and the WMD are found during this coming summer or fall. Then what is she going to say?

What would she have cared had Osama stayed in power in Afganistan? Or Saddam in Iraq? Did she care one whit for all those girls in Afganistan who would NEVER EVER HAD BEEN TAUGHT TO READ? Where was "Sister" when the Iraqi civilians danced in the streets, when Shiites suddenly praised US for liberating them from a tyrant?

When her idol Bill Clinton was in power, did she not believe him in February 1998 when he claimed Saddam "definately has WMD"? Didn't she believe that paragon on truth and moral authority, the United Nations when it declared in 1998, that Iraq most definately DID have thousands of liters of biological agents?

If someone was dishonest, then it was the Clinton administration and the UN in 1998 (during the impeachment proceedings...)

-- REALLY??? (OH REALLY@YAHOO.COM), June 03, 2003.

IMHO what matters most is what is religiously significant - specifically, things like stopping abortion, supporting marriage/family etc...

IF one loudly espouses the religiously insignificant democratic talking points I assume that behind the puppet like blabbering there is either a silent supporter or ignorant supporter of things like abortion...

YES IT MATTERS...

-- Daniel Hawkenberry (dlm@catholic.org), June 03, 2003.

I consider President Bush to be the biggest moron that has ever come to power in the US. Yes, he toppled a tyrant like Saddam and the Taliban. But BJ is right. Where is Osama? Why isn't he in jail? Where are the WMD? It has now been 8 weeks and still nothing. The fact is that Bush used the war as a distraction. From what? Our failing economy and other things. The biggest thing was so no one would pay attention when he passed the AIDS relief bill. Did you know that in that bill governments in Africa can use the money to expand people's ability to have abortions? But none of you knew that because the media and Bush were to busy playing war. So much for Bush being pro-life. He is a 10 year old and a hypocrite. Yes Clinton was lax on Saddam. But so was Bush senior. Bush had to chance to take the US army all the way to Baghdad but he didn't. Why? Because the allies said no. I am looking forward to the day when we see impeachment hearings about Bush. I hope he is kicked out of office and then tried in front of the world for breaking international law. TO JAIL WITH BUSH.

-- Scott (papasquat10@hotmail.com), June 04, 2003.

Okay, so 12 years is too short for inspectors to be shown WMD's are destroyed, but 8 weeks is too long to actually find them!

I just don't understand why folks were against taking Osama's Al Queda terrorist group and the Taliban down, or for removing Saddam Hussein.

Perhaps there is a love of tyranny I simply can't grasp - perhaps it can be explained to me why folks were against this?

Maybe it's not a love of tyrants and madmen so much as it is a hatred towards Americans.

-- Pro-Saddam, Pro-Osama (LOL@you.com), June 07, 2003.

Jmj

The article copied at the beginning of this thread has no place at this forum, because of the notoriously twisted character who authored it. (She is even worse than the "Scott" who posted the rubbish above my message.)

Benedictine "Sister" Joan Chittister is a "social psychologist," a lecturer, an author, and a supporter of the dangerous dissent-riddled organization named "Call to Action."

From a story about Miss Chittister's appearance at a conference: "Bishop Raymond L. Burke of La Crosse [Wisconsin] sent a letter to lay and religious educators in his diocese last week in which he said, 'With deep regret, I must caution you against any participation in the presentations given by [Chittister], who is a dissenter from the Church's Magisterium [teaching authority]. I have objected strongly to her presence on the program."

And this article (from a source for which I personally can vouch) will further fill you in on this disturbed woman.

God bless you.
John

-- J. F. Gecik (jfgecik@hotmail.com), June 07, 2003.

Sorry. Here is that article.

-- J. F. Gecik (jfgecik@hotmail.com), June 07, 2003.