Give War A Chance????

From My Own Little CornerWell, I haven't written in a few days because I didn't know what to say. I get up early every morning because I can't sleep. I am scared. For the first time in my life I am truly scared for the future of this world and for the future of my children and yours. The violence in Israel and Lebanon continues. I get up and turn on the news and pray that I don't hear that WWIII has started or that some idiot has decided to use something other than conventional weapons. According to NY Post, the U. S. is rushing a shipment of precision guided bombs to Israel. These bombs are part of a multi-million dollar arms sale package that was approved LAST YEAR and which Israel can TAP AT ANY TIME. They are burying the Lebanese civilians in mass graves. The images bring to mind other pictures of mass graves that I have seen. One family lost 22 members at the same time. And while our attention is diverted by the war between Israel and Lebanon, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan rage on. According to the numbers released by the U.N. this week 14,000 Iraqi civilians were killed in the first 6 months of this year. 5,818 in May and June alone. This does not include the Iraqi Security Forces deaths. The number of bombings and and shootings daily for the week ending July 13th was 34 PER DAY. That number is up 40%. Then there are the kidnappings. We hear about the kidnappings of Iraqi Olympians and Iraqi officials, but what about the everyday citizens. One of many is the story of a 12 year old boy. He was kidnapped and held for $30,000 ransom, which his parents paid. He was found by the Iraqi Security Forces in a plastic bag. I won't give the details here as they are too gruesome. Then there the number of U.S. military members that have lost their lives in this needless conflict. The number grows daily and the last number I saw was 2,560. That is 2,560 too many. Then there are the 18,000 plus that have been injured and maimed. And let's not forget Afghanistan where the Taliban is enjoying a resurgence. Seems we didn't defeat them, they were just waiting in the shadows for the next opportunity to retake what they feel is theirs, namely Afghanistan. They retook several small villages in southern Afghanistan, running off the police and security forces that were stationed there. How much longer before that region erupts into the kind of violence that we are seeing in Iraq? And while we are being bombarded with the images from the Middle East, the oil companies have issued their projected net profits for this quarter. World demand is at an all time high, 82.4 million barrels per day, generating $500 billion for the petroleum producers. This is roughly the equivalent to the gross domestic product of South Africa. What are the profits, you ask? 33.6 billion dollars in quarterly profits, up 32% from the same time last year. That is divided among 5 major petroleum companies, namely BP PLC, Conoco Phillips, Exxon-Mobil Corp., and Royal-Dutch Shell PLC. There was one more thing that caught my attention as I was reading the paper yesterday. Did you know that there was a massive earthquake off the coast of Java on Monday? The death toll from that particular disaster stood at 659 with 350 still missing. Well, I can only say that I am becoming more disappointed with the human race every day. I was cleaning the house with the television on and heard some idiot say "Not to sound flip, but why not give war a chance?". We teach our children that violence never solves anything. If they fight in school they are suspended or expelled. Wouldn't it be great if we could suspend or expel these people that think that war is the answer? It is not. It only exacerbates the situation. It is truly a sad world that we live in when the war mongers have control. So please pray for peace and enlightenment and may your personal God heap blessings on you and yours.