{"id":2940,"date":"2014-03-04T06:15:37","date_gmt":"2014-03-04T11:15:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/intramuralist.com\/?p=2940"},"modified":"2014-03-04T06:15:37","modified_gmt":"2014-03-04T11:15:37","slug":"this-side-of-war","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/?p=2940","title":{"rendered":"this side of war"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"SO001396\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I must confess:\u00a0 I only know what it feels like on this side of war.<\/i>\u00a0 I\u2019ve never been in the middle of a military conflict, where the sights and sounds cause me to shudder on a daily, hourly basis… where my external and internal peace is threatened by a fight seemingly so bigger than me.\u00a0 \u201cWhy can\u2019t we all get along?\u201d<\/i> many must mutter in their disgust.<\/p>\n

But people don\u2019t all get along.\u00a0 They don\u2019t.\u00a0 And unfortunately, we, at times have encouraged the not getting along.\u00a0 How many times have we been disrespectful in our words, diminishing the opinion of another?\u00a0 How many times have we been judgmental \u2014 not judging in the sense of wise discernment, but rather, passing judgment on opinions, as to which one is to be preferred as the more correct?\u00a0 We do that all the time.\u00a0 Our leaders do that all the time.\u00a0 They look down on others every time they denigrate or refuse to debate.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s been happening in recent weeks, for example, regarding climate change.\u00a0 Many are refusing to discuss.\u00a0 Stop it.\u00a0 I get that many scientists believe man\u2019s actions are directly responsible for the planet\u2019s perceived warming.\u00a0 But why must the debate be extinguished?\u00a0 Note what happened with Charles Krauthammer, a well respected conservative journalist.\u00a0 He prepared a piece for the Washington Post in which he challenged the premise that the science on climate change is settled.\u00a0 Environmental activists petitioned the Post not to publish Krauthammer\u2019s column.<\/p>\n

Let the debate proceed.\u00a0 Let the people talk.\u00a0 If a person\u2019s perspective is good and true and right, it will persevere.\u00a0 If the only way a perspective can persist is by eliminating diverse opinion, then the perspective is not rooted in wisdom.\u00a0 Allow the people to talk.\u00a0 Hear them.\u00a0 When we don\u2019t allow people to talk, when we don\u2019t listen to them, when we shut them (and their opinions)<\/i> down, we move eerily closer to the other side <\/i>of war.<\/p>\n

The world is a volatile place.\u00a0 Look around us.\u00a0 Conflict spans the globe.\u00a0 From Afghanistan to Syria to Venezuela, to the Middle East and now the Ukraine.\u00a0 This is scary, friends.<\/p>\n

Ukraine is a country of approximately 45 million citizens, situated between Europe and Russia.\u00a0 The citizens are divided as to which of the two they identify with more.\u00a0 Ukraine was actually part of the Soviet Union until 1991, when they declared their independence, with 90% of Ukrainians voting affirmatively.\u00a0 As with any new nation, economic, social, and political struggles ensued.<\/p>\n

In the past decade, some of their leadership embraced more West-leaning, European policies.\u00a0 Russia \u2014 and specifically, Pres. Vladimir Putin \u2014 seemed wanting to punish Ukraine for their newfound Western affinity.\u00a0 Putin cut the flow of gas to the country in 2006 and 2009.\u00a0 In November of last year, the Ukrainian Prime Minister embraced more Russian policy.\u00a0 Large numbers of people felt the government was no longer listening to them.\u00a0 Hence began an initially peaceful, public protest.\u00a0 But the protest turned violent when clashing with law enforcement.\u00a0 The Ukrainian government then passed a series of laws that essentially banned all public protest.\u00a0 And with the cameras rolling from the recent adjacent, Olympic Russian slopes, the protest has significantly escalated.\u00a0 The Russian military has moved into Ukraine, attempting to regain control.<\/p>\n

The world is in a tough place.\u00a0 There seems little we can do, this side of war.<\/i>\u00a0 It\u2019s not an enviable position for Pres. Obama or for any<\/i> president for that matter.\u00a0 What president desires war?\u00a0 (… geepers…)\u00a0<\/i> While there is certainly a time for peace and a time for war and a time for every season under the sun, no wise president earnestly desires engaging in military combat (… the only persons I know who earnestly engage are teenage boys playing the latest \u201cCall of Duty\u201d game).<\/i><\/p>\n

Hence, keep watching.\u00a0 Keep praying.\u00a0 And be thankful to be on this side of war, where our peace is not threatened… and we are still, hopefully heard.<\/p>\n

Respectfully,<\/p>\n

AR<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I must confess:\u00a0 I only know what it feels like on this side of war.\u00a0 I\u2019ve never been in the middle of a military conflict, where the sights and sounds cause me to shudder on a daily, hourly basis… where my external and internal peace is threatened by a fight seemingly so bigger than me.\u00a0 … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “this side of war”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[396],"class_list":["post-2940","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-event","tag-russia-ukraine"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2940","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2940"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2940\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2944,"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2940\/revisions\/2944"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2940"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2940"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2940"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}