Death begets death

 After the despicable attack on southern Israel and the evil brutality that Hamas perpetrated, I was enraged.  I wanted Israel to fight back, I still do.  But I am coming to understand that the lust for vengeance is a cycle.  That killing, however justified, only results in more killing.

Death begets death.  Death does not beget life.  Death only begets more death.  It doesn’t lead to hope, to joy, to justice, to peace.  Just more death.

This is a lesson that Hamas will learn.  And it is a lesson that my fellow leftists need to learn before they champion the horrible deaths of thousands of innocent people.

And it is a lesson that the Israel government will have to someday learn.  If they kill large numbers of Gazans, aside from the moral problems of doing this, they will beget rage and anger which will result in more attacks, more rockets, more brutality.  More death.

But what if we could kill all of the Hamas fighters?  Well, that is probably not possible.  They aren’t wearing uniforms or badges.  They have had years to plan their hiding.  We will miss quite a few.  And they will organize more followers to come after us and kill us.  

But even if we could kill almost all of them, their fathers, their mothers, their brothers, their sons and their daughters will rage against us.  So will their grandchildren.  And they will all try to kill us.  More death.

And their rage and anger is useful to evil people in the world, who will support them, finance them, train them, equip them.  And derive power and treasure from their rage and the killing it produces.

Peace is not produced by the waging of war.  Centuries of war demonstrate that.  If we want peace, we will have to wage peace.  If we want justice, we will have to work towards justice. Both of those paths are hard.  Hard to see, hard to tred.  But killing only begets more killing.  Death begets death.