Conscientious Objector

PTSD

I hate war,
because I internalize it.

So how can a part of me
be righteous,
and another part be wicked?

I was born to honor life,
so why must
I injure the spirit of another?

For there is no victory—
when my bleeding heart
remains on the battlefield.

Pacifist

I’m a man of compassion,
not of micro-aggressions.

I’m a bridge builder,
not a community wrecker.

I love peace,
I hate war.

I’ve been around the world—
our plight is still the same:
there’s predators, catastrophe,
famine and disease—
all are out to get you,
so why would I add to these?

Kind words lead to living—
fighting words to a dead end.

Why totalitarian regimes are always at war

“Being good is hard if you live under an authoritarian regime… Dictatorships elevate the nation and the leader as ultimate ends, while mere individuals have no inherent worth outside of their service to the state… Damir Marusic, an Atlantic Council senior fellow, recently wrote, ‘Putin is a wholly authentic Russian phenomenon, and the imperialist policy he’s pursuing in Ukraine is too.’ This is right, but only up to a point. We simply don’t know what individual Russians would choose, want—or become—if they had been socialized in a free, open democracy, rather than a dictatorship where fear is the air one breathes. Like everyone else, they are products of their environment. Authoritarianism corrupts society. Because punishment and reward are made into arbitrary instruments of the state, citizens have little incentive to pool resources, cooperate, or trust others. Survival is paramount, and survival requires putting one’s own interests above everything else, including traditional morality. In such a context, as the historian Timothy Snyder puts it, ‘life is nasty, brutish, and short; the pleasure of life is that it can be made nastier, more brutish, and shorter for others.’ This is the zero-sum mindset that transforms cruelty into virtue.
In short, authoritarianism twists the soul and distorts natural moral intuitions. In so doing, it renders its citizens—or, more precisely, its subjects—less morally culpable. To be fully morally culpable is to be free to choose between right and wrong. But that choice becomes much more difficult under conditions of dictatorship. Not everyone can be courageous and sacrifice life and livelihood to do the right thing.” Excerpt from Why the Russian People Go Along With Putin’s War

In 1948, the issue of the right to “conscience” was dealt with by the United Nations General Assembly in Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It reads: Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance. The proclamation was ratified during the General Assembly on 10 December 1948 by a vote of 48 in favour, 0 against, with 8 abstentions.

“We must come to see that the end we seek is a society at peace with itself, a society that can live with its conscience.” By: Martin Luther King, Jr.

“In every encounter, we either give life or we drain it; there is no neutral exchange.” By: Brennan Manning

“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.” Bible, Matthew 5:9