This blog post was originally written on 8 February 2006. It is reproduced here for archival purposes and your reading pleasure. It is reproduced as accurately as possible with no style, mechanical, or spelling corrections whatsoever.
Current mood:
lazy
I'm really getting sick of categorizing my blog topics under 'News and Politics' so starting as soon as I finish writing this one, I will make an effort to find better topics. Thanks to all of you who have subscribed to my blog.Tonights topic: The Draft
Is it Necessary, and is it Fair?I recently celebrated my 18th birthday. Since I am now officially an "adult" I am required by law to register for the draft. This means that whenever it is deemed necessary to actively recruit soldiers for the armed forces, I (and countless others) could be called against my will to serve. To some, registering for the draft is something that any citizen should be willing to do as a way of showing your appreciation for living in a aountry where you are safe. To others serving in the military is something that should only be done if one feels moved to do so. Those who support the draft make a valid point saying that since others faught and died so that we could be free, shouldn't we be willing to do the same for future generations. Those who oppose the draft say that dying for a cause is something that should only be done by those who truly support the cause, and they add that there is no way of being able to tell why our country could go to war. Some extremists (myself included) often quote the bible saying "thou shall not kill" and feel that war is wrong at all times.
Secondly, is the draft fair? Is it right that only young men should have to register for the draft? These are the poeple who still have their whole lives ahead of them. They just graduated high school. for the past 12 years they have been preparing for "the rest of their lives" and I assure you that for the majority of them "the rest of their lives" was not meant to be dying on foreign soil a year after graduation. Also why is it that Homosexuals are not allowed in the army. (Keep in mind that gay rights is not the purpose of this blog) Don't they live in a safe home just the same as the rest of us do? Shouldn't they have to fight for freedom.
Thirdly, equal rights for men and women was a hot topic less than a century ago. Acording to the 14th ammendment women have the same rights as men (most notablye the right to vote) so shouldn't they have to fight for our freedom as well. If a woman can vote for politicians who will lead our country into war, should they not have to fight the war the same as the men? Wether you feel we are debating the right to serve our country, or the right to not die, shouldn't women and men have that right equally?
Well tahts it for this time. For now let us hope and pray that the draft is not reinstated so that this can remain a hypothetical topic. Please post any thoughts or ideas as comments.
love, Joshy Woshy
P.S. Has anyone noticed that We haven't been able to post what we are listening to / reading / watching lately
I have to say that I'm impressed with how objective I presented the issue in that first paragraph. The truth is that I hate the idea of the draft and of war in general, and I pretty sure I felt the same way at the original time or writing. I think I'm still pretty good at listening patiently to opposing points of view, but I'm not so sure that I could still hold my tongue about my own ideas. Maybe there is a time and place to hold my tongue, and another time and place to speak freely. Reflecting on these old blog entries helps me notice personality changes and see things that I can work on.
I also can't help but notice my appeal to the Bible to defend my pacifistic point of view. As I mentioned a few posts ago, I no longer believe in the Bible as an infallible source of wisdom, but my ideas about war and violence remain the same. I'll also point out for the sake of Christians and non-Christians alike that pacifism can be Biblically defended on a much broader basis than my reference to the ten commandments. For example, check out the first several chapters of Matthew. Pacifism was also the sole position of the early church on war and violence for several generations. Of course all that had changed by the time of Constantine and the rise of Christendom.
When I first posted this article it got a lot of comments and sparked some pretty heated debate. The ideas presented ranged from intelligent to asinine. One of my favorites suggested that women shouldn't be included in the draft because after being together for too long their menstrual cycles would align which would require lots of chocolate to be shipped to deployed troops. And of course shipping such a quantity of chocolate abroad would be impractical with the military's current resources. I think the ridiculous claims in that line of thinking are self-evident, so I won't say anymore.
Fell free to post your own thoughts and ideas as comments, and I'll try really hard not to make fun of them. But if they are like the one I just mentioned, then I can't make any promises ;-)
love, Joshy Woshy
