Child killed in Afghanistan

Where are the deer? Deer hunting season ended tonight at sundown. On the news they said this was a very slow year for killing dear. That is okay with me, but my son and his family were probably disappointed. This was the first year that my 12-year-old grandson could hunt with his father, my son. My son is a gun hunter but he did not get that from me. As a youth I did some hunting for rabbits and pheasants (unsuccessfully) with a bow and arrow, but never owned a gun. My son as a teen killed a dear with a bow and arrow and there was no stopping him from gun hunting.

Killing deer and other animals for sport and food does not present a serious problem for me. However, killing human beings for any reasons, in war, for greed, or a death penalty disturbs me greatly.

I just got word about four prayer vigils this week for homicide victims this weekend in Milwaukee. Politicians in Milwaukee say that most homicide victims know the person that killed them, but that does not excuse or explain this senseless violence. Daily, people are killed in wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan. Children starve every day all over the world.

I could go on with the senseless killing, much of it in our name, for the greed of a few. I have reported before on this web site that all this killing starts with us, the excessive militarism of our society today, as seen in games, TV, by allowing military training to kill at Marquette University, our lack of compassion and solidarity for the poor.

Like everyone else I want to numb myself from all this death and dying or to ignore it by saying “there is nothing we can do to stop it”. A friend of mine, who like I has lost a son, facing a judge Monday for her nonviolent act of civil disobedience at SOAWatch to stop the killing said: “I do what I do because I don’t want another parent to suffer like I have.”

This is now my main motivator to keep on going and do what I need to do to stop the killing of human beings. I need to start with myself and the institutions and structures here at home that seek to kill.

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