QotD
"There's a war on. Either we succeed, and their world ends;
or they succeed, and ours does. Does it matter that we want them
to go on living in our world, that our world has room for them to
build cities and parks and futures? Not really. The very act of
not getting to define everything for the rest of us is the end,
for them. The fact that none of them would actually die, that
their children would be fine and their blood unshed, is
irrelevant. We can abhor and condemn violence and torture, and
this too is an act of war. We can love them depthlessly as people
and wish them no harm, but we cannot avoid the implications. If
we are considered equals, their world is over. Our lives are the
explosives that end it.
"So, okay. Let's sit that
knowledge down on our kitchen tables and give it a good look.
There are two possible worlds: one where we prevail, and get to
live side-by-side, and one where we do not, and are annihilated.
And side-by-side looks like annihilation to the folks who have to
live next door. There goes the neighborhood. We might think it's
a really nice neighborhood to raise our kids; doesn't stop the
neighbors from thinking their lives are over because we continue
to exist yards away."
-- Little Light,
2008-09-11 [Read the rest of it. Really.]