War
Well, it's started. There should be a protest in AA tonight, but I'm at work until eight and even if I were not , I'm in no shape to be out in the weather. I've been sick for the last couple of days with a fever and runny nose.

So, now I can't get my mind off the idea that right now my tax dollars are going to use to bomb children in Baghdad. Sure, I knew it was inevitable. We all knew that Bush had no interest in a peaceful solution, but it comes back to "what can I do?"

I've attended several protests over the last three months. I didn't really think that they would stop the war alone but with the international community calling for letting the UN do its job and spiritual leaders like the Pope calling against it, I thought that Bush and company would be less eager to go kill for oil.

Now what? Henry David Thoreau keeps coming to mind. When the US launched another unjust invasion into Mexico, he stopped paying his taxes. He went to jail for it and wrote "Civil Disobedience." Unfortunately, that choice isn't quite available to me and will only really make a difference if everyone who is against the war stops paying taxes.

It's tough for me during these times to keep my "Buddheo-pagan" perspective. It is hard not to get attached to the idea of peace. The Buddha did teach that we must work to end human suffering. Is it not my country...my tax money...going out there and causing suffering? I understand in the concept of non-attachment even in such circumstances and how to become involved with events without getting attached. But, it's not that easy.

I can't hep but myself in the place of the Iraqis as amercan bombs are levelling their cities. The general said that they'd make Baghdad look like Hiroshima. I've seen the pictures. I've read the accounts. I can still only imagine the horror.

I guess I'm lucky that I've been so sick the last couple of days. Otherwise, I don't think I'd have slept last night....knowing. My taxes are being used to murder....wholesale.