Believe it or not I do not spend all day everyday writing here. I do at times take the time to read other Web Logs of friends and family as well as friends of family and so on and so forth on and on and on. It was not really until recently that I learned that others take the time to stop by here and read from time to time.
One such person is a good friend of my mothers and although I have not had a chance to talk with him as much as I would like, I do read his Blog and I feel that we would get along well.
He still goes to school (I wish I could join him) and in an assignment is asked to judge the actions of Mrs. Cindy Sheehan by the standards set forth by The Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr.
More specifically as I understand it to the criteria listed in Dr Kings, “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” in which he lists among other things what he feels is the acceptable reasons for civil disobedience.
In my friends post the following list was given:
1 - collection of the facts to determine if injustices are alive
2 - negotation
3 - self-purification
4 - direction action
I love cut and paste!
I will start here by saying that I think this woman is going through the horror of loss. I feel for her in that loss. We all ask why when we lose someone and sometimes we can not find the answers. We all ask why when we lose someone and sometimes we don't like the answers.
Unfortunately no amount of empathy that I have for her or respect for her son can make her justified under the conditions set forth in this letter. Reading the letter leads one to understand that 4 - direction action can not be done until 1 through 3 have been made true.
Obviously this can not have been true. I know though that what seems obvious to me may not seem obvious to anyone else and even if it is that’s not enough to get a good grade on this paper.
1 - collection of the facts to determine if injustices are alive
So our first step here is to find the injustice. It’s hard here not to look at this from an emotional angle, but I need to for a bit so I can get out some facts before I get to the truths. The first fact that I have to get out is that her son willingly signed a contract with the government in which it was stated that he may be expected to go to combat. I think even if the words are not quoted the meaning is there. “SIGNING THIS MAY CAUSE YOUR DEATH” A wide variety of reasons could have been involved with him willingly signing that contract but legally he signed it. From a strictly and coldly legal point of view, I have to feel her civil actions protesting these laws and the war are unjustified.
Now the emotion: I don't think this poor woman can possibly understand what was in his mind when he signed those papers, when he was trained, when he was fighting, or when he was killed. I have to believe that there is a part of her that wants to remember the sweet young child that she gave birth too. Emotionally I have to ask where her protests were before her son died. I can understand using her pain of the loss of her son to bring focus to what she currently sees as the reason for his death, but I can not see that pain as justification by Dr King’s standard or my own. Granted a case might be made that our government somehow created an environment which make our military necessary or ‘the only option”, but if that is the case than she would be better off protesting for Education reform. Maybe her son could have gotten a better job. Emotionally I have to believe that she is currently proud of her son and that she always has been. This war did not kill her son. His decision to join did. That decision was for some reason only known to him. Therefore emotionally, I have to feel her civil actions protesting the war are unjustified.
I have to admit that it had been about 5 years since I have read this letter and to be 100% I only retained some of it, but of the main points listed I remembered some points made by the good Doctor that may apply here. I had to go look for them:
“Any law that uplifts human personality is just. Any law that degrades human personality is unjust. ~ Dr King~
As a veteran I do not believe that any law has degraded my personality. My personality is not defined solely by my actions. My personality is not defined by the orders of others. In all truthfulness in today’s society I feel that our personalities are uplifted above those that have not served. Many of us have bad memories, or fears and sadness but many find a higher faith in themselves and others that can not be achieved in any other way. To say that by following the laws set before us we have willingly degraded our personality is insulting to me and I believe to her son. Since I can not think that her intention is to insult her son, I have to feel her civil actions protesting the war are unjustified.
“An unjust law is a code that a numerical or power majority group compels a minority group to obey but does not make binding on itself. This is difference made legal. By the same token, a just law is a code that a majority compels a minority to follow and that it is willing to follow itself. This is sameness made legal.” ~ Dr King~
Like it or not the Majority of our country supported this action at the time. People can argue that some politicians have not sent their children but MANY people who do support this action have sent their children. I can not honestly tally up any kinds of totals, but try as I might I really can’t find anybody else with honest totals either. The “power majority” (government) did not compel “a minority to follow and that it is willing to follow itself.” It is fact that many of our government leaders are in fact military veterans that have served in combat situations. So based on this definition, I have to feel her civil actions protesting the war are unjustified.
“A law is unjust if it is inflicted on a minority that, as a result of being denied the right to vote, had no part in enacting or devising the law.” ~ Dr King~
Since this does not apply I have to feel her civil actions protesting the war are unjustified.
The closest thing I can get to justification for this poor woman is this:
“We merely bring to the surface the hidden tension that is already alive.” ~ Dr King~
To be completely honest most of the protestors that support Mrs. Sheehan are not protesting the death of our soldiers or her son as much as they are protesting America impeding on the “sovereign rights” of another nation with little or no justifications. It is unfortunate that the death of soldiers is a side effect of some of our nations policies but that does not give these other protestors the immediate right to cash in on her misery and use her name to fuel their own agendas.
2 – negotiation
I have not heard of demands here. So I don't know about negotiations. I will say that Dr King had goals and his goals did not impede on the human rights of his oppressors. He wanted an equal chance to speak but did not feel that he had more of a right to be heard. He new he was correct in his actions and that his words were truth and fact, and that was enough. I don't believe Mrs. Sheehan’s goals are negotiable therefore I have to feel her civil actions protesting the war are unjustified.
3 - self-purification
This is a period of self reflection. It is a time of insuring that you are prepared to go distance for your beliefs. It is a time that you must understand what you are willing to endure for your beliefs. I think in her mind she may have gone through this process. But a desire to do a thing and a belief in your honorable desires, does not justify a thing. If it did then it would equally justify her sons service as well as the actions of those he called his enemy.
In closing here I have to say that even with all this I can respect the thoughts going through her mind. I have lost friends because of war and I still have friends there. I worry for them daily. I think about them constantly. I think of people who have been hit by a bullet that could have hit me. I think of mothers who got a visit or a letter like Mrs. Sheehan, when my mother did not. I honor them in my heart and I know that in their hearts and in the hearts of their families they did what they did for a reason that goes beyond gas prices or politics, and I see no reason to justify the loss of that memory.
