I have friends on all sides of the political spectrum.  Many of my friends are firmly anti-war.  Many of those same anti-war friends are also libertarian or for restricted government.  So on one hand I hear a lot of arguments to the effect of:  “Lets leave everyone alone to do what they want to do.”  and “We should stay out of the middle east.”.   This group of people often says that the United States needs to stop being “world police”.

Another segment that I will call acquaintances tend to be the type who say “If we just nuked the middle east all of our problems would go away.”  Some of them aren’t quite this harsh, but while the methods may differ, most of them think that destroying our enemies is an appropriate response.   This segment thinks that the United States clearly has a mandate to be the world police.

A large percentage of the people I know fall into one of the two above camps.  There are people who are a mix of both, and perhaps a few who are something unique, but they are a much smaller percentage than the other two camps.

There are a lot of good arguments for keeping the United States government out of the affairs of other governments.  Reduced “blowback” (a favorite phrase of the anti-war friends), reduced spending on international conflicts, more resources focused on solving problems domestically are a few of the benefits they would point out to minding our own business.  Essentially this group likes to be left alone and wants to leave others alone as well.

The pro “world police” sect is often operating under the assumption that we can not allow evil to run rampant, because eventually said evil will come for us.  When you seriously ask them why they feel the way they do, they have many sane arguments for their position.  Unfortunately these sane reasons tend to be overshadowed by what is perceived as blood lust or a desire to impose their will upon others.   The personality that tends to be drawn to this perspective tends to be a powerful personality.

At various times in my life, I have fallen into both camps.  I spent most of my school life as a “world policer”.  Several years ago, I started listening to the news on a regular basis, and found my viewpoints shifting more towards the anti world police stance.  I vacillated between the two viewpoints and have spent some time trying to really figure out where I stood in relation to this argument.

In 2010 I took my first trip out of the country since I went to Germany as a pre-teen in 1997.  It was my very first trip to a developing nation.  In Nicaragua I saw serious and pervasive poverty for the first time, and ever since then I have felt drawn to those who are treated unjustly.   I heard first hand from people who had experienced what they thought were the effects of the Iran-Contra affair, which is a scandal that firmly supports the stance of the anti-police sect.  I heard the bitterness with which a man spoke about the role he felt the United States had played in the poverty the Nicaraguan people now found themselves in.  While the bitterness poured from our translators lips, next to me sat a man who was a former member of the United States military.  He never acknowledged a direct role in the Iran-Contra affair (and very well may have had no role in it), but did later tell me that he had been in a neighboring country in the same time frame.   We never really discussed what he was doing there.

From a dungeon in Nicaragua. Yes. You read that right. Things were pretty rough there once upon a time.

On that trip, the former military member was quite possibly the most caring individual on the team.  His creed for the trip was “see a need, meet a need” and he made it his mission to meet every need he saw.  At one point he was about to swap his boots with a man who desperately needed new ones, but was stopped by the reality that they didn’t have compatible feet.

The man who was bitter with U.S. involvement was also doing great work in his home country, and spent his time serving our team, making sure that we could be effective.  I saw both sides of this story, both men loving and serving each other, even though both had serious “policy disagreements”.

In the last year, I have constantly hoped for more action from our government in the crisis that is beginning to boil-over near the Black Sea.   I would put together a mental wish list of actions that I was hoping for, but within days one of my anti-war friends would draw me back to reality by reminding me that I didn’t really want the U.S. government involved.   I have see-sawed back and forth for months, first on one side of the debate, then on the other.  With the interventions that are happening now in the region, I wish that they would stop because I see they will not be effective.

So where does Peace demand that I stand?  What role am I to play in this whole kerfuffle?  I asked the same question earlier this week, but now I am slightly more prepared to answer it.

I think that for Good to be Good.  It must stand against Evil.  For light to overcome darkness, there must first be some light.

I think I have decided that the worlds governments can not fix the worlds problems.  Governments are too unwieldy and FAR too prone to corruption.  If the day comes that peace deals are struck, they will be struck to serve the people in power, not the people in danger.

I have also decided that choosing to allow evil to continue without resisting it is equally as evil.

I am left knowing that I can only act as one man.  I can act as me.  It isn’t very comforting since I know that I am not very powerful, or very persuasive, or even very well connected.  I am only one guy who occasionally posts things on his blog.  I am afraid, knowing that I could spend my life pursuing peace, and really only find peace for myself.

There is however quite a precedent for one man bringing about incredible change.

I can only try.  Peacefully.

25 Days for Peace is a cooperative blogging experiment between myself and five other artists, designed to explore the facets of peace, particularly centered around this season intended to experience the peace of Christ. Visit this page to see the other contributions to this journey, and like it to join with us in exploring what peace means.