Good will needed

This Israel-Hizbollah thing is really getting to me. I mean it's the same old, old story, isn't it? The guys (and notwithstanding that woman British Prime Minister who started the Falklands war, it's almost always guys, isn't it?), the guys at the top lock antlers, and the poor schmucks at the bottom die.

The thing is, and I know I know nothing about the countries and the politics of it all or anything, but it doesn't matter where it happens, it's the same all over -- Bosnia, Northern Ireland, the Middle East, India and Pakistan ... There's no good will. Someone somewhere said something about there being nothing that couldn't be sorted out by men of good will -- but we never get that, do we? I guess the problem is that you don't rise to the top unless you're prepared to get your hands dirty, and naturally you don't trust anyone, because, hey, you know you're a bastard, stands to reason the other guy is too.

It's all about trust, isn't it? Or lack of it. And fear. But I'd have more sympathy for these guys if it was fear of the sort of things we're all afraid of, but what they're scared of is being powerless. America's scared of losing cheap energy; the Arab-Muslim world is scared of Western democracy imposing their own culture and rules on them.

You know, I read about something the other day. Some African country -- can't remember which one -- but they have this practice of giving young girls to the shrines to be "wives to the gods". Apparently they believe that when you've done something wrong that the gods might be pissed about, the whole family will be punished unless you give a girl to the gods. The girls are kept as virtual slaves in the shrines for the rest of their lives, never seeing their families again. And of course, you know what being a "wife to the gods" means -- the priest is the gods' proxy, right?

Anyway, my point is ... we think this sort of thing is appalling, right? Well, I do anyway. But to stop the practice, you're basically saying, hey, you're just ignorant peasants ... your gods aren't really going to make your whole family suffer if you don't sacrifice one of your daughters ... because, well, let's be honest, your gods don't exist.

I'm not saying that's what anyone actually says -- but that's what they're thinking, isn't it? Can you see how incredibly arrogant that is?

I don't know what the solution is. Some people think the world would be a lot safer if we didn't have religion, but you know what? I don't think it's religion that's the problem -- the problem is that people are always getting it into their heads that they know what God wants. God wants us to beat up homosexuals, God wants us to rule the world; God wants us to lock up our wives and daughters.

Strange that these things God wants are the same things men want.

So, yeah, maybe nothing would change if we took God out of the action, but for God's sake, stop using Him as an excuse!