Where are the peacemakers?
Why is it that the innocent, noncombatant people always suffer the most, and are too often conveniently forgotten? Whenever I read or hear about how someone killed or maimed someone, I wonder how he or she could do such a thing; when I hear about someone killing or maiming small children who are totally defenseless, I am enraged! How could anyone commit such heinous thing to children? They are innocent. Why should power hungry people always pick on the people who cannot fight back?
Over the years, I have posed the question about the killing and injuring of children to a number of professional people. I wanted to know how anyone could do such a cowardly thing and why would they do it. The answers I have received varied slightly, but they generally focused upon the abuse of power. In order to exercise power over someone else, that person has to be weaker and not able to retaliate. The easiest target is a child.
For this article, I want to focus upon the abuse of power. The killing of children is one example of the abuse of power; another might well be the huge number of rapes that take place every day in our country. Why would someone want to rape a woman (or sometimes a man) these days when it is so easy to either find a willing partner to satisfy a person’s sexual urges, or to pay a little money to someone in the profession? Committing rape carries with it the possibility of life imprisonment when you are caught. Such is not the case with consenting partners. I’m told it’s a matter of a power trip by someone who wants to overpower a weaker person in order to enhance his or her dominance.
We know about the abusive power various political leaders have exerted over others, but too often we just find it convenient to look the other way when it doesn’t involve us directly. It happened during World War II when the nations of the world looked on as Hitler began the spread of his empire. Today, the focus is upon Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine and the horrible crimes Russia has committed against innocent people. A recent poll in the United States suggests that while it is OK to send arms
to Ukraine, it is a small country not worth our getting involved. Another poll taken in Russia suggests that the Russian people are strongly in favor of Putin and what he is doing. Along with this are numerous countries that have refused to condemn Putin and Russia for what they are doing, with China being the most obvious. With thousands of people killed and many thousands more wounded, it is apparent that these are just numbers to a lot of people, that no one is caring about saving lives any longer. It is beyond rational thinking.
Obviously, Putin was misinformed when he began his invasion. He had been convinced that the show of a mighty Russian army would cower the Ukrainians into immediate submission and his goals would be accomplished. Such has not been the case and the Ukrainians have fought back with a ferocity fueled by the love of their homeland. Their animosity has been deepened by Russia’s attacking civilians, those who are always caught in the middle of conflict with nowhere to go to find safety. When Putin discovered that the Ukrainian army was too strong to overpower, he had to find somebody weaker: the innocent and non-combative civilians who could not fight back. So far, it has been his only way to demonstrate his power.
Over 3 million people have tried to escape the Ukraine/Russia conflict, but Russia has been extremely forceful in closing their escape routes. At the same time, Russia has unleashed a huge arsenal of bombs and missiles directed not just at the fighting troops of Ukraine, but against the civilians living there. The recent missile attack on the train station in Ukraine that killed over 50 people and wounded over a hundred more is the most graphic attack upon those attempting to get out of harm’s way. Putin wants to conquer this small country of Ukraine, and he apparently is willing to use any means within his power to achieve his goal.
It is a huge power trip for Putin with no way out. He is trapped by the resistance of the Ukrainian military, and the only Ukrainians subject to his power trip are civilians. Ironically, NATO countries have decided that the only way to cause Putin to back off is by exercising more power than he has. Unfortunately, power causes conflict, not solutions. It is amazing how little we learn from history. Where are the peacemakers who are able to both understand and to offer solutions to armed conflict? Where are the people who care enough to put human lives above power struggles? Where are the people courageous enough to stand up for the innocent people caught in the fighting and to say, “No more!?” Our world is too small for us to allow such atrocities against anyone.
••• Robert Box has been a law enforcement chaplain for 29 years. He is a master-level chaplain with the International Conference of Police Chaplains and is an endorsed chaplain with the American Baptist Churches USA. He also currently serves as a deputy sheriff chaplain for the Benton County Sheriff ’s Office. Opinions expressed in the article are the opinions of the author and not the agencies he serves.