THE PUBLIC MIND: WHY SAVE EARTH WHEN DEATH SURROUNDS?

Dear Editor:

To what purpose should I trouble myself with saving the Earth when death and destruction are continually before my eyes?

With the ease at which we are being led down the path to war with Iraq I see little conflict between our ability to reason and the deep ancient reptilian part of our brain. We have simply put reason aside and allowed our chosen leaders to guide us down another dead-end path. A path that will undoubtedly cost us the lives of our countries young men and money which we surely can not afford to waste.

In the past 25 years the international arms trade has gone from $300 million to more than $20 billion. The weapon manufacturers profits form military weapons are 30 to 50 percent higher than profits associated with the civilian market. Cost overruns are usually staggering. With rewards so substantial the military industrial establishment is perhaps our greatest enemy. If we are so willing to contemplate war and destruction on a global scale should we not also be willing to contemplate a wholesale peoples of the Earth as a whole, one that would enhance our natural environment, one that would eliminate the machines of war.

Human history can be viewed as a slowly dawning awareness that we are members of a larger group. At first our loyalties were to ourselves and our family, next to a larger group the tribe, then the nation. We have broadened the circle of those we love. If we are to survive, our loyalties must broaden to encompass the whole human community and the entire planet Earth, our home.

Men that wish to fight wars do not see the Earth as a singular unit. They only see their ideology. They are comfortable spending our dwindling resources on hunter-killer-satellites, particle beam weapons, lasers, nutron bombs, nuclear bombs, stealth bombers, attack submarines, aircraft carriers, battleships, the list is endless. We who must speak for the Earth must educate ourselves. We must not support this war with Iraq in any way. Leo Tolstoy, Russian novelist and moral philosopher, felt it was every man's obligation, to resist military duty. We must also educate our politicians so we can rid ourselves of this folly by working for a common good: a whole Earth, a united Earth.

Alan Gerecke

Student SEMO

Cape Girardeau