“It became necessary to destroy
the town to save it”

Tonight at the Lanterns for Peace event, remembering the victims of the two atomic bombs ending the World War II, a friend gave a reflection on World War I, the “War to end all wars.” t is the 100th anniversary of this war. He recounted the history of this war that killed so many people and lead to another war it became obvious to me that some people believe they are so superior to others that they can send thousands and thousands of country man into a war to kill and/or be killed. This continues to happen today as we fly planes over Iraq, a country we invaded for a ‘regime change’ and ended up destroying it and putting it into an ‘endless war.’ Does our President and political leaders really thing they will make the world safer by killing people or supporting Israel killing people?

Some persons have called me ‘arrogant’ for expressing my strong beliefs, opinions, values and following my conscience. I have faults but that is not the right meaning of ‘arrogant’. My deceased son and I would often have passionate discussions on our beliefs in God or religion. Sometimes my wife would take our conversation as “arguments”, that we were mad or not tolerant of each others beliefs. We both would say that we did not agree and that what would like a ‘argument’ would just be an active dialog in which we respect each other enough to dialog and discuss our values and beliefs in order to discover the truth. There seems not to be much tolerance these days of creative conflict. The word today is that you have your ‘opinion’ and I have my ‘opinion’. How do we strive for the ‘truth’ when everything is an opinion?

The Merriam Webster dictionary describes arrogance as “having or showing the insulting attitude of people who believe that they are better, smarter, or more important than other people.” People like those who started World War I or our Presidents and Congress who send people to death by war are the truly ‘arrogant’ persons. Persons honor soldiers for going to war under orders “to kill or be killed” as making our country free. Yet each war we had did not make us free but lead to more war, more killing and an economy dependent on death and destruction. The weapon makers and politicians that continue “endless wars” are the arrogant, in my opinion. They feel they are better than rest of us and can ‘save people’ by killing human beings. (There was a famous quote by a General in Vietnam War expressing this sentiment: “I must destroy this village in order to save it.”)

Who are this elite group of persons in Society of St. Vincent de Paul who think they can serve the poor of Milwaukee by building a five million dollars thrift store for suburbanites. On its website announcing the new store in the city of Greenfield it says: “This store will provide the opportunity for us to fulfill our mission of serving our brothers and sisters in need throughout all of Milwaukee County. “ When an overwhelming majority of “people in need” live in the City of Milwaukee and many in North Central Milwaukee which does not have a thrift store, how arrogant is this store? The justification for investing five million, to purchase, renovate and operate for one year in this suburb with few poor is that this major of money, which by rules of St. Vincent de Paul Society, belongs to the poor, will make money to help the poor. The poor cannot afford five million and these type of arrogance by middle and rich class people telling what is good for them. Poor people know a thrift store in North Central Milwaukee would cost much less and better serve persons in need.
Who are they who know what is best for us, even if it “to kill or be killed” or to have money of the poor invested in thrift store in the suburbs. Are they truly the Arrogant?

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