(clears throat nervously)

one thing in human history always brings me up short, personally.
It is, being right is more important than being happy.
Also known as: "Well, who won?"

I have a personal story behind "Well, who won?"   
but I'm too sore to draw any joy from it today,
so the story can wait for another time.

There are a number of examples that are so extreme
that I can't even feel righteous or excitable about them,
because the examples are so sickening and obvious to me.
And I thought of starting a thread along this line --
and then thought better of it!

But let me just carefully sum up the example
that seems so obvious to me, then I'll shut up.

That Anabaptist resistance to the established European churches,
which is the roots of today's Mennonite and Amish among others.

I know that the Amish have something, part propaganda and part history, that the title in English
translates to Martyrs' Mirror or close to that.
It is a literary memorial to those who were imprisoned, persecuted,
and in some cases put to death by the authorities,
for their beliefs.

What bugs me the most about this,
is that the persecuted were/are pacifist or non-violent.
What on earth is the point in an attempt at squashing
people who choose not to bear arms or fight in uniform,
people who focus instead on forgiveness or reconciliation?
See,
already I'm losing my nerve here.

So I'm going to post this, and hold my peace.